Wildflowers. They're sweet alyssum, they're art, and they're also a state of mind. I didn’t fully understand the latter until I met my friend Tanwi Nandini Islam, the Brooklyn-based writer whose debut novel, Bright Lines, will be published by Penguin in August 2015. We first met...
The riotous garden Joe Skoby has created is one that embraces you, absorbs you, tickles you on the ear. Tall philodendrons curve to create organic archways, a snail vine wraps a palm tree in a rich stole of purple flowers, and a creeping fig pokes...
When my brother Neal Benoit and his family moved into their first single-family home in 2009 just south of the Capitol Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia, he also stumbled into an interest in gardening. Five years later, his garden is the talk of the block. The diversely...
Can you believe spring's only 23 days away? It’s true that we didn’t get Polar Vortexed — aside from that time near Asheville. But even we are counting the days until March 20, 9:57 AM PDT, vernal equinox, the moment the Earth rocks into a perfectly...
Our tangerine tree isn’t looking so spritely these days. Over the past few months it’s developed a pale, stricken look that has caused some freak-outs (code orange!) here in our garden. Ryan saw the problems first: the cracks and splotches on the trunk, the formerly dark...
They’re disarming, they’re emotionally satisfying, and they aren’t just for 14th-century artists anymore. We’re talking, naturally, about diptychs. Images paired for a compelling effect, the diptych is in the midst of an internet-fueled revival. And the new Plants & People photo series by Woolly Pocket is our favorite...
Sure — you can grow them. But you can also celebrate your love of plants by wearing them on your sleeves, your socks, or all over your skin. We found out about stellar “analog beauty” company Marble & Milkweed via Twitter, which led us to a...
While on vacation last week, we indulged in quite a bit of 2013 hindsight. (I mean, what else do you do while on a sluggish drive from NYC to DC?) This was the year we nurtured our surroundings like never before, experienced an exciting coup,...
“There’s something about airplants that’s charismatic,” says Josh Rosen, the man behind L.A.-based Airplantman. His minimalist designs let tillandsias’ freak flags fly. “They have a personality. Like the Tillandsia bulbosa — they look like they can get up and walk away.” [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="650"] Josh Rosen...
When I come home from work feeling flu-ish, only a homemade yerba mate latte and YouTube in bed will do. My new visual comfort food? British gardening shows. The tree spirits of the internet have been serving up some excellent medicine lately. This week Ryan and...