...it is not generally realized by the amateur gardener how many shrubs and climbers will lend themselves happily to layering. It is possible to obtain quite a nursery of young, rooted stock in a short time, at no cost and for very little trouble. Honeysuckles sometimes layer themselves of their own accord, so avail yourselves … Continue reading Honeysuckle Fireworks
Tag: meditation
Paved Paradise…
...as you grow more ambitious, the blue poppy Meconopsis baileyi, which is the dream of every gardener, will all take happily to a shaded home, especially if some moisture keeps them fresh. -Vita Sackville-West A Joy of Gardening; 1958 The other day, my Grandmother told me one of her favorite memories... When paying her one … Continue reading Paved Paradise…
Snatching Velvet in the Night
Their beauty is beyond dispute. No velvet can rival the richness of their falls; or, let us say, it is to velvet only that we may compare them. -Vita Sackville-West In Your Garden June 26, 1949 I have thought of planting Iris for a long time, but they are rather expensive. Out my kitchen window … Continue reading Snatching Velvet in the Night
A Rose That Spoke
They may roughly be described as roses which should be grown as shrubs; that is, allowed to ramp away into big bushes, and allowed also to travel about underground if they are on their own roots and come up in fine carelessness some yards from the parent plant. -Vita Sackville-West May 28th, 1950 In Your … Continue reading A Rose That Spoke
Short and Sweet Woodruff
CURE FOR EMPTY SPACES IN YOUR GARDEN AND YOUR WINTER BLUES...
From Muddy Waters to Finding the Perfect Shade of Blue
"The Morning Glory is a joy every year. Those enormous sky-blue trumpets that open every morning before breakfast and shut themselves up again between luncheon and tea...You must make sure to get the right kind: it is called Ipomea rubra-coerulea, Heavenly Blue." -Vita Sackville-West In Your Garden: February 12, 1950 Vita loved her Morning … Continue reading From Muddy Waters to Finding the Perfect Shade of Blue
ROMANCING THE CLEMATIS
An unusual way of treating clematis is to grow it horizontally instead of vertically...but do this as gingerly as you can, for clematis seems to resent the touch of the human hand. ...the reward will be great. For one thing you will be able to gaze right down into the upturned face of the flower … Continue reading ROMANCING THE CLEMATIS
“Go Round Popping The Buds”
Far more satisfactory [than the hibiscus], I find, are the hardy fuchsias...although they will probably be cut to the ground by frost in winter, there is no cause for alarm, for they will spring up again from the base in time to flower generously in midsummer...and in case of extremely hard weather an old sack … Continue reading “Go Round Popping The Buds”
Magic Mornings
That he was both censorious and pious I quickly discovered from the first page of the introduction, for after a reference to 'this rude lumpe and confused heape'... 'wherein Wickedness superabounds and as it were forceth God to withhold the rain, to send the Mildew, the Caterpillar, and other his inferiour officers to correct us.' … Continue reading Magic Mornings









