A bank of primroses can look almost uniform from the path: low wrinkled leaves, pale yellow flowers, and a scatter of gold across the last brown leaves of winter. Kneel down, however, and look into the flowers. Some have a small green button at the center. Others have a ring of yellow anthers. The difference is not age, weather, or…
Slice an apple from stem to blossom end and it behaves the way apples usually behave in kitchens: two shoulders, a pale core, a neat place for the knife to pass. Slice it across the middle instead, and the fruit shows a different map. In the center is a small star, five little rooms arranged around a point, each one…
By early December, most shrubs have stopped trying to impress anyone. Their leaves have dropped, their flowers are old news, and their summer shape has been reduced to twigs. Then winterberry comes into view as if the garden has been saving a secret. The leaves fall away, and the stems are left strung with red fruit. It is a strange…
Read more about Why winterberry looks brighter after the leaves fall
By the end of September, a tomatillo plant can look as if it has been quietly making decorations while the tomatoes were taking all the attention. The plant sprawls through its cage, lifts yellow flowers in the leaf forks, and hangs little green lanterns from the stems. Some are tight and empty-feeling. Some are papery and swollen. Some have split…
A June strawberry looks wonderfully straightforward until you look at it too closely. It is red. It is sweet. It fits between two fingers and leaves a little shine on the thumb. The plant itself sprawls low in the mulch, all trifoliate leaves, white flowers, green fruits, red fruits, and wandering runners that seem to be making private plans for…
Read more about Why strawberries wear their seeds on the outside
A spring shade bed can look as if it has learned to blush and cool at the same time. Lungwort opens with little pink bells, then the older flowers nearby settle into violet and blue. The spotted leaves are pretty enough on their own, but the flowers make the plant look like a small calendar. One cluster can hold yesterday,…
Read more about Why some flowers change color after pollination
A squash blossom is not a flower that lingers. It opens like a little lantern in the cool part of the morning, spends its best hours in the company of bees, and by afternoon begins to fold, soften, and give itself back to the plant. If you walk the vegetable garden at breakfast, the flowers look generous. If you wait…
The least interesting xeriscape is a yard that looks punished for needing less water. A good one feels alive: shade overhead, flowers at several heights, grasses moving in wind, seed heads through winter, and enough open ground for each plant to be seen. Water savings come from design discipline, not from removing pleasure. Xeriscaping is a water-conservation method, not a…
