fragrance

February daphne (Daphne mezereum) is blooming now for me--before the forsythia, before any rhodos, before my spicebush. My February daphne is still a baby, given to me by Deborah Banks when I visited her garden last year. Look, it's not much more than a twig: One sniff was enough to convince me that every cold [...]

Garden heliotrope (Valeriana officinalis) has been in my garden a long time. At the old house, I received a piece of it from a neighbor who had an equally old house and garden. It was growing in her garden when she moved in, and I considered it one of those old-timey plants that always grew [...]

I've been trying to go for a walk up in our woods every day that it isn't raining. (We got 8.55 inches of rain this April and our normal is 3.49 inches, so there haven't been as many opportunities as in past springs.) During this time of year, when the native spring ephemerals are blooming, [...]

Oh Garden of Fresh Possibilities!: Notes from a Gloucester Garden by Kim Smith made me aware of my garden book prejudices: What kind of title is that? You just don't start a title with "oh" and end it with an exclamation point! And then I read the back cover: "Drawn by the tender magic of [...]

I'd like you to meet three special friends of mine: Aimee Bev Rozella I purchased 'Aimee' (actually 'Aimee's Pink') from Brent and Becky's Bulbs in autumn of 2000. It has taken her a while to build up strength, though I suspect if last year hadn't been so bad for spring flowers (with temps in the [...]