Peas on Grid

For years Jon McGoran cranked out a cheeky editor’s column for my local coop’s newsletter.  With wicked wit (and well aimed puns), Jon poked at the serious GMO, gluten-free, locavore issues of the day or just playfully skewered fellow staff members.  At night, he penned gripping ecological thrillers, most recently Drift,  to be released in July. Jon is now the new editor of Grid magazine, and for his first issue, he asked me for photos relating to seed saving and celebrity food historian Will Weaver.  I didn’t expect the cover but I’m delighted with their choice along with the excellent design by Jamie Leary of Red Flag Media.

Golden Sedge lights up The American Gardener

Anytime you match up chartreuse with purple in the garden (like this pairing from Chanticleer’s Tennis Court garden) you light a fuse for excitement.  The wise editors of The American Gardener thought so too when they chose this image for their March/April 2013 cover.  Published by the American Horticultural Society, TAG’s a great magazine for readers who really want maximum news, reviews and hardcore horticultural info without the fluff of recipes or fashion guides.

 

Private Edens

Envisioning grand landscapes is one thing.  But sculpting them out of the natural world is a god-like activity that both thrills and eludes me.  Private Edens showcases twenty one seldom-seen estates from Massachusetts to Virginia unearthed by friend and author, Jack Staub, who happens to call one of them, Hortulus, his home.  We visited most of these destinations together, often staying on site to better witness dawn. Jack pulled poetry out of the heady  horticultural vapors while I chiseled pixels in the spectral light.  Big beautiful gardens, big beautiful book.  The publisher, Gibbs Smith, did a five-star job on the printing too.

More from the Trapp garden

More (and different) images from the Trapp garden in this Design New England web article.  Big thanks to Denise Cowie, one of my most connected friends and super garden writer, for spotting this!

Architectural Digest takes a peek at Private Edens

An unexpected review in the AD blog.  Although we kept  the garden owner’s names anonymous, the reviewer easily identified two of the twenty one right off the bat.  Oh well!  See it here.

Floating Hellebores for Horticulture

Hellebores from David Culp’s garden grace the cover of Horticulture this month.  All Brandywine Hybrids, David snipped these March beauties one morning and set them into a glazed bowl of water.  How could I not take a picture?

Michael Trapp in Design New England

Michael Trapp’s splendidly decayed garden gets the cover treatment from Design New England.  Michael and I both share a love for the cracked and the crumbling, the old and the imperfect.  I will post more from this dramatic garden once the magazine is out.  BTW, Design New England is a gorgeous new regional.  With the downfall of Garden Design, I’m hoping more of  these regional  gems pop up.