Recent history books such as ‘Founding Gardeners’ by Andrea Wulf have revealed the botanical, horticultural and agricultural enthusiasms of the Founding Fathers and signatories to the Declaration of Independence, who recognized the most valuable assets of the colonies were diverse economic plants. In time, their experiments became passions. For Washington, Madison and Jefferson they became […]
Amid the noisy coverage of high cost health care and high-tech medicine, one inexpensive, low-tech therapy has received scant attention. This approach has proven a highly effective adjunct therapy for a broad range of conditions: mental illness, disabilities, AIDS, autism, orthopedic recovery, brain injuries, substance abuse, depression, cancer, Alzheimer’s, attention deficit disorder, obesity and burn […]
We had the opportunity last year to meet an extraordinary group of conifer specialists and professional arborists: Ridge Goodwin of Ridge Goodwin & Associates and Martin Brooks of Rare Plant Nursery, as well as the team of Fred and Cheryl Vieth of Creative Essentials. Cheryl and Fred collaborated with Ridge and Marty on all aspects […]
The Delaware Valley can rightfully proclaim itself the capital of American public gardens. Our region is home to an unrivalled collection of world class gardens and arboreta, remarkable for their quality, distinctive personalities and specialties. The fortunate residents of the Philadelphia region, can, by travelling a short distance, find themselves in other worlds. One might […]
I don’t know why the previous inhabitants of this house kept the yard so wet. “Over watered”, I noted when I originally saw it. But it’s since occurred to me that the purpose might have been to suppress the gophers and preserve the lawn while they were attempting to pass the house off to us. […]
I know: it sounds like an expensive dinner item in a fancy Chinese restaurant menu. Really fancy. After my travels through Asia, I can imagine such a dinner item. However, the subject is a new arrangement of Densaburo Oku’s glass and metal fish sculptures. We decided to bring them closer to the viewers for this, […]
Recently I bought a small collection of large trees and shrubs from a group of local nurserymen and conifer enthusiasts. Over twelve years ago, after purchasing Fordhook Farm, the core of the old historic Burpee estate, from the family, I brought in a series of garden designers and landscape architects—some local, some distant, some famous, […]
In today’s battered real estate market, tiny shoots of green are not only pushing up through the ground, but also pushing property values, if not sky high, at least back up to par, especially for those preparing to sell their homes. Curb appeal—the catnip of home buyers everywhere—can be defined as the physical, visual context […]
For the first of two Open House weekends, we received nearly 1,200 guests over the two days, Saturday and Sunday. Much fun was had by all. In spite of forecasts, Saturday brought gorgeous late spring weather—sunny, breezy and comfortably cool. Sunday was cooler and lightly overcast, but bright enough to see the many delicate blooms, […]
Nearly all scholars agree that the invention of agriculture 10,000 years ago was the wellspring of human civilization, innovation and creativity. Not so Jared Diamond. The geographer and author of “Guns, Germs and Steel” famously declared agriculture’s adoption the “worst mistake in the history of the human race” and a “catastrophe from which we have […]
