My notion of the perfect flower garden was formed early in life. I took it directly from a fanciful illustration of an English cottage garden in my nursery-rhyme book.  I recall being enchanted by the towering spires of blue blooms—probably delphiniums, but possibly ladybells—before which Mistress Mary flounced contrarily down her garden path…

WINTER FLOWERS always come as a special delight—all the more so if they happen to be fragrant. Luckily, we in the South can grow a number of winter-blooming shrubs renowned for their fragrance.

Michael Dirr is one of those rare, driven individuals who make the rest of us look like we’re mired in Jell-O.

A look at the Center for Plant Conservation, an organization that works to save endangered plants.

The honeybee is in trouble. I first began to suspect this one sunny May afternoon in 1996, when my husband and I were accompanying friends on a picnic on a farm in south-central Tennessee.

It is only upon close inspection of the broad, curving borders embracing the house and front and rear lawns that one appreciates what a vast assortment of plants they contain and realizes that, however tastefully subdued the surroundings, this is, nevertheless, the domain of an adventurous — make that obsessive — plant addict . . .