Lone Tree, Thomas Pereira 2020 Do those of us who have rejected traditional lawn-focused front gardens in favor of edible or perennial alternatives need to check our privilege? It’s not entirel...
In scrolling through the course offerings at the University of Maryland, where I've been taking classes for several years, I came upon this one: "Lawns in the Landscape: Environmental Hero or Vil...
https://gardenrant.com/2024/04/dissing-lawn-people-lawn-dissidents-dei.html
I'm absolutely amazed by how many plants there are. I know the plants in my garden well; I have paid for them and chose them above others. Yet every time I visit a garden or a nursery I see plant...
Hellebores and daffodils in late winter, with leaves covering them removed. Photo and garden by Marianne Willburn. I've written about the new messaging we gardeners are receiving - that for the s...
https://gardenrant.com/2024/03/stop-doing-garden-clean-up-is-it-a-garden-anymore.html
Guest Rant by Joseph Tychonievich There has been a lot of discussion in gardening circles about “nativars.” Is the term useful? How is it defined? The latest surge of comment coming from th...
https://gardenrant.com/2024/03/the-myth-of-the-wild-type-or-straight-species.html
Dale Carnegie might have difficulty recognizing the influencers of today. I’ve never read his book How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936 and 1981), but from what I've read about it - an...
https://gardenrant.com/2024/02/if-you-dont-influence-me-i-wont-influence-you.html
You want to grab a seat early when Carol Reese comes to town for a talk. She can a throw an entertaining stemwinder soaked with humor. The woman’s got soul and conviction. The former horticu...
https://gardenrant.com/2024/02/come-over-for-lunch-and-tell-me-what-to-plant.html
Today, or rather tonight (as I have let my day get away from me), I wanted to pick up on a discussion in the comments section of a post that Anne recently wrote regarding Garden Awards. Yes, we...
https://gardenrant.com/2024/02/a-dirty-word-in-gardening-criticism.html
A while ago Veddw Garden was declared one of the 100 best gardens in the UK. Even better, it was also one of the THREE best in Wales. Wow. A while ago, when lockdowns had ended, the National Gard...
I was scratching around looking for something to write about and then this came to my attention. Well it's not a bad question... Talk of divine inspiration; I was going to talk about snowdrops un...
There are far too many garden words and expressions which annoy me. So I thought I’d give myself the pleasure of ranting about some of them. And I’ll start with one that crops up a lot at thi...
Who will replace Monty Don as presenter on Gardener’s World? Well, it’s likely that you don’t care much in America, but perhaps you should. It’s one of those ‘has to be diverse' appoint...
Smithsonian, you’ve done it again. I usually find the best articles about plants and gardening in publications that do not restrict themselves to gardening content. This one is from September...
https://gardenrant.com/2023/10/kudzu-not-the-evil-creeper-we-thought-it-was.html
“You must visit my friend Mary; she's a plantswoman.” I'm a fairly placid sort of chap really. I do what I do and I'm largely happy for the world around me to just happen. The word 'plantsman...
Nandina 'Burgundy Wine' along the front of my house - in January. Other evergreens are Osmanthus 'Goshiki' and Carex 'Ice Dance'. I recently welcomed visitors to my townhouse garden, happily at f...
https://gardenrant.com/2023/09/the-truth-about-nandinas-killing-birds.html
Well, look who’s thrown his famous hat in the ring of the often-contentious discussion around pollinators and native plants. It’s Friend of Rant Allan Armitage, the author of Herbacious Peren...
https://gardenrant.com/2023/08/a-familiar-voice-speaks-out-on-natives-and-pollinators.html
Readers of the Washington Post, including me, have followed Dana Milbank's thoughtful, left-leaning political commentary for years. So what a surprise to read a recent column chastising himself -...
Oakleaf Hydrangeas (Hydrangea quercifolia) is my favorite hydrangea, and this one in my back garden seriously bowls me over in every season. But it's more than a beauty pageant winner - the fragr...
Gardening is a noble profession. It probably won't make you rich unless you get one of the handful of 'top jobs' that pay very well; ironically these are jobs where you're paid to not actually do...
What are your numbers? From garden bloggers to your 15-year-old niece, one’s social media following has become a statement of self. At a recent trade show, I was introduced to a colleague not w...
https://gardenrant.com/2023/06/its-a-new-growing-season-cue-the-paid-partnerships.html
Anyone who follows me on Instagram (@bensbotanics) will probably have come to the conclusion that I'm a bit of a 'plant nerd'. I'm writing this article in the spare bedroom of my little house in ...
https://gardenrant.com/2023/05/loving-gardens-elsewhere.html
Readers in America will have to forgive me some of this. I understand you have many 'invasives' and many people only wish to grow native plants. And I think many of you have local rules which als...
https://gardenrant.com/2023/05/set-a-weed-to-catch-a-weed.html
I have taken liberty with Stephen Stills’s 1970 song Love the One You’re With. The singer-songwriter, deep in the weeds of love, was working through an anguished relationship and attemptin...
https://gardenrant.com/2023/05/love-the-weeds-youre-with.html
Before embarking on this post, I did a quick search to see how many times the name “Audubon” comes up in Garden Rant posts and comments. The answer: many, many times, though - interestingly -...
