rhododendron

Improving On Nature

by Kathy Purdy October 26, 2017 – Posted in: Native/Invasive

Can anyone improve on nature? Maybe it's better to admit that what I'm doing isn't natural--it's gardening. Gardening in the most naturalistic way possible. Gardening to make the woods more easily enjoyed by humans. Tinkering and tweaking to yes--make it more beautiful.

A Tour Of The Gardens: Garden Bloggers Bloom Day June 2016

by Kathy Purdy June 16, 2016 – Posted in: Bird Sanctuary, Cutting Garden, Deck Alcove, Fern Alley, Front of the House, Herb Garden, New House, New Gardens, North Deck, Parking Pad Bed, Roadside Beds, Slope Garden, South Deck, The Secret Garden, West Deck

It's been four years since I started working on the gardens here at the "new" house. I thought it was about time I gave you a full-fledged tour. It takes a bit of time to see all the gardens, so prepare for a leisurely visit. Can I pour you something to drink? Let's start the [...]

The Garden Has Arrived: Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day June 2014

by Kathy Purdy June 17, 2014 – Posted in: What's up/blooming

My patience has been rewarded. The days of staring at mostly-bare-dirt beds with puny divisions of shrubs and perennials are over. The beds that I created the soonest after we moved in have now filled in. Granted, there are a lot of self-sowers filling in the gaps, but give me a viola over a dandelion [...]

Black Plants: Book Review

by Kathy Purdy February 9, 2010 – Posted in: Book reviews, Plant info

Black Plants: 75 Striking Choices for the Garden by Paul Bonine is the kind of book that drives me wild. Seventy-five gorgeous plants and over half of them are not hardy for me. Wait. Maybe it's just that half of the ones I want to grow aren't hardy for me. I actually didn't go through [...]

A Native Rhododendron

by Kathy Purdy June 20, 2003 – Posted in: Native/Invasive

A few weeks ago, my husband brought to my attention a lone specimen of a pink flowering shrub growing alongside the road a few miles from our house. It looked pretty and smelled nice, and my curiosity was piqued. A quick perusal of Wildflowers of New York in Color (William K. Chapman [Editor], et al) [...]