When I first started gardening, it wasn’t unusual to hear other gardeners lamenting the shady areas of their landscapes – wishing for more, more, more sun. But my friend Ken Druse never looked at the lower-light areas that way –… Read More ›
Archives
Dan Wilder on Powerhouse Shrubs – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – May 5, 2025
Woody plants—the trees and shrubs—can be pure ecological powerhouses, but most of us don’t have room for an entire forest in our backyards. So on a garden scale, which shrubs in particular really get the job done best? Dan Wilder, a longtime native plant… Read More ›
Uli Lorimer on Trillium & More – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – April 28, 2025
I look forward to spring for many reasons, not the least of which is the emergence and bloom time of the trilliums. There’s a saying that good things come in threes, and trilliums are certainly proof of that. I talked… Read More ›
Marigolds & More with Peace Seedlings – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – April 21, 2025
So you think you’re familiar with marigolds and zinnias? Well, it’s time to take another look, I think, as I have been longingly in the seed list from Oregon-based Peace Seedlings. Among their offerings are multi-toned zinnias in shades you won’t… Read More ›
Rosy Dawn Gardens on Coleus – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – April 14, 2025
It’s hard to think of a brighter botanical bright spot than the one that Coleus creates—whether in a container design, or planted in a garden bed. And it’s hard to think of a more Coleus-filled place than Rosy Dawn Gardens,… Read More ›
Amy Chaplin on Spring Flavors – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – April 7, 2025
I can almost taste it now: the flavors of the first spring crops, whether homegrown, or from your CSA share, or even ethically foraged…with the promise of a whole growing season of the freshest, tastiest produce to come. It’s the… Read More ›
Teresa Woodard on Maximalist Design – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – March 31, 2025
More isn’t always better, of course, but in the case of the gardens profiled in the new book “Garden to the Max,” it definitely is, whether more color, more texture, more drama or all of the above, and then some,… Read More ›
Theresa Crimmins on Phenology – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – March 24, 2025
Though the calendar says that spring started on March 20, the many clues that nature offers to those who watch and listen add up to a more complex and layered unfolding over time. Inspired by a new book called “Phenology,”… Read More ›
Garden Biodiversity at Chanticleer – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – March 17, 2025
Anyone who has heard of or even better visited Chanticleer Garden in Pennsylvania knows that it is home to some of the country’s most exceptional examples of horticultural creativity and innovation. A multi-year biodiversity survey of the Chanticleer property has… Read More ›
Jim Sirch on Frog Gardens – A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach – March 10, 2025
We’ve all heard about what plants and other features figure into making a garden for the birds, or a pollinator garden … but what about a frog garden? I’m crazy about frogs and would like to think my place is… Read More ›