The tomatoes may not be on their best behavior during rainy summers, not unless you planted them for their foliage, but there is a whole host of rain crops worthy of your gardening efforts… Read More

As rewarding as July is for the hard working green thumb, the list of garden chores for this month is daunting. The flower borders are very active in the middle of summer, and constantly… Read More

I was surprised to see how well the eggplants were doing until I found out they’re monsoon crops. Of course they’re having a blast with all the heavy rains that visited us latel… Read More

If you need any motivation to start a cottage garden, all you need to do is walk by one in the middle of July, when the midsummer staples are at their best. Daisies, delphiniums, coneflo… Read More

It rained last night, an epic downpour with powerful lightning and rumbling thunder, a true summer rain. It started suddenly after dark with an unsettling roar, and after that the gates… Read More

Hollyhocks, love in a mist, four o’clocks, poppies, spider flowers, French mallows, larkspur and nicotiana may be annual and biennial plants, but you’d never know it. They co… Read More

Lilies are the kind of flower that inspire a following. They boast endless variety and if you really want, you can have a lily garden in perpetual bloom from early spring to the end of fall… Read More

Native species gardens are growing in popularity because they are so ecologically responsible. Their plants are self sufficient, self-cleaning, and provide solutions for soil run-off and… Read More

Planting three to five plants per family member is usually enough to yield enough for a family. Herbs and leafy greens can be grown in pots, and they will produce plenty for a family, es… Read More

Mid-spring unfolded quietly this year, after vegetation came back to life all at once. The season’s perennials are getting ready for the first flush of bloom, and judging by the ab… Read More

If you’re wondering how much is enough, here are a few rules of thumb. To feed one person for an entire year, you will need: – 5 plants each per person for the nightshade and… Read More

Starting the kitchen garden is a highly anticipated event every year. The garden is not complete until the veggies are in the ground. I got so used to transplanting seedlings, home grown… Read More

The simple rule of planting by the moon is crops grown for their leaves or fruit should be planted during the waxing phase, and those grown for their roots, while the moon is waning, but th… Read More

There isn’t a rose fragrance, there are several. The heavy rose fragrance we’re all familiar with comes from the Damasks – Ispahan and Kazanlak – which are the in… Read More

The most common colors for native flowers are white, yellow and purple, and if you intend to recreate the look of a wild meadow, this is the color scheme you should keep in mind. Meadows… Read More

When I was a child, lesser celandines, or fig buttercups, were favorites of the spring menu, eagerly awaited, as the first greens of the season, for their fresh peppery taste. Lesser cel… Read More

Gardens crave order, underlying structure; they need it to thrive and look beautiful. Whether that structure relies on geometric symmetry, as strictly enforced by the French and Italian… Read More

Passionate gardeners are always on the lookout for rare perennials, and over the years, I found a few gems, as reliable as they are beautiful. First, the plant in the picture is a classi… Read More

Enjoying the garden is a tactile experience, and that usually comes as a surprise. We don’t pay enough attention to the sensation of soft grass, or a chamomile lawn under our bare… Read More

There is nothing particularly attractive about February, the weather is dreadful and summer is way off in the distance. It’s too soon to start planting, even indoors, and the gar… Read More

The beginning of February used to mark the midpoint of winter, and I so wish that were still true! The cold season starting close to Christmas, almost a month later than it used to, puts… Read More

It’s rainy and warm, a lot more like March than January. I worry a little bit that the bulbs are going to emerge ahead of their time, I can already see leaves and I’m pretty sur… Read More

Strangely enough, perfumers categorize fragrances by color, because the mind connects the scents to the images they evoke. Green perfumes boast notes of vetiver, citrus,&n… Read More

Nature stepped quietly into the end of the year, wrapped in a sleepy drizzle that turned to fog before it touched the ground. The landscape looks unreal under the powdery mist, soothed b… Read More

Planting the bulbs marked the end of this year’s gardening activities, and not a moment too soon: winter is coming in style, and it seems it prefers to follow the calendar this year… Read More

