Betula jacquemontii Whitebarked Himalayan Birch Tree
Now. Now on a Saturday. Now in January. Now in the winter of the year two thousand and eleven. What catches your eye now? Not that beautiful stranger or that creamy chocolate cupcake, botanical interests only please. With your outside eye, which plants fascinate and enrich during this time of dark-cold? The birch is one. With the absence of leafy green, the bark is ‘appealing’ … Continue reading Betula jacquemontii Whitebarked Himalayan Birch Tree
Best of the Test Garden, from Organic Gardening Magazine
I’ve enjoyed this great magazine for a long time. It’s always loaded with advice on growing vegetables and plants and has helped me become a better gardener. What is organic gardening? Not using synthetic products for pesticides and fertilizers. Focusing on soil building and natural pest control. It’s all about compost and ladybugs! Here is Organic Gardening’s top ten list from the 2010 test gardens, … Continue reading Best of the Test Garden, from Organic Gardening Magazine
Witchhazel ‘Arnold Promise’
Witchhazel ‘Arnold Promise’ Hamamelis x intermedia The seasons of time turn, and changes come and pass, leaving memories of summer, even in the frost of January. Those memories of warm summer days are never forgotten with a witchhazel plant. In the middle of snow and ice the winter seems to fade when the witchhazel blooms bright yellow and orange. The highly fragrant scent is … Continue reading Witchhazel ‘Arnold Promise’
Book Review: The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan
This book put new and different ideas in my mind. Plants in charge? Plants bending us to their will? I hadn’t before thought of this concept; a plant’s eye view of the world. Now I can never go back to the old way of thinking: that people alone shape our world. I know that plants are living and growing, but I didn’t understand how … Continue reading Book Review: The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan
Rainyleaf 