the du ponts' garden legacy; doug tallamy's ecological fall cleanup advice Hello ,
It's hard to think of another place so rich with major gardens as the Brandywine Valley in Chester County, Pa., and an adjacent portion of Delaware. Five of those gardens have a historic connection—a family connection—as they were all made by members of the du Pont
family.
A new book, “Du Pont Gardens of the Brandywine Valley” portrays the story of those places, and its photographer and writer took me on some virtual visits to these must-see gardens. The book profiles five gardens created by generations of the du Pont industrial family—Longwood, Winterthur, and Mt. Cuba among them—in photographs by Larry Lederman and words by Marta McDowell, and we talked about the history and the design ideas these important places bring to life. encore: doug tallamy's autumn eco-cleanup advice When I talked to Doug Tallamy in February 2020,
around the publication date of his book “Nature’s Best Hope,” I didn’t want to go on and on about the advice in it regarding smart fall cleanup, which is one of the ways I know I’ve dramatically shifted the way I manage my own garden compared to 10 or even five years ago. We were looking ahead to spring then, not fall. But that fall, I was grateful that Doug returned to the podcast to do just that. Want to plan your most ecologically minded garden cleanup ever, and understand the consequences of each potential action you can take? Listen to an encore of our conversation. Head's up: Cary Institute in Millbrook, N.Y., and Millbrook Garden Club are co-hosting a talk by Doug on Oct. 27 at 7
P.M. The event can be attended in person or online, and tickets are free. I've put a link to that in the encore interview if you wish to sign up. I did! recap: margaret renkl's wildish garden (and our 11/7 webinar) By who knows what forces of fate, I share an
uncanny set of connections with another writer, Margaret Renkl, my guest last week. Though we have never met, we have much common ground, starting with our first names (named after paternal grandmothers we never met),
followed by five-letter last names starting in “R”—and that we both write weekly “New York Times” columns. Readers even email me thinking I am her, and comment on our Times stories believing they are addressing the other one. A case of mistaken Margarets! More substantively, though, we share a strong commitment to managing our beloved landscapes with ecology front of mind, in support of insects, birds and other animals, and that’s this week’s
topic. Margaret’s 2019 book “Late Migrations” is an all-time favorite of mine. Now she’s back with a new one, “The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year,” which prompted us to speak again on the podcast—and (very exciting) to plan a webinar together Nov. 7 to celebrate her latest. A portion of that virtual event’s proceeds will go to support the nonprofit Homegrown National Park, founded by Doug Tallamy, who has done so much to educate all of us
about the natural world and how we can all help support it, one garden at a time—speaking of the kind of community we both feel connection to.
Listen in, or read along, and maybe join us Nov. 7, too.
Plus: Enter to win a copy of the other Margaret's upcoming book.
in
case you missed them: other writerly garden voices in 'the new york times:' dare i complain about 2023? The most recent in my "New York Times" series that began in April 2020: I hate to complain, but ... do you mind listening? The 2023 garden season was a struggle (jumping worms, spongy moth caterpillars, late freezes, torrential rainstorms, you name it). Blessedly, nature served up enough small miracles, too, to keep me in the game. One column earlier: The celebrated poet and essayist's relationship to his garden is joyful, and he is grateful for every bit of delight it offers. A week earlier: Cornell Botanic Gardens
has been experimenting with sustainable native lawn for nearly 15 years. The grass they rely on as the foundation? A genus you may never have heard of: Danthonia, or oatgrass. The previous story: It's an old-fashioned practice that can bring contemporary gardeners a lot of late-winter joy. How to force flower bulbs (especially
in a cold frame or cool garage or cellar), with Page Dickey. One week earlier: For Jennifer Jewell, the pandemic seed shortage got her asking questions about seed, deep and sometimes unsettling ones. We talked about the wide-ranging answers she dug up writing her new book “What We Sow: On the Personal, Ecological, and Cultural
Significance of Seeds.” For four garden seasons, I've interviewed gardening experts for my In the Garden column in the Times, and they interviewed me, too, in a Q&A on page A2 of the paper. The link is here, with links to all my past columns as
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