Articles

There is magic in this process. You sow a seemingly inanimate object in the soil, and from it springs new life, a green shoot. After more than 50 years as a gardener, this still thrills me every time.

Rather than trying to persuade lawn owners to dig it up, maybe we'd be more successful in encouraging them toward the residual lawns’ transformation.

In looking ahead to next spring, our columnist Thomas Christopher is exploring an alternative to Dutch bulb suppliers: our own native North American spring ephemerals.

Appropriately, the work of art that’s generating some of the most buzz at BBG’s multi-part “Symbiosis” art exhibition is a stunning piece called “Neter,” made from beeswax, honey and propolis. Meet LeRone Wilson.

The young gardeners were ready for work, yes. But they also packed bathing suits and towels as a retort to a forecast of fierce August humidity.

A full 55 years ago, Susan was first introduced to Berkshire Botanical Garden, an institution upon which she has come to rely, and not just for salad dressing. BBG has been a brain trust for all things horticultural and an epicenter of endearing friendships. 

Treading lightly out upon a verdant field of tender shoots, they had their fingers crossed. The news is (mostly) excellent.

When we acknowledge the garden as an ever-changing ecosystem, we can work to support nature’s cycles. For six weeks last spring, students from Lenox Memorial Middle and High School strived to do just that.

The emphasis given to fostering pollinators has had a side effect: exacerbating a conflict already rife among gardeners.

Typically, we spend these hot days rushing around with hoses, trying to quench the thirst of our plants. According to the latest climate research, summer is only going to get more challenging, too, here in the Northeast.

Among the many worthy works Berkshire Botanical Garden engages in beyond its botanic borders in Stockbridge, Mass., is this weekly assemblage of positivity at the headquarters of Blue Q.

What surprised me was the response of online readers to my story. Most indicated amusement; many asserted that Nature hates lawns and that it was sending me a message to plant something else. 

I’m not partial to the use of pesticides. As a rule, if a plant in my garden cannot survive without them, I replace it with something else. However ...

Until recently, my understanding of naturally based gardening has been plant-centric and frankly reactionary.