Poland’s Brother Stefan Franczak has created a new generation of outstanding hybrids
by MAURICE HORN
AS A NURSERYMAN, I am always looking for plants that offer outstanding performance in return for relatively basic care. When I note …

Tropical luxuriance with temperate ease
BY C. COLSTON BURRELL
Tropical plants lend an air of the exotic to temperate gardens, but planting them out each spring and lifting them every fall can be a lot of work.
If …

Extension Consumer Horticulturist, Clemson University
How should I protect my strawberry bed over the winter?-S.S., Ridgetown, Ontario
Answer: Strawberry crowns and roots require protection wherever winter temperatures drop below 15°F. This ordinarily entails covering the plants with …

Northeast
BY TOVAH MARTIN/Roxbury, Connecticut, Zone 5
Hordes of Houseplants
THE THERMOSTAT in my house is set at 60°F, not because I require that temperature. No, I can easily live at 55°F, but the bougainvilleas can’t.
Wherever I go, …

Under Director Caroline Burgess, students receive a rigorous hands-on horticultural training
byHATSY SHIELDSphotography byRICHARD W. BROWN
WHATEVER YOU MIGHT HAVE BORROWED FOR THE DAY—clippers, trowel, or a copy of the RHS Plant Finder—from the precisely organized potting …

Touching Beauty
byCAROL KLEINphotography byJONATHAN BUCKLEY
AT THE MAJOR BRITISH FLOWER SHOWS, many of the displays contain small signs that desperately request visitors not to handle the exhibits. “Please do not touch,” they implore, or occasionally, and …

FROM A LIFETIME OF CREATIVE WORK, MARY DAVIS HAS FASHIONED A WHOLLY ORIGINAL AESTHETIC
TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHARLES MANN
THE STRUCTURE OF A SQUID’S EYE bears an eerie similarity to that of human, despite having developed …

byTOM FISCHER
photography byCASEY MCNAMARA
WITH THE HOLIDAYS fast approaching, there’s no cheerier sight than a room decorated with the traditional tropical slipper orchids. OK, so I’m fantasizing—no one I know actually does this. But why not? …

How to make the most of these popular plants—and avoid the pitfalls
TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAUREN SPRINGER
WHEN IT COMES TO SMALL-SIZE CONIFERS, there is no neutrality—it’s all or nothing, love or hate. “Abominations. Grumpy and …

Essentials for Getting the Job Done
Well Wheeled
BY ROGER B. SWAIN
so much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens.
—William Carlos Williams, “The Red Wheelbarrow”
RIDING IN A WHEELBARROW pushed by …

BY TOM FISCHER
Abies balsamea, balsam fir (p. 61)
AY-beez ball-SAY-mee-uh
A. koreana, Korean fir (p. 61)
kore-ee-AY-nuh
Acca sellowiana, guava (p. 16)
ACK-uh SELL-oh-ee-AY-nuh
Acer griseum, paperbark maple (pp. 40, 44)
AY-sur GRIZZ-ee-um
A. palmatum, Japanese maple (p. 62)
pal-MAY-tum
A. p. var. dissectum, laceleaf …