Plants are the original chemists. Their sophistication makes DuPont and Monsanto look like little kids with chemistry sets.

Am I accurately reporting what I see in such a blossom? The answer is no ... and yes.

Gardening transcends everything that otherwise divides us.

Plants are the original chemists. Their sophistication makes DuPont and Monsanto look like little kids with chemistry sets.

In a well-made garden every day is new.

In addition to all its rich offerings to the body and its five senses, gardening engages the mind.

The gardens I love best are those that are still affectionately tended by the people who own them and who made them - who planned and planted and replanned and replanted them, who dug in the dirt and moved hoses and watched the gardens change with the cycle of the seasons and over the passage of years.