Strolling the High Line

It’s been on my list for a while and I missed it the last time I was in New York. The wait was worth it for me to see some late May blooms on the High Line over the weekend.  I salute you, Piet Oudolf. My favorite flower of the day is Trifolium rubens (Red feather clover).  Read More

Evolution Of A Book Title: Part Deux

This post could also probably be called evolution of a book cover because until the book is released in the fall it could change. For now this is the version that is on Workman’s website. The title, in fact, has changed since my conviction that it would be called Kitchen Garden Companion. Handbook sounds a little more handy, useful and of course, indispensable. It’s a book you’ll take with you when you design your kitchen garden then plant, harvest, cook and... Read More

Evolution of a Book Title

  My second book will be published by Timber Press and is set to be released in the fall of 2010. The truth is the book has been in my brain since the release of Designing the New Kitchen Garden. The topics of design, kitchen gardens, flowers, and things to eat are never far from my mind. So for the last year some portion of my days have been spent planting, harvesting, cooking, painting, photographing and eating some concoction from my garden. The concept for the book was... Read More

Hedge Apples and Pomegranates

We gave a baby shower for my daughter and invited close friends and family to the formal tea. The arrangements for the table and at the front door couldn’t have been simpler- nor less expensive. Sure, we bought the pomegranates at the grocery store because they don’t grow here in central Ohio. Everything else came from the garden. Hedge apples come from Osage-orange trees; small, dense trees planted as hedge rows throughout the Midwest. The trees are not particularly... Read More

Gate Details for the Potager

I have been working on an estate project in the south for a while now. I couldn’t have imagined two years ago that my reply to an e-mail would blossom into the creation of a significant garden.  “Do you travel to design gardens?” was the simple question that has led to a partnership with the owner in creating a series of outdoor garden rooms with edible and mixed perennial and shrub borders. American Potager, LLC created the master plan for the site, the... Read More