If I had to pick a favorite flower, I think it would be the daffodil. Does that make me a narcissist? Narcissus is a fascinating genus of plants. You wouldn’t think that daffodils would be so diverse. After all, they only come in a limited palette of yellow, orange, and white, and the form that makes a daffodil a daffodil… Read more →
Have you ever wondered why the number of asthma and allergy sufferers has skyrocketed in recent years? Thomas Ogren thinks he knows the biggest reason for the spike, and he explains what we can do about it in his new book, The Allergy-Fighting Garden: Stop Asthma and Allergies with Smart Landscaping (Ten Speed Press). [Disclosure: I did receive a… Read more →
Until this winter, I only knew Japanese umbrella pine (Sciadopitys verticillata) as a handsome but dinky conifer I’d seen at garden centers selling for what could feed a family of four for a month. Then I learned in Phyllis Reynolds’ Trees of Greater Portland (Macrophyllum Press, 2013) that Portland is home to several mature specimens and that I could see this… Read more →
Birders sometimes use the term “LGB.” It stands for “Little Gray Birds” and is a shorthand way to note sightings of birds that are too unremarkable in plumage to ID. In the Pacific Northwest, we gardeners might adopt a similar lumping acronym: “BGC.” To the untrained eye, the bounty of evergreen trees here with soft sprays of foliage, like redcedars,… Read more →
Are you opposed to GMOs, but secretly wish you knew more about the details to better back up your case? Are you OK with GMOs, but don’t know how to refute anti-GMO arguments? Are you undecided? GMOs Get Personal At different times in my life, I’ve held all three of these points of view. The issue got personal last fall,… Read more →
A Wishing Tree! That’s so Portland. This humble horsechestnut on the corner of NE 7th and Morris in Portland is the bearer of hundreds of wishes tacked to its trunk by passersby. I visited the Wishing Tree last week after reading about it online. Our local KGW did a story on it earlier this year, as did The Huffington Post. They… Read more →
Winter forces us to look closer for beauty in the garden. No more cantaloupe-sized hydrangea flowers, no flamboyant dahlias, no voluptuous tree peonies. We look to the details to find beauty in unexpected places. My neighbor has an English holly that hangs over the fence in the corner of our backyard. The leaves it drops are thick and waxy, but… Read more →
Planting a paperbark maple is one thing you must do to be considered a Serious Gardener. (The other two are gardening after dark by the light of your car headlights, and asking for manure for your birthday.) But novice gardeners can get in on the fun, too, because the choice paperbark maple (Acer griseum) is surprisingly easy to grow. It… Read more →
Nobody who’s smelled ginkgo fruits for the first time has ever said, “Yeah, I think I’m gonna have to eat some of that.” If you haven’t experienced them first hand, well, they have the aroma of something that maybe was once food but has since passed through one or two digestive organs before finding its way to the nostrils. Dog vomit, in… Read more →
They’re calling for gloom and doom tomorrow—ice and snow and more cold, blustery winds. A shock to humans and plants alike, who’ve just enjoyed the warmest August, September, and October in recorded history in Portland. As of yesterday, there were still roses, dahlias, asters, and marigolds blooming, among others. And fall color is still jamming, as you can see, though… Read more →