If you love root division, you’ll be happy to know that it works for bulbs too, via scaling, slicing, scooping and scoring. Scaling is a propagation method that seems almost custom… Read More

The calendar says winter is here, but nature begs to differ. It’s still so warm and humid, a weather pattern that used to manifest itself in November, and which keeps advancing toward… Read More

The healing powers attributed to calendulas make even enthusiastic herbalists roll their eyes sometimes. No, it’s not the universal botanical remedy, but it’s defin… Read More

Terraria seem to have come back in fashion, during my last trip to the plant nursery I’ve seen containers of all shapes and sizes ready to be filled with live plants and sealed. I&rsq… Read More

Nature reached its ugly late fall phase and I’m cooped up indoors with my tender perennials which decided to bloom indoors, just to show they care.  I hate November, it’… Read More

When you plant bulbs, whether that happens in fall or spring, don’t forget to mix in a good measure of bone meal into the dirt, to help them set in and give them some food for the fir… Read More

Tuberose oil is a staple scent for perfumery, obtained through chemical extraction by means of concretes and absolutes, and it is one of the most expensive natural fragrances available to p… Read More

Since the beginning of my gardening journey I wished for a fragrance garden, so I planted the well known scented flowers like sweet peas, lilies, and carnations. The gar… Read More

Have you ever wondered what it takes to bring the sophisticated and aristocratic vanilla bean to you? I thought about it many times and figured if I ever had a greenhouse this would be… Read More

It is amazing what special status roses have in gardens! A gardener will move a tree, completely restructure a flower bed and change the location of a patio before they decide to touch an e… Read More

I always thought of goldenrod as a dyer’s plant and was surprised to learn that it has medicinal properties. Its Latin name, Solidago, literally means “to make whole&rdq… Read More

The buds of lily flowering tulips remind us of their Turkish ancestry: they have an hourglass shape that opens up at the top, like a vase.  Their color range is not as ext… Read More

I don’t even know how this picture happened, there is so much sunshine in the vegetable garden that getting such a dramatic shadow effect seems almost impossible. Sometimes the c… Read More

I don’t know how many people grew up with fruit compote as a staple of their diet. My grandparents made it throughout the summer to preserve fruit for the win… Read More

Judging by the yield table, this year I planted a tomato garden. Sure I started with a variety of vegetables, but that was just my wishful thinking and the garden always has… Read More

The garden is six weeks ahead, it’s been so warm! In the unseasonable heat the midsummer flowers are pressing ahead: lilies, hostas, bee balms, daisies, dayli… Read More

I would like to tell you a story about a gardener who grew up in the city. In her late twenties she decided to get a potted tomato plant. The plant sprouted a few tentative leaves and event… Read More

After last year’s frigid winter I feared I lost the tea roses, whose canes are not as winter hardy as the shrub varieties’. With a heavy heart and a&nbs… Read More

There is an amazing quality vegetables have to mature unnoticed right under your nose until one morning you look closer to see them fully grown. If you’ll look at the pictures fr… Read More

Because of the very late start of the season the annuals are a few weeks behind schedule. Not the tomatoes, mind you, they tower over the garden dwarfing their companion… Read More

Perennial gardens look their best in May. It is the month of peonies and roses, irises and bleeding hearts. Everything is fresh and green in May, with none of the dusty, dried up tiredness… Read More

Three major factors contribute to the health of your skin: good nutrition and general wellbeing, good conditioning and removing dead cells and impurities. Good n… Read More

There are two strong antiseptics directly extracted from plants: one is tea tree oil, only found in the leaves of the Australian plant, and the other one is thymol… Read More

The procedure for creating new roses is lengthy and the success rate is very low, but if you are really passionate about roses and you must make your own, it goes something like this. … Read More

Here is next year’s garden, well, at least part of it, anyway. The seeds will go into labeled little bags and wait for spring. The peppercorn look-alikes are four o’clock s… Read More

