I was researching a blog post about my local library, digging deep into its online resources, and came upon something I associate with a high price tag – Great Courses. Yes, if your library system, like mine (but not others in the DC area) subscribes to it, there’s lots on offer there for free (though...
Winter Sun & Guilty Joy: A Letter to The Midwest
From the editor: Rant readers following the verbal sparring between our own Scott Beuerlein and guest ranter Marianne Willburn may be wondering if the daggers had been sheathed for good or just for the holidays. This week, after the two met up at the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS) and Scott spent an evening good-humoredly...
Trade Shows Turns 50. Garden Writers Party.
Lord Baltimore lobby before the arrival of 30+ boozy garden writers. GardenRant has covered the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show several times, and I hope readers are ready for more because two Ranters attended this year, the show’s 50th! For me the show started Wednesday night with a boozy meet-and-greet of garden writers in the lobby...
Snorkeling Past Solstice to Spring
Rose and Story prepare for the sea hunt at Hanauma Bay on Oahu. Rose and I stared out the kitchen window, last month, while fat robins feasted on our deciduous hollies and a glorious evergreen 40-foot American holly. Once the berries were picked clean, the robins hung around for a few hours. They splashed around...
Hard Pruning with Attitude Amid Lingering Dwarf Conifer Issues
If I were being completely honest, and I’m usually not, I would admit that I have an almost maniacally caricatured impulse to over-plant. Collector’s mentality run amok. Garden design joyfully not grounded in reality. Which basically defines most gardens I’ve seen and 99% of the dwarf conifer collections I’ve been to. Yeah, sure, they grow...