Spring comes as the earth quickens its pace toward the cosmic explosion of that young star we call the Sun. Physicists reckon the Sun is merely one of the infinite shards of the Big Bang that took place 14 billion (or so) years ago. Spring’s explosive past makes it only fitting that so many historic […]
Among the earliest visitors to their gardens each year are Americans of Irish extraction. Undeterred by the blustery wind and cold, shovels in hand, they are observing the proud tradition of planting potatoes on St. Patrick’s Day. Many Americans know how the failure of the potato crop between 1845 and 1852 caused mass starvation and […]
Sometimes everything falls into perfect harmony. Like a safecracker opening a massive vault, the management of America’s best and largest flower show pulled off a huge score, as much a tribute to departing president Jane Pepper as to the maturing skills of the recently appointed Sam Lemheney, the show’s director. And perhaps it augers well […]
Most of the time, the garden is a quiet place, an idyllic refuge from the madding crowd. The loudest noise is usually the gentle buzz of bees or hum of hummingbirds on nectar-gathering sorties. Once in awhile, though, a controversy will alight amid the flowers and vegetables, the garden gloves come off, and, before you […]
It is difficult to grasp the scale of destruction, death and horror visited upon Haiti by the earthquake that shook the island country on January 12th. The estimated death toll–upwards of 200,000–is staggering; if the United States were to have a disaster with proportionate casualties, the loss of life would top 6 million. Military and […]
This coming Sunday, February 28th, I shall give a speech at 11:30 A.M. at the Philadelphia Flower Show. Since this year’s theme is “Passport To The World”, we decided to focus on plant collecting. My talk is about one hour long, including a question and answer session. I shall speak off these “talking points”, so […]
The modern head cold is the price for an uncovered head. Even in men, bareness—hairy or clean—is thought to be sexy. It originated with the rise of both informal photography and the fashion for the outdoorsy look, culminating in President John F. Kennedy’s famous bushy mane shining in the sun of his 1961 Inauguration. (Ever […]
Even in antiquity there was an awareness that plants influence the growth of their neighbors. The earliest reference comes from Theophrastus (called the “father of botany”) who, roughly 2300 years ago, noted that chickpea killed weeds and depleted the soil. He might have been describing what we call “allelopathy”, the phenomenon in which a chemical […]
Next week we might remind ourselves that love is not rocket science. No, it’s way more difficult. Albert Einstein put the question, “How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?” We are still waiting for his answer. I would imagine, […]
The dog didn’t seem to be cold. I wasn’t either, but it was no warmer than —15°F. It was a clear, still night; we had gone out for a walk before bed and nothing much seemed to be moving. The only sound I was aware of was the brittle, dry snow crunching beneath our feet. […]
