Author Archives: talesofanashvillegardener

When the David Austin roses came to the US, I bought and planted about two dozen of them in my garden in Nashville. How seductive they were, and still are, and yet not one of them would I grow again. I never thought I would live in New Hampshire and be writing about those roses.Continue reading “A Few Words about the David Austin Roses”

This little rose campion is different from the ones I see in other gardens and and at garden centers. It lives in a dry, partly shady area in my sister’s garden in Bow. My sister does not remember where it came from, but bets that it was a pass along plant, probably from my otherContinue reading “Verbascum and Rose Campion”

Every year I try to test a few new plants and for every failure, I discover a new plant worth keeping. I have several new salvias this year, but the most promising and precocious are the Chiapas Sage from the forest verges of mountainous Mexico, and Salvia “Roman Red”, a cross between Salvia darcyi (alsoContinue reading “Two New Salvias”

My order from Romence Gardens in Michigan came today, and though the taller agastaches were a bit frazzled by box confinement, the plants were in fine condition. Romence is on Dave’s Garden Watchdog list of the 30 best reviewed mail order companies in the US. I had never ordered from them before, and I haveContinue reading “May 8- Arrivals”

Above is a photo of spring disarray. Plants outside to harden off, but still too vulnerable to plant. We are having gray rain now, day after day, and we don’t dare to complain, since it has broken the drought. I feel as though I am living in Seattle. A dooryard lilac and below, a showyContinue reading “May 5”

According to the Washington Post, some of the members of the American Horticultural Society Board, quietly put George Washington’s River Farm in Alexandria ,Virginia, for sale for 32 million plus, and turned down an offer to buy the place and preserve it made by the County of Fairfax. These soul less, greedy people, members ofContinue reading “The Preservation of Gardens”

And in my garden, there is not much to show for it, though sedums, Silver Mound artemesia, and the “October Skies” aromatic aster are above ground and looking tidy and fresh. On Wednesday overnight, we had a hard freeze to 27 F. That afternoon, I looked out the window of the place I work, andContinue reading “One Day of Spring”

No photo with this post, since borrowing pictures from an ad would be copyright infringement, and anyone reading this can look up “Tertill” yourself, though if you do, the ads for this little machine will start following you everywhere around the Internet. The Saturday Wall Street Journal has inserts devoted to all the stylish, expensiveContinue reading “Weed Robot”

Looking at my small, bare garden beds just before the snows and after the snows are melted away, I realized that my annuals and perennials are, as Russell Page once said, no more than “brightly colored hay”. I had thought by adding a Montauk Daisy or two I might add a little substance, since theirContinue reading “A Small Shrub for a Small Garden”

No photo today as I open up this blog for the season. Nothing much to see but bare ground. But even bare ground is better than the World out There. John Prine was right. “Blow up your TV”. “Throw away your paper” I cancelled cable TV weeks ago, unwilling to pay car payment sized billsContinue reading “Wisdom from the late John Prine”