Dunbar’s Close, Edinburgh, Scotland

If you find yourself in Edinburgh, Scotland, you will be inclined to walk the Royal Mile from Holyrood House to Edinburgh Castle.

It is the iconic corridor. Travel guides highlight it. People flock to it; movies immortalize it. Along the way, there is history, shops, then more history, and more shops....   Continue Reading

Holiday Lights Magical Brookgreen Gardens

Brookgreen Gardens in Murrells Inlet (near Myrtle Beach), South Carolina, celebrates the holidays with Nights of a Thousand Candles. I was there this December, and I will say I have never seen anything like it in all my holiday garden experiences.  There is so much I could say about this incredible garden, but I’m going to let the photos attempt to share the magic....   Continue Reading

Broadwoodside, a new garden in an old place

In a land of historic castle gardens, the contemporary Broadwoodside garden offers color, whimsy, and a story all its own.

Robert Dalrymple is a distinguished graphic designer known for his production of fine art books and catalogs. (British Art Museum, Victoria & Albert) His private home garden 25 miles outside Edinburgh is the result of transforming an old farm stead into an exceptional garden that rivals those centuries older....   Continue Reading

Trees A Visual Guide

Bookshelf space is precious ground for gardeners so I choose my volumes carefully.  Trees, is a reference book supremely worth the full inch it requires!  Every photograph is worth framing and clearly connected to the interesting and informative text provided alongside.  The book is divided into sections including: Form & Function, Diversity and Design, Communities of Life, Trees and the Human World and the Indispensable Resource of Trees....   Continue Reading

An Island of Flowers

In Bavaria, a land of fairytale castles, there’s a fantasy island of flowers. Mainau Island of Flowers is located on Lake Konstanz, a body of water spanning the borders of southern Germany and Switzerland. This temperate climate provides ideal growing conditions for this garden of floral beauty, fanciful creations, and unique features....   Continue Reading

Floriade 2022, Horticulture Celebration,The Netherlands

Once a decade, the Netherlands Horticulture Council organizes an exposition celebrating and highlighting horticulture’s contribution to life. The event is a World’s Fair of horticultural products, innovations in food production, and the beauty of plants in all forms. Participants from around the world showcase their garden style and their premium exports from their part of the planet....   Continue Reading

Let’s Celebrate! Fredrick Olmstead made everything better

Let’s Celebrate!

Here’s something worth celebrating, and it’s not National Walk to Work Day (April 1) or Lima Bean Respect Day (April 20). Instead, it’s a yearlong celebration of the first American Landscape Architect, Frederick Law Olmstead....   Continue Reading

From a Flower to Your Heart

Valentine’s Day is my favorite celebration, and yes, I know it isn’t a holiday, it is a marketing event. While it seems so commercial today, I am surprised to discover it has always been about marketing! In the late 1800s, Richard Cadbury needed to sell more chocolates to use his company’s cocoa butter surplus. Victorians were great fans of Valentine’s Day; they expressed their love in elaborate greeting cards (postage was affordable.) Chocolate became available to the masses (sugar had become cheaper), so Cadbury created a moment of marketing magic, the heart-shaped chocolate box. This beautiful box was sold as a dual-purpose gift because after your sweetheart ate the chocolates, she could use the heart-shaped box to store love letters and romantic mementos.1 In the US, Hershey chocolates made their famous kisses in 1907 continuing the romantic alliance.2...   Continue Reading