St Agnes' Eve by Lord Alfred Tennyson
“The shadows of the convent towersSlant down the snowy sward, Still creeping with the creeping hoursThat lead me to my Lord.Make Thou my spirit pure and clearAs are the frosty skies,Or this [Snowflake]...
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Spring Snowflakes
If permitted only to have two early-spring flowering bulbs, I would have picked Galanthus elwesii (the giant snowdrop) and Leucojum vernum (spring snowflake). When their flowers are backlit, they...
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"More than the cherry blossoms...."
More than the cherry blossomsInviting a wind to blow them awayI am wondering what to doWith the remaining springtime.~Forty-Seven Ronin
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Flowering Cherries in Art: Blossoming Cherry Trees by Sakai Hōitsu
Blossoming Cherry Trees, ca. 1805 Sakai Hōitsu CREDIT: Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art notes that Japanese cherries are rarely painted as the sole subject since they are...
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Prunus 'Gyoiko'
Gyoiko’ belongs to an unique group of greenish to green flowering cherries. Although one wonders why such forms would be selected and cultivated, they are worth preserving for their cultural and...
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Naoko Abe's The Sakura Obsession
A famous Japanese artist or celebrity once said that the Japanese do not appreciate what they have until foreigners validate them. The fact it took a foreigner to conserve some of rare Japanese...
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Flowering Cherries in Art: Cherry Blossoms and Stream by Kano Eigaku
Unlike Sakai Hōitsu’s Blossoming Cherries screen, Kano Eigaku’s Cherry Blossoms and Stream in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts places the tree within the landscape setting. Here anchored among the...
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5-10-5: Arist Morgan Allender
by Eric HsuI first became acquainted with Morgan Allender’s work through Instagram, and identified with the moody and romantic feeling of her paintings. When Morgan attended the Beth Chatto Symposium...
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A note of support for specialty nurseries
Digging Dog Nursery, Albion, California, was one of the first few West Coast specialty nurseries to offer perennials more available in Europe. As a child besotted with plants, I used to have my mother...
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Specialty Nursery Profile: issima, Little Compton, Rhode Island
If there was an unofficial motto for issima (www.issimaworks.com), it would be “the smallest nursery in the smallest state” in co-proprietor Ed Bowen’s wry words. Ed and his partner in business Taylor...
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Specialty Nursery Profile: The Bunker Farm, Dummerston, Vermont
Pretty in pink: Panicum virgatum and tender Melinus nerviglumis with Echinacea purpurea, Agastache, and Cuphea lanceolata ‘Purple Passion’ - the annuals (Melinus, Agastache, and Cuphea) are all...
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Specialty Nursery Profile: Cistus, Sauvie Island, Oregon
My path frequently crossed with Sean Hogan when I would travel to Pacific Northwest for work and holiday. Sean’s nursery Cistus, which was started with his late partner Parker Sanderson, frequently...
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Specialty Nursery Profile: Garden Vision Epimediums, Phillipston, MA
As the summer edges closer to autumn, the cooler temperatures and still warm soil will be a good time to plant perennials and woody plants, which will develop good root systems without the stress of...
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Specialty Nursery Profile: Far Reaches Farm, Port Townsend, Washington State
Trays of plants are continually propagated to fulfill the desires of covetous gardeners who peruse the catalog online for updates. Photo Credit: Eric Hsu Interview by Eric Hsu with Kelly Dodson and...
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Specialty Nursery Profile: Q Daffs
The interviewee, Christopher Harley, kneels down to capture the daffodils at their best in the production fields. Carlos van der Veek taking pics of the view from the wind turbine. The daffodil...
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Palms in Japanese arts and crafts
As the Japanese have beautifully and successfully incorporated plants as motifs in their arts and crafts, they have utilized the palm well. The clean, geometric lines of palm fronds lend themselves to...
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5-10-5: Jason Dewees, Plantsman, Resident Plant Guru of Flora Grubb Gardens...
Interview by Eric Hsu and Jason Dewees Photographs by Caitlin Atkinson Jason Dewees with the photographer Caitlin Atkinson The plant world always have their champions for specific plants or plant...
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Wax Palms in Disney's 'Encanto'
Image Credit; Courtesy of Disney Studios from ‘Encanto’ With Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “We Don’t Talk about Bruno” making airwaves online., Disney’s animated film ‘Encanto’ should be familiar even to those...
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Overlooked Plants: Crinum bulbispermum (Orange River Lily)
The buds of Crinum bulbispermum are attractively striped like peppermint candy, and the striped pattern creates a more subtle blush effect within the flower interiors. Sometimes certain plants gain a...
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The Italian Vegetable Primer: Sauce Tomatoes
Top clockwise: ‘Canestrino di Lucca’, ‘Opalka’, ‘San Marzano’. ‘Enrica Cimelo Toscana’ Sauce tomatoes never figured in Chinese or Taiwanese cuisine; even the tomatoes used in 番茄炒蛋 or Xī Hóng Shì Chǎo...
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