Plant Control to Major Tom(ato): The Art of Spacing Out Your Plants

“Why don’t you just plant it up against the house,” piped my mother-in-law.  She was talking about a run-of-the-mill “old fashioned lilac” that we had received in the mail for our donation to Arbor Day.  While I don’t necessarily think of the organized tn as a source of high-quality or novel plants, I felt beholden to  make a donation since it was founded and is still located in Nebraska (and we have visited the Arbor Lodge, home to founder J.… Continue reading this article “Plant Control to Major Tom(ato): The Art of Spacing Out Your Plants”

Buddleia or Buddleja? I prefer butterfly bush…

…because apparently they can fly:

Buddleia or Buddleja?

I recently heard that Mike Dirr has come out with the next edition of his book on woody landscape plants. Dr. Dirr (I can’t seem to bring myself to call him Mike, even after all these years) was my major advisor in graduate school, so I’m really looking forward to getting it.  In the meantime I heard that he included a section on my thoughts about how to spell the scientific name of the butterflybush, a plant that I worked on to get my Ph.D.. … Continue reading this article “Buddleia or Buddleja?”