GardenRant

I love a good strong opinion. Something robust, well considered, and even backed up with a few facts and figures just to round it off. For example it is my opinion that British gardeners should prioritise planting trees wherever possible, so that we can enjoy their shade during the rather toasty summer we're having. When it gets hot we like to gravitate to the shade, so why not have more shade in the garden? That's my opinion.

I'm back in Maryland after a short trip to Los Angeles, where these plants and gardens got me gasping with envy, or dying to learn about, or both. All in the Encino area. Lantana in a warm climate - a revelation! I'm a recent fan of Lantana in pots, for their sheer beauty and how they attract all sorts of pollinators. But mine don't get the chance to look like this because they're killed by the first frost, usually around Thanksgiving.

GardenRant welcomes back garden ecologist Nathan Lambstrom, in Part II of a three-part series discussing invasive species rhetoric, and the negative effects powerful war metaphors have had on the perception and management of exotic and invasive plant species in our gardens and greater ecoregions. The first installment explored the roots of this language; today, Lambstrom examines the tangible harm it can cause.

If you're a member of Wild Ones, you may have noticed my short article in the latest issue. Wild Ones is a national nonprofit with 99 chapters and what they call "seedlings" in 37 states; its mission is promoting native landscapes. (Members can read the whole issue here.) Wild Ones was interested in my collection of Lawnless Front Yards on Flickr, which I hoped would help people who wanted more from their yards than just turfgrass.

If you've ever thought of edging a flower bed with proper professional stuff, you may have been astonished to find that the makers of garden edging assume you live in a flat garden. With no lumps or bumps. And nice even curves. Weird. Well, Veddw's not like that and we still have edging issues. But this is about a sorted fencing issue in this lumpy landscape which may be useful to some other lumpy people. My apologies if you are such a keen Veddw follower that this is old hat and boring.

We've all got them. Tchotchkes. Knick knacks. Doodads. More kindly put - and through squinted eyes - objets d'art. Unless you're a minimalist with an inflexible disposition, your rooms and shelves are probably home to many 'little bits' that make you smile and evoke a memory (or the image of a dust cloth).

I have but one request of nursery and garden center personnel. Could we please stop treating all customers as though they're buying the first plant for the first garden they've ever had in their lives? Sure, many gardeners are just beginning. But probably even more have been gardening for some years. They've been through the wars with wrong plant/wrong place, droughts, monsoons, weed infestations and design miscalculations. They've spent a lot of money in the process.

I have a graveyard of dead flowers and a spreadsheet with sobering evidence to prove my point. Today in celebration of Garden Rant's 20 th anniversary, I am finally attempting a genuine rant after 14 years stationed here at the exalted Garden Rant desk. My preference is for stories that blend people, gardens, and cultures. My apologies. I was an undergraduate sociology major in the Paleozoic era.

Nobody comes to GardenRant for political news or opinion, so this is my best attempt at an apolitical, landscape-related post about the infamous Reflecting Pool. Wish me luck! Commenters, of course, will comment. I posted political photos from my morning cycling around DC on my Facebook page and made the post public.

We are surrounded by trees at Veddw Garden and when we first came we thought it was a super idea to grow rambler roses up them. So whenever we could afford a day off and a plant we went off to a wonderful rose nursery in the Cotswolds, at North Nibley and bought several. It made a great day out. This nursery man, Keith Marshall, once sighed at my proffered list: 'yet more big white ramblers' and indeed several were just that.