Author Archives: talesofanashvillegardener

There has been no frost on this hill to stop the zinnias, but they are in suspended animation from the chill and the very low sun that barely clears the trees. Still there is color. I did not grow bergenias in Nashville, though I once saw them along a shady path near the mansion atContinue reading “Late Color in the October Garden”

Asters are true companions to autumn leaves. The low light and chilled mornings that make Hostas yellow and shrivel are a spring to asters. “October Skies”, seen here in the worst and driest soil in this Bow garden, thrived in the equally awful dirt and inferno heat of Nashville. One plant from a 3.5 inchContinue reading “Last of the Last”

When I drove along Rockingham Street and Logging Hill Road the other morning, I saw frost damage in the gardens. There had been ice on my windshield when I left work at 7 and blackened plants were no surprise. The cold settled into the Merrimack Valley and the growing season ended for 2019. But notContinue reading “Frost”

The lilies of the field are now only the late asters-purple, blue, or white- and perhaps a stray Showy goldenrod. But in the garden, where frost has yet to visit, we have colors to match the leaves. These zinnias are a mixture of the common Cut and Cut Again variety and the “Lime Queen” series.Continue reading “Matching Colors”

Some of the best wildflower hunting comes in the fields, on the roadsides, and in the ditches and waste places that every wildflower guide describes as “disturbed ground”. These photos were taken under power lines on a hill above Concord, N.H. The low bush blueberry, goldenrod, and heath asters never have to fear trees andContinue reading “On Disturbed Ground”

For more than 30 years I gardened in Tennessee. But I was raised in New England, and have now returned to New Hampshire, where I am taking care of and renovating my sister’s garden on a hill south of Concord. I have traded crepe myrtles and crinums for campanulas. Perhaps my experiences will be usefulContinue reading “A Note to Readers”