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…
I have come to revere the artful and effortless way that Italians garden in containers. Even when I was just a student wandering around Italy, I noticed the flowers and foliage that seemed to sprout from every crevice. When I go there now with a more finely attuned horticultural radar, I’m moved and inspired by…
After returning from Puglia last summer, I knew I would need an olive tree for the balcony. Over the four weeks I spent surrounded by them in the countryside, I had become accustomed to their presence. I could no longer imagine life without their twisty branches and muted foliage rustling in the breeze, catching the…