Plant names have intrigued me for as long as I can remember. Botanical, common and cultivar names have always been fun for me and at times, challenging to remember. Take the name ‘Swizzlestick’ for example. A cultivar name purposely given to evoke images of...
“He saw potential in plants and in people, profoundly influencing lives and altering careers and personal directions” (Chlorophyll In His Veins; J.C. Raulston, Horticultural Ambassador). Bobby Ward’s literary work Chlorophyll In His Veins, describes the man J.C. Raulston who was responsible for building the...
There are moments in life, as they come along, that you know you will hold close to you for the rest of your life. Our annual trip to Napa and Sonoma counties, with dear friends, is a trip focused as much around great food...
“Out there, there’s a world outside of Yonkers. Way out there beyond this hick town, Barnaby. There’s a slick town, Barnaby. Out there, full of shine and full of sparkle. Close your eyes and see it glisten, Barnaby. Listen, Barnaby…” Famous words from the...
“Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles are brands of breakfast cereal introduced by Post Foods in 1971 featuring characters from the animated series The Flinstones as spokestoons. Fruity Pebbles contains crisp rice cereal bits that come in a variety of fruit flavors” (Wikipedia). Viburnum is...
A little over a month ago, MSN-Travel came up on “my homepage” and had “80 Unreal Places You Only Thought Existed In Your Imagination.” Not surprisingly, a good number of places, represented on their list, had to do with plant material. Since most of...
“Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing” -Abraham Lincoln. This past June a dear friend of ours was lost. George Snyder, a long time resident of Long Hill...
Just a short drive down the New Jersey Turnpike and across the Pennsylvania Turnpike had my family arriving at the Morris Arboretum in late May. The Morris Arboretum, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is an interdisciplinary center for arts and sciences, education and research. A not-for-profit, tax-exempt organization of the...
At the encouragement of Tom Castronovo, the executive editor and publisher of Gardener News, this months article has virtually nothing to do with plant material. Rather, June’s column is dedicated to another hobby, a non-profit organization, the Special Olympics. “The Special Olympics New Jersey provides year-round...
New Jersey, the Garden State, has an eight-decade resource fully capable of providing nutrition for all your “green friends.” The Espoma Company, founded in 1929, is a fourth generation family owned and managed business in Millville, New Jersey dedicated to the highest quality, most effective,...