Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” asked the poet, Mary Oliver in her 1990 poem “The Summer Day” “Catastrophizing.” Says the Modern, looking up from desk or device, oblivious to the tangible, observable, intoxicating natural world that Oliver inhabited for 83 years as a student. [...]
This month, I'm honored to be profiled in Horticulture magazine as part of Scott Beuerlein's long running column on people in the horticultural industry. Scott chose to aim his questions at what a garden writer's life looks like, and did a tremendous job pulling out my thoughts on independence in journalism, the digital marketplace, and [...]
In looking through hundreds of articles written over the last fifteen years – and particularly for those written at this time of year – I realize that I not only have a soft spot for May, but a blind spot. To read these articles, usually penned at this point in April for the glorious lusty [...]
For gardeners who grow few plants from seed, or who only grow the seeds that they can scatter with a drink in their hands in spring (preferably from the deck), the process may feel complicated and time consuming. Sure, time is money, but if you’ve been watching prices sharply increase for tiny tomato [...]
Yesterday morning – the last of 2024 – I had a phone conversation with Scott Beuerlein, my writing partner over at GardenRant, checking in on his mobility after hip surgery this month. Somewhere in a conversation that ranged from the sneaky infiltration of AI into garden writing, to the weirdness of aging, to impossible New [...]
It’s the last day of 2024, and I’ve given myself one job. This post. In two parts. One today in 2024. One tomorrow in 2025. Thus I have plopped myself down in my dining room (where I can’t be distracted by the stacks of admin in my office), opened the laptop, made a strong cup [...]
The frost has come or is soon coming to a garden near you – and yet I have a sneaking suspicion (judging from the reactions on my latest Instagram post @marianne.willburn) that tough decisions are still being avoided by otherwise sensible gardeners across the cold climates of America. The choice before them – and before [...]
Many years ago I wrote an article entitled “Beans or Beach?” – bemoaning the difficulty that serious gardeners have with leaving their gardens like normal people and taking vacations. “If it is a year that we have decided to visit our family in California the question is always “when”? Seedlings are started in February, the [...]
The day before Christmas, I was gathering colorful ‘Arctic Fire’ cornus twigs in the garden, and was feeling content about the fact that the surrounding scene wasn’t the winter wasteland it once had been. Creating a garden that can stand proudly – or at least unashamedly – when leaves are gone and soils are grey [...]
I'm into table decorating. Always have been. If you give me a table and an hour, and put someone else in charge of stirring the balsamic reduction, I am in my happy place. Somewhere between my twenties and now, table decorations have become 'tablescapes', and I can't disagree with the term - creating a gorgeous [...]
There’s more than one way to do everything. In gardening. In life. In planting an apple tree, or peeling apples over the sink. Certainly there are rules that guide us (don’t use a dull knife), and experts that sway us (use a 3 ¼ inch Victorinox, says the team at Cook’s Illustrated ). But the [...]
It’s so dry right now in my little part of Rain Shadow, Virginia that even the blades of Japanese stilt grass are curling. When, last night, my husband decided, mid-sip, that we needed to stay off the aging deck or risk falling through it, all I could think was, “Oh good. That means I can [...]
Pam Harper died last week in her home in Seaford, Virginia at the age of 93 after a short illness; and the horticultural community who knew her and loved her shared a collective sigh -- as well as sharing hundreds of emails and texts alerting colleagues and friends worldwide. ‘Another giant says goodbye.’ wrote Tony [...]
I never thought I could find joy in, much less love, a dead tree standing on my property, smack in the middle of otherwise pastoral views. But I not only love a dead tree, I’m distressed by the fact that it’s only mostly dead, which is to say, somewhat alive, and has begun a process [...]
When we fall hard for a plant, we focus all of our desire on it. We vow to give it all it ever needs, even if we know it’s unsuited to our soil, our exposure, or our climate in general. We act unreasonably, but reason isn’t a part of the falling in love process. We [...]
Yes, I know. We could have done with this post about two months ago. But two months ago I was planting bulbs and didn’t have time to write it. Still, there’s a good chance there are more than a few of you with boxes of bulbs that haven’t gone in yet, and very little time [...]
December is upon us, the spirit is in the air, and you have an itch to try the whole wreath-making thing again. Except...you've never really nailed the art of wreath making. 'Spindly' and 'amateurish' are words that figure prominently in the memories you haven't already blocked, followed by 'lop-sided,' and 'award for participation.' Perhaps you'd [...]
If you grow the hardy orange (once Poncirus trifoliata, now Citrus trifoliata), and you cook, you’ve probably wondered whether or not you can use those pretty little orange fruits to make marmalade. The answer is yes, but you'll probably want to skip the peel. You can also skip to the bottom of this post to [...]
I wrote this article originally for The National Garden Bureau, of which I'm a proud member. However, the info is so important, I asked to reprint it here for the benefit of my readers too . I hope you enjoy it and find a few tips for making the transition from garden plant to houseplant, [...]
Last weekend I started the process of becoming professionally serious about a small area west of my fenced kitchen garden. It's functioned as a mini-wildflower meadow (and then general eyesore) for the last four or so years. With the advice and help of the talented horticulturist, designer and author Gregg Tepper, I’m diving into the [...]