Speaking of thyme, it is a very old and reputable aromatic plant, valued both as a kitchenand as a medicinal herb. Due to its high thymol content it has been g… Read More

The garden is still hesitating, the larger flowers haven’t sprung yet but the tiny ones coverthe flower beds with a cheerful patchwork of mostly blue blossoms. The… Read More

Most gardeners, sometimes not knowingly, have an idealized image of what a garden should be and aspire to recreate it, slightly altered of course by the real conditions of&nb… Read More

Daffodils on the table next to the laptop, I plan next year’s garden. It always seems wise to plan until the first heart melting primrose or wallflower grabs hold… Read More

The garden wore blue and white flowers for Easter, really pretty and fresh in the sunlight. The blue-eyed Marys dressed the soil under the crab… Read More

It rained after a long time, it rained over the wilderness of the garden, over the random mishmash of overgrown stems and flowers. As in years past, the garden pays homage to my free rein h… Read More

I can’t figure out the precise point when a fast spreading plant becomes a ground cover. Some, like ivy, periwinkle and the beautiful blue flowering plumbago in the picture, are quite… Read More

I don’t even know how this picture happened, there is so much sunshine in the vegetable garden that getting such a dramatic shadow effect seems almost impossible. Sometimes the c… Read More

Having healthy roses is more about prevention than it is about cure. Give the shrubsplenty of space to prevent moisture from sticking to their leaves, make sure they have at least… Read More

I dug up a beautiful decorative bottle from the closet and made opal basil infused vinegar. You have to go out in the garden and pick very fresh deep purple basil stems right… Read More

This morning I stepped out of the house into an frozen slushy fairytale. It snowed all night, and right after dawn the luminous contours of the icy branches glowed … Read More

The date of the last frost came and went and I eagerly set out to plant this year’s vegetable garden. I will say the seedlings were ‘hardened’ for a couple… Read More

Roses have earned the dubious privilege of being considered sensitive and difficult to grow. This is not entirely true of course, a rose planted in a climate that favors its devel… Read More

Have you noticed that there are certain foods you cook just because you are sure you’ll love them, despite the fact you never eat more than three spoonfuls at a time? Here’s to… Read More

When I started my vegetable garden I embraced the tradition of planting “kitchen gardenflowers” to make it look pretty. A potager is beautiful enough in and of it… Read More

If you give a green thumb a flower bulb she’ll probably want to plant it, so she’ll need a pot filled with good potting soil. When the weather becomes pleasant she will want to… Read More

I am grateful for the rain after the mini-drought in September, one can almost feel how relieved the plants are to have their flowers and leaves washed clean and replenish th… Read More

I got this aloe plant for medicinal purposes, since aloe gel is a wonderful moisturizer and a great first aid balm for minor scrapes and burns.  At first I couldn’t… Read More

It was very warm outside when I took this picture, and it’s been like that for a while now. Usually when warm weather lingers so long into the fall, the spring bulbs get confused and… Read More

I wondered what gave the hostas their impressive golden foliage last year, and I learned that it was a combination of crisp sunny days, chilly nights and adequate water. Since the cond… Read More

Fluffy fuzzy woolly bear caterpillar. When it eventually undergoes metamorphosis it turns into a Tiger Moth (one of the rare cases when the caterpillar is much prettier than the adult).&nbs… Read More

You look at this modest spice and find it hard to believe than all through Antiquity and the Middle Ages it was more valuable than gold. Pepper was the first of the exotic spices to reac… Read More

It is not the change of the seasons or the succession of blooms that keep your garden always new, but the light. It completely re-frames the views making you see familiar places for the fir… Read More

It was hot the morning we arrived at Palau Reial, the fiery Catalan sun bore down on us relentlessly. The palace had originally been built for count Eusebi Guell, who was an enthusiastic su… Read More

September is the month to expand your flower beds or make changes to established ones: the weather does not stress the plants and as t… Read More

