thoughts of home, with bernd heinrich

It's easy not to think much about the intelligence of insects. Tiny creatures with even tinier brains—how smart can they be?

A happy and pleasant surprise has just arrived through the post at home.

I bet you spotted my weed as soon as you looked at the picture. ‘Where’s Wally’ you may ask, well he is the gardener that not only let the dandelion flower but seed as well. Back to gardening school. Depending how you look at it there has been a great profusion of dandelions this year but you just wait until next year. The ‘clocks’ have been distributed far and wide since the beginning of May, the breezes were light, the conditions just right and the air and ponds filled with seeds so dandelions are not going to be a threatened species anytime soon!

MORE RAIN THE LAST WEEK MEANS a happier landscape, and also more links to share, since I sat sidelined, waiting for breaks in the action to go out and tidy up–or take pictures of a fiery doublefile Viburnum leaf, above, and whatever else is still smoldering. From a tender video of one man’s 40-year garden-writing career, to the story of a “seed library” up in my neck of the woods, to beginner blunders and the impact of gardening on the restaurant business (think: big), the latest digital harvest:The Thoughtful GardenerAA READER SENT NEWS of the understated but powerful video from garden writer Robin Lane Fox of “The Financial Times,” who recently marked 40 years at his enviable post.

Read the vintage essay, or just share your own pain right here in comments. You know how gardens are: They take us to the brink and then win our hearts back by magically rebounding, just as we’re about to mow them down or turn them under. Cheeky devils, aren’t they? Why didn’t I take up macrame or Bingo instead? Off to move the vintage-kitchen-stool-turned-sprinkler-tower to another spot now…Categoriesessays

I USED TO BECOME IMPATIENT WHEN PEOPLE would type the name of my blog as Away to Garden. Yes, I know; in a url address you cannot tell where words start or end, but the blog was named for my funny old book: “A Way to Garden,” as in the way I garden, here; just my way, one way among many, yes, but the only one I can really offer first-hand, with conviction.

Last year I had word that my website was nominated for a “best garden blog” contest, put on by “Better Homes and Gardens” magazine. Curious, I clicked over to the sites of all the other nominees—many of whom I did not know.One, in particular, stood out as a kindred spirit, and then a funny thing happened to seem to say, “Get in touch with that blogger” even more emphatically: A reader of mine emailed wi

John, whose dramatic and delicious purple ‘Dragon’ carrot is bright orange inside, was reassuring as ever. First, don’t feel bad, he said. “Carrots are one of the harder vegetables to grow,” confirms John (with flowering carrots in an OSA photo, above), and for a few reasons:They’re such small plants when they first sprout (the seed isn’t too big, either; I like to use pelleted, shown below, and there are now pelleted ones that meet organic certification requirements).To get really good quality you need “unchecked growth”—no obstacles either literal (like rocky or otherwise tough soil) or meteorological (extremes of heat, cold or especially dryness). “Succulence and flavor wi

This history of beelining, the other way to connect to honey bees besides keeping hives, is the subject of the book called “Following the Wild Bees: The Craft and Science of Bee Hunting,” by Cornell University biologist Thomas Seeley, just released in paperback edition. Tom, Horace White Professor in Biology in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell, has been passionately interested in honey bees since high school, eventually doing his doctoral thesis on them, and his ongoing scientific work has primarily focused on understanding the phenomenon of swarm intelligence with the help of these incredible animals.Learn about how a hive works, with its female-dominated order, about how and why Tom beelines to locate wild hives. And maybe most astonishingly listen about what he calls our “shared uniqueness” with the honey bees–what characteristic we share with

I WAS PICKING UP PODS under yellow-flowered Magnolia ‘Elizabeth’ the other day before mowing, and just couldn’t resist faking a jar of “pickles” for this photo. Aren’t they–and nature’s intricate geometry in all pods and cones–fascinating? I’m enjoying the pod-and-water-stuffed jar as the centerpiece on my dining table this week.

As I told my six-friend panel, I have four such transport devices, each that has stood up to many years of rough use:one large and one medium Vermont Cart (wood, oversize spoked tires, removable end panel); one aluminum-frame Smart Cart with similar tires, aluminum frame, and removable high-density polyethylene tub that can be used as a soil-mixing vessel; one single-tire, 6-cubic-foot True Temper r

Dr. Tripp, the voice of Robin Hood Radio’s newest program, “Your Health,” received her D.O. from the University of New England. In previous incarnations she has her BS and MS from Cornell; her Ph.D. from North Carolina State University, where she also served as Curator of Conifers for the famed J.C. Raulston Arboretum, and did postdoctoral work at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. She knows from trees and shrubs—and that’s what we talked about:q&a: great trees for gardens, with kim trippQ.What woody plants always got your recommendation—what did you try to encourage clients to plant when you were making gardens for people, while supporting yourself through medical school? A. The first thing I always did, especially with a new client, was to walk around with them and say, “Let’s just see what’s growing here now–what’s out there and doing well,” and have a look at it and see if we like it or don’t. And we’d go from there.I found a few plants in our region that no matter what the conditions, were always doing well—even with deer browse.They were thi