Graham Blandy Boxwood Strikes a Pose...

This odd winter, more warm than cold, feels different to me and full of change. At times like this, I turn away from my thoughts and take comfort looking at my garden, specifically at my favorite trees and shrubs. ‘Graham Blandy’ boxwood (Buxus sempervirens ‘Graham Blandy’) is one of those prized plants. I have three of them in front of my house in a more-the-merrier little group. They are dark green, columnar boxwoods with shiny leaves. In warm sunny climates they can grow up to 9 feet high and 1.5 feet wide, but in their semi-shaded location on...

Chief Joseph makes light of winter...

Want a plant that stands out in the winter landscape? ‘Chief Joseph’ lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta ‘Chief Joseph’) does that with its stunning winter color. Typically described as squash yellow, ‘Chief Joseph” is pure gold–more specifically yellow with a slight orange tint and an ochre-ish undertone. In summer, the plant is green with not a hint of its dramatic winter look. The photo above shows a plant about 2 feet tall in my garden after a light snowfall. I feel happy on my garden walks when I visit this little lodgepole pine...

Rocky Labyrinth in the Maine Woods...

Good garden things happen unexpectedly. For example, I met avid gardener Bob Scherer last spring after I spoke at a pruning workshop at Rolling Green Nursery in Greenland, New Hampshire. An online conversation began, followed by an invitation to visit his woodland garden. Bob and his wife Jeni, another plant lover, live in Cape Neddick, Maine. Bob plays endlessly with stone. His latest effort came a year ago when the couple had to have their septic system rebuilt, and Bob couldn’t leave the resulting mound alone. In addition to being a self-professed wine and beer...

Taxodium in home landscapes...

Why don’t we use more bald and pond cypresses (Taxodium spp.) in residential landscapes? I took the photograph above of a house landscaped with Taxodium on a recent house tour in New Orleans. Limbed up, these tall narrow trees fits the space by the driveway and by the street. Here in New Hampshire, I group two bald cypresses (T. distichum) with dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides ‘Ogon’) and giant Petasites for a dramatic, primeval effect. In leaf, these deciduous conifers have fine-textured foliage and cast light shade.  Pond cypress grows...

Speaking of pruning…...

If you have a pruning question, I can answer it! My new book, The Pruning Answer Book: Solutions to Every Problem You’ll Ever Face, Answers to Every Question You’ll Ever Ask by Lewis Hill and Penelope O’Sullivan, is just arriving in bookstores. Storey is my publisher and has once again delivered an outstanding and useful little book (383 pp., 4.5 ” x 6.5″). So take a walk outside, check out your trees and shrubs, and make a list of what you have to do. I’ll do my shrub and small tree pruning later in winter because the snow is too deep...

Microbiota’s Winter Color Change...

You like it or you don’t. For many winters I’ve hated this particular planting of bronze-hued Russian arborvitae (Microbiota decussata) and winterberry (Ilex verticillata), but recently I changed my mind. The old me thought that the bronze microbiota looked drab and sickly (it does), but this year I changed my thinking. Winterberry and microbiota bring color to the winter landscape. The planting, after all, is in southern New Hampshire, where winter used to last five or six months. Seeing the bright red fruits makes me smile, and even if dull olive-bronze...

Morea iris is a mystery no more...

Once upon a time, a mysterious flower grew near my son’s house in New Orleans. It looked like an iris, but when I tried to discover the variety, it was nowhere to be found. I searched and searched with no luck. I gave up until the end of August, when I went to my nephew’s wedding near Seattle. Wandering in the garden with Wilma, his fiancée, I saw it. At least I thought I did. It was a peacock orchid, Acidanthera bicolor, Wilma explained. I looked it up on my iPhone and it seemed right–a bulb in the gladiolus family hardy in Zones 8-11 and blooming late...