Why do some like to garden, while others will do almost anything, even fold laundry, to avoid playing in the dirt? There are all the “old saws” of exercise, health and peacefulness. But, frankly, I don’t find getting tired and sweaty hauling wheelbarrows of soil and mulch, and balled trees and bushes, tranquility-inducing. Read more

In my early days of gardening, I planted trumpet vine (Campsis radicans), a rampant grower with beautiful deep orange trumpet flowers that I hoped would survive my horticultural errors.  I planted it on the sunny side of the barn where I could watch it from the kitchen. Read more

I never expected a garden to be a peacemaker.

Anomalously, Posh Westport, CT’s homeless shelter sits on the town’s equivalent of Rodeo Drive or Fifth Avenue. A former town maintenance garage, it abuts a fancy Japanese restaurant, faces the town green and Westport’s massive town library, and, literally, is a block from Tiffany’s, Patagonia and Restoration Hardware. Read more