But more plants everywhere is the only easy answer here. Which ones where is more nuanced and there will always be room for tweaking and constructive debate. The post Horticulture in Harmony? H...
https://gardenrant.com/2023/04/horticulture-in-harmony-heres-hoping.html
UPDATE: More assessments on the no-mow-month campaign since publication of this post: This article in Real Simple includes a quote from Dr. Doug Tallamy: "Dr. Tallamy sees little logic in letti...
https://gardenrant.com/2023/04/return-of-the-no-mow-month-meme.html
Recently I was surprised to hear a friend refer to daffodils as native here in Maryland, an assumption she'd made because they do so well in this region. And that's a reasonable assumption, giv...
https://gardenrant.com/2023/04/surprise-defenses-of-non-native-daffodils.html
As a longtime preservation activist, I have special empathy for those who advocate for landscape preservation. It’s hard enough to keep historic buildings going, but landscapes are a special ch...
https://gardenrant.com/2023/03/an-endangered-pocket-park-in-charlotte.html
I really love visiting the Royal Horticultural Society's garden at Rosemoor, here in the UK. It's a big place yet it feels intimate and personal. It's crammed with unusual plants but is also the ...
U.N. Secretary-General António Gutteres spoke solemnly on Monday about the looming catastrophic consequences of climate change. He was yelling “Fire!” The tone: Make no mistake about it. ...
https://gardenrant.com/2023/03/the-planet-got-anything-else-youre-worried-about-today.html
Are plants for the rich or for the poor? There seems to be a moral minefield around this question and I'm struggling to keep up with where we're supposed to be on the issue. Hello; my name's Ben ...
https://gardenrant.com/2023/03/youre-not-rich-enough-to-look-at-this-plant.html
About halfway through a fascinating article about a botanic garden on the Isle of Wight I’d never heard of - I’ve never heard of any gardens on the Isle of Wight - I wondered idly if the ...
https://gardenrant.com/2023/02/a-ventnor-across-the-pond.html
Gardens Illustrated is 30 years old this year. I have a first copy, dated April/May 1993. It came out every two months from then. That was a real, delightful game changer! I wonder who else remem...
An astonishing percentage of Republicans still believe the 2020 presidential election was stolen, though that fever seems to be simmering down slowly. The truth or nothing but the truth. It’s c...
I haven’t written for this site for quite a while, but today, nothing but a rant will do. In recent years I’ve become an enthusiastic advocate of incorporating ecology into our gardening. T...
https://gardenrant.com/2022/11/restoration-ecologists-and-horticulturists-need-to-work-together.html
Just as many in America - as evidenced by this year’s election results - are hoping that people are drawing back from the politics of extremism, I’d love to see the same happen in gardening c...
https://gardenrant.com/2022/11/when-did-it-all-get-so-extreme.html
That quote appeared in a story about the election season and how people have been feeling “divided and tired.” Haven't we all? Though I’ve never been one to go out of my way to avoid poli...
https://gardenrant.com/2022/11/i-think-its-better-if-we-talk-about-gardening.html
Black Tupelo tree, very rare Now here’s a campaign rallying cry you don’t hear too often: “Don’t we have enough trees around here?” It came from the Republican nominee for a Senate - ye...
3 minute, 22 second read. It’s difficult to chew and enjoy an aged, grass-fed steak when you’ve been living on a diet of McDonalds cheeseburgers – or a sautéed portobello when you’ve got...
Probably all of us know about the GMO issues, pro and con. How should they influence our planting as home gardeners? Or should they influence us at all? Some foods regularly appear in the grocery...
Now that “No Mow May” is half over, I want to support Susan in her recent critique of the “no mow” movement. I totally agree with her that if you’re going to have a lawn, you may as wel...
https://gardenrant.com/2022/05/you-dont-need-no-mow-to-help-pollinators.html
Guest post by Natalie Levin Composted manure, blood meal, bone meal, and fish emulsion are popular soil amendments. We routinely use these materials in our gardens. But consider adding your own ...
https://gardenrant.com/2022/04/human-produced-fertilizer-why-not.html
Ranting Locally - a Letter to the Editor I submitted this letter to the editor of my local paper with the title "No-Mow Presents Problems for Lawns" This year the City of Greenbelt’s “No-M...
https://gardenrant.com/2022/04/no-mow-month-xerces-society.html
Individuals and institutions worldwide are wisely examining their relationship to race, though often with predictably controversial results. In 2021, The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew announced in a ...
https://gardenrant.com/2022/02/is-it-time-to-woke-up-public-gardens.html
I think you can have a really great club or society that requires at least some rules of order, but if you’re going to pry young and/or young at heart people out of their busy lives to spend ti...
https://gardenrant.com/2022/01/dynamic-horticultural-group-exposed-secrets-to-success-revealed.html
Gardeners may occupy one of the more benign sectors of social media. I was thinking of this after seeing headlines citing “indisputable harm,” “rage and misinformation,” and “choosing g...
https://gardenrant.com/2021/10/i-know-just-kick-everybody-off-facebook-but-the-gardeners.html
The USDA agent introduced himself as "Mr. Hash.” I worried I was having a flashback. I struggled to avoid asking, "You’re f#@*ing kidding me?" This is a follow up to last month’s stor...
https://gardenrant.com/2021/10/agent-hash-and-the-sichuan-peppercorn.html
One of the biggest trends taking over the houseplant culture these days is going soilfree. Wait—did I just say growing houseplants in no soil? Yup, sure did. Plant tubers and influencers everyw...
A Real Rant. By now some of you may mistakenly be thinking I’m a nice person, but here comes a Proper Rant. We visited a garden last week and we really didn't like it. As ever, other people thi...
Let me count the ways to trash trees. I’ll start with careless butchery done every day by lawn mowers and string trimmers. I’ll add volcano mulch piled up around trees by jackleg landscape...
https://gardenrant.com/2021/08/trashing-trees-why-on-earth.html