Spring 2019

At The Gate

This: Now that I’m beginning this magazine’s 30th year (30 years?! Wow!), I’m considering doing something different: writ-ing! I generally don’t put my own work in the mag—there’re so many great pieces from all of you. But, hey, after 30 years, maybe I’ve earned the right to mouth off a little (grin). READ MORE

Contributors

Susan Bailey Lesser: From Ithaca, NY: “My husband and I bought our house in the winter of 1977. Only when the snow melted did I discover all the gardens I tend today.”

T. Marie Warta: “I’m a California-based writer. My work has been featured in various publications, including USA Today.” READ MORE

Stories

Hands of a Gardener

The woman ahead of me pushed on the door of the garden center to open it, her hand high on the glass pane. Before me, I saw long fingers and a slender hand, tapering to a wrist wreathed with bangles. READ MORE

A Milk Can Man

Once my husband’s military tour ended, we moved from Ohio, my home state, to his, California. My folks and I then started calling each other every Sunday night at 6:00 to share news about family and friends. READ MORE

Ephemeral Spring

A couple of Februarys ago, I had rotator cuff surgery on my right shoulder. People told me that hip surgery is the easiest to recover from, knee surgery next easiest, and shoulder surgery the hardest. READ MORE

Charlotte’s Garden

If I close my eyes, I can see my grandmother tending her glorious San Francisco Bay Area garden on a sunny afternoon. I am four years old, wearing an oversized bonnet and holding a little watering can. READ MORE

How I Became a Garden Writer

I never dreamed I’d be a garden writer. It just happened. I have a degree in mechanical engineering, and I worked for over 20 years in manufacturing. After I retired, I needed something to fill my days, so I started gardening. READ MORE

Stephen

My father-in-law, Stephen, was a master in the garden. He planted bulbs, trees, annuals, and perennials. He took his time and did it right. My husband tells me about how he used to work with his father during the summers. READ MORE

The Asparagus Dream

The thing about growing asparagus is, if you think you might be craving a plate of the supple steamy spears smothered in cheese sauce on a warm Spring day three or four years from now, you should get it in the ground today. READ MORE

Gardening with Dieter

In the weeks following my divorce, my once neat Toronto flower garden turned into a near jungle. The grass stood at least a foot high. Flowerbeds were overgrown with weeds. READ MORE

One Garden at a Time

The root word for “Spring” is springan (Middle English), meaning to “jump up.” It can mean a source of water, or a trap or coil, but for us gardeners it portrays a longed-for burst of life jumping up after the sleep of Winter. READ MORE

Waiting

My husband and I run a small commercial, organic farm in Sonoma County, California. Last Fall we saved seeds from our own plants, spreading them out to dry and packing them away in tiny manila envelopes. In February, we filled 200 seed pots. READ MORE

The Special Delivery Mushrooms

Here in central Indiana, most people herald Spring’s arrival when crocuses burst through the soil and buds start popping on the cherry trees. As a young girl, I learned that such signs could be premature. READ MORE

Working Under the Tree of Thorns

At the age of 34, Leslie Buck, a professional garden designer, went to Japan to become a pruning apprentice with a prominent landscape company. What a different—and intense—world she entered! READ MORE

Less is More

Since my husband and I lived in an apartment for the first two years of our marriage, the small yard of our first house in the suburbs seemed like vast acreage. I designated a sunny corner of our yard, close to the back kitchen door, as the vegetable garden. READ MORE

Budgie

My first distinct memory in a garden was about death—and I’d almost forgotten it. Yesterday I was driving through an unfamiliar neighborhood, searching for a garage sale I’d read about, and my eyes spotted a small wooden cross, painted white, beneath a tree. READ MORE

Dear Tree

A recent study, published in 2015 in the journal Nature, calculated that there are three trillion trees on planet Earth. That’s 3,000,000,000,000 trees—a number that’s impossible to wrap one’s mind around unless you’re an astrophysicist or a politician accustomed to dealing with the national deficit. READ MORE

Another Spring Day

Crack! sang the bat as the ball—now a mere white speck—sailed over the 360-foot sign in left center field. What a great swing. The kid sure could play ball. READ MORE