Practical advice & moral support for the small-scale gardener
The first summer I visited my husband’s extended family in Puglia, I came away besotted with the charming container gardens that adorned the fairy tale-like historic centers of the region’s towns and cities. How moving, I thought, that the residents of these homes didn’t let a lack of soil or space hold them back from…
You have to admire the tenacity of figs. Not only are they one of the oldest cultivated fruits known to humankind, with traces of them found in Neolithic sites dating to 5000 B.C.E., but they can grow anywhere, even the most inhospitable locations. The key to successful container gardening is choosing plants whose natural growing conditions closely resemble…
We arrived in Mexico City before dawn, well before our guesthouse was ready for us. Wandering the empty streets and plazas of Coyoacán, I could sense lushness even in the dark. When the sun rose and our room was ready, we went to bed, exhausted from the journey. Around midday, I rose to open the…
It’s California Native Plant Week! This event, organized by the California Native Plant Society, celebrates the 6,000+ types of plants indigenous to my state. These are the species that occur naturally in this region, not introduced by humans. Although there are loads of benefits to growing native plants, keeping them in containers comes with challenges. But it’s worth…
I garden in the Bay Area of California, a part of the world with a very weird and wonderful climate. As a result of the hilly terrain and interlocking land and water masses on the edge of the ocean, we famously have microclimates, which vary from neighborhood to neighborhood. So, to be specific, I garden in…