I met up with friends at Smith College Botanic Garden last summer, and what a lovely little garden it is. Several plants caught our attention, but one in particular landed itself on the wishlist. Its unwieldy name, which I believe comes from the language of Chewbacca, was Cephalaria tchihatchewii. Like Chewbacca, it was really tall [...]

I have a thing for weird herbs (har har), and in 2008 I discovered Horizon Herbs. They sell mostly seeds, and while I still haven’t had much success with seeds, some of what they sell is so enticing I had to try a few. Enter Leuzea carthamoides, whose common (uncommon?) name is maral root, but [...]

So! Sorry for the blip recently… I’ve been, shall we say, busy? Outdoors? Doing actual gardening for other people, and myself? Did you know it takes a lot of time? How about a brief entry on a plant? A plant! I know! It starts with an exchange from last summer at Wave Hill in New [...]

Spring has sprung, and I’m a busy guy this week, so I hope you’ll forgive me for recycling this old post from my short-lived Oakleaf Green Landscape Design blog on my business’ web site. (I use that space for news of the business now and, well, I blog here.) I have to say, I’ve met [...]

There’s something wildly appealing about the horticultural tableau of the roadside, when it isn’t taken up by invasive species. From Texas to Florida and up to Massachusetts, Baccharis halimifolia, the groundsel tree, is one plant I’m always glad to see growing by the highway.

OK! Full disclosure: the photo here is not Cephalotaxus ‘Prostrata,’ it’s a you-get-the-point shot of similar, upright C. sinensis. I was MOST CONVINCED I had a photo of ‘Prostrata.’ It was all in my head. See slideshow link below for honest to god ‘Prostrata’ pics. Today’s pronunciation provided by Lynn Felici-Gallant, one of my favorite [...]

Pronunciation // I don’t know how I found it, and I’m a bit unnerved that it bears such a close resemblance to dastardly tree of heaven, but this much I do know: Toona sinensis ‘Flamingo’ is a tree, and it’s pink. It’s big, it’s bad, and it’s pink. And that makes it badass. It is [...]