Author Archives: talesofanashvillegardener

This is another of the survivor phloxes growing in the dooryard. It has some leaf yellowing, but no mildew. This photo was taken this evening, and it shows how eye catching white flowers can be In the distance, the gray plants light the garden.

Sonnet and Rocket Snapdragon, Angelonias, Heliopsis, Castor Beans, Salvia “Black and Blue”, old fashioned Balsams, Nicotiana mutabilis. This is Cottage style planting with an intermingling of colors. Plants are not massed in blocks. I prefer a pointillist effect. Salvia Mystic Spires, Balsams, petunias Sonnet Pink Snapdragons, “Dondo” ageratum not yet blooming. Closeups of Balsams. TheseContinue reading “A Three Month Old Garden in New Boston”

I drove to Goffstown to the hardware store today to take a look at their outside plant department. I have found many a fine perennial there- the “Southern Cross” ironweed, for example- and thought the store would not be crowded on a Sunday morning. I had to park across the street next to the dumpsters,Continue reading “A Sunday Surprise”

The tall garden phlox need rich, well-watered soil and pampering, according to the experts and the books. Yet the old farm and dooryard varieties cannot read, and they grow where they want to. I have one that came up in the middle of a quince bush. Others persisted in forgotten places against the house. OneContinue reading “Feral Phlox”

This plant, taller than I am, traveled 3000 miles to New Boston to live with me. I bought it, and two other Nicotiana cultivars, from Annie’s Annuals in California. I grew this flower in Tennessee where it remained small and reluctant. But I remember Elizabeth Lawrence, the best of American garden writers, writing that onceContinue reading “Nicotiana mutabilis”

I live up the road from the Lang Railroad Station in New Boston. The station is now part of a town forest and walkway along the old railroad line. No train has been heard here since early in the last century. But one went through last night. I was home from work at midnight andContinue reading “The Fourth of July, and a Phantom Train”

When I moved to back to New Hampshire I bought books about New England gardening,but nothing in them taught me as much as driving down Rockingham St. in Concord , or visiting The Fells near Lake Sunapee, or stopping on my way home from work in the morning to see what was blooming in theContinue reading “The Bow Garden Club Garden”

Orange hawkweed may be a pest and an opportunist, but it does shine, and it shows how complimentary orange and green can be. It came from the old world through the old seaports, not one hundred miles from here. The maiden pink came too. This patch came with the garden here at the farm. ThisContinue reading “In The Meadow”

Though I have left crape myrtles, ginger lilies, and cannas behind, there are some favorites from the South I could not give up, even if I have to keep them in containers and have them shipped from Louisiana or California. Here are the salvias,ever-blooming and ignored by deer and woodchucks. This is “Cold Hardy Pink”,Continue reading “Blooming in Mid-June”