Shade Gardening

Major changes are being proposed that will affect all plant lovers. Find out what they are and how you can make a difference.

Q: What's more fun than sharing plants with another gardener?
A: Sharing with a whole group of gardners at a Plant Exchange.

Corydalis. Some you love; some you hate and some will always be an unrequited lust if your climate doesn't suit them.

It's difficult for the gardener to appreciate the finer qualities of Bambi while watching one knee-deep in a flower bed, munching away on precious plants. Success and failure in the battle with Bambi, including plants that my herd has not eaten.

November is an odd time of year to talk about spring peepers, but given that this has been the year of the peeper around this house, they're on my mind.

There's nothing wrong with green. Green, from spring's acid awakening to late summer's dusky hue, is the color of life on this planet. But, green, like life, can use a little spice. Variegated foliage is spice for the shady garden, where flowers are few in mid-summer.

Compared to their close cousins, Arisaema, the genus Pinellia "don't get no respect". This is unfair. While most of them aren't as exotic as many Arisaema, they add their own charm to the shady garden.

A gardener's love affair with a plant, or genus of plants, is very like that between humans. A first glance can be love at first sight, or a mild interest grows into admiration then fascination; obsession, culminating in long-lasting true love.

My relationship with the genus Arisaema has followed the latter course. ...

Arisaema - Page 2

Arisaema triphyllum and A.sikokianum

Arisaema, Page 3

Arisaema candidissimum, A. fargesii and A. ringens