The difference between a cream and a salve is that salves always contain beeswax and they are a lot firmer (think lip balm).  A salve is a blend of oil and beeswax in… Read More

A wise person once said that without a gardener there is no garden. As a dedicated green thumb I can testify to the great investment in time and effort that is required to maintain the gard… Read More

What are you doing, cold weather beauty? Not only it is two months ahead of schedule (toad lilies bloom at the end of October), but it picked the hottest day of the month to s… Read More

Walking through the garden I realized I seem to have more luck with the shaded areas than those with full sun exposure. The logical reason for this quirky… Read More

Have you noticed how many beautiful ground covers fall into the creepy category? Creeping phlox, creeping veronicas, creeping Jenny? These plants usually spread by runners,&nb… Read More

I can’t tell you what a treat this is for me! I’ve been trying to grow this plant for years but for some reason it didn’t like my garden at all. I am very fo… Read More

The healing powers attributed to calendulas make even trained herbalists roll their eyes sometimes. No, it’s not the universal botanical remedy, but it’s definitely a s… Read More

Stinging nettles are quite amazing plants, full of qualities both medicinal and nutritional, but who cares when their blistering touch burns like judgment and brings you to tears?… Read More

I can’t tell you how many times I walked through the garden enchanted by the abundance of flowers and wished I could share its beauty, but the pictures didn’t refl… Read More

There is a rabbit burrow under the giant honeysuckle bush in the front yard, I just know it. There must be one, I see its residents regularly, munching on chamomile and fresh bulb growth.&nb… Read More

Long before the dawn of synthetic dyes, the world of textiles was enchanting us with warm brick reds, stunning fuchsias, royal purples, electric blues, moss greens and bright… Read More

An image for those dreary days in February or November when you can’t see the end of grueling chores, when your back hurts, your feet freeze and your hands bleed from all the raking an… Read More

In old Thracian mythology Vincetoxicum hirundinaria, the white swallow-wort, nicknamed Herb of the Animals, was thought to possess powerful magic that could open any lock. A gentle… Read More

As a child I used to watch with fascination as my grandfather’s hands gently teased apart leaves and flowers and spread them over paper towels to dry in attic. That attic looked like t… Read More

When a cottage garden is well designed it makes you forget the planning that went into creating it and takes over by establishing new hierarchies, thriving on apparent randomness and develop… Read More

It is summer already, I think. Certainly feels like it most of the time, which is why the clematis didn’t stay in bloom as long as it usually does. I spent the last two days waiting fo… Read More

Gardeners often forget the touchable appeal of texture in the landscape – the soft chenilles of tall grasses, the hairy stems of chamomile, the fuzzy wands of gayfe… Read More

There is a gentle slope leading to the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest, a path designed to encourage reverence and introspection.  It doesn’t wind at all, so that during the pr… Read More

The Hemingway Memorial house in Key West is home to a particular breed of cats. These descendants of the writer’s favorite pets enjoy luxurious accommodations on the museum grounds and… Read More

Early April is a critical time for the understory, which gets a head start in the sunshine before the large trees leaf out. Forests turn green from the ground up, starting with the lowest la… Read More

Everybody has dreams, cherished desires of their heart, someday stories. Often life gets in the way and worries and responsibilities take ownership of pieces of your life like squi… Read More

Most gardeners, often unknowingly, have an idealized image of what a garden should look like, and aspire to recreate it, adapted, of course, to the actual conditions of their site. Mine is a… Read More

Do you know why I enjoy mixing perfumes? Imagine an open field of roses, extending as far as the eyes can see, an eighty acre garden. Hundreds of thousands of bushels of rose petals get pick… Read More

Hellebores are almost too good to be true. They grow in the shade, start blooming in February and their flowers last until August. Somewhere in between they produce seed that volunteers… Read More

I walk the foot wide dirt path between the flower beds, careful not to get scratched by the landscaping roses covered in clusters of red flowers. To the left, flanking the fence, cosmos and… Read More