Titles and pagination from the first Houghton Mifflin edition (1992).

ONE MAN'S GARDEN

The material in this volume originally appeared, in slightly different form, in the Washington Post.

JANUARY      1

Names from the Garden's Guest Book      4
Architecture to Make the Garden Glow      6
Oops! There Goes Another Rubber Tree Plant!      9
Maintaining Your Garden and Maintaining Your Sanity      11
Tomato or Tomahto: Tips on Types to Plant     13
Sowing Beauty in Beastly Surroundings      15
The Gardener's Lot       17

Sowing Seeds Indoors, and Other Poppycock       24
The Imperfect Gardener       28
Nature vs. Nurture      29
Happy Returns      33
The Cypress, Belle of the Bald      34
A Screen of Shrubs      36
Timing Is the Key      42

Year-Long Lessons      47
Days of Magic     50
The Thin Line Between Nature and Human Nature      51
Tracing the Roots      54
A Word about Worts      56
Forgotten Seeds, Surprising Sprouts      58
The Simple Secret      6o
Magnificent Obsessions      61

Flowering Fruit Trees      68
Celestial Bamboo      75
What Goes On under the Apple Tree      73
In Mr. Jefferson's Garden      76
Glorious Flocks ofApril Phlox      79
Letting Nature Take Its Course      80
Discovering Bulbs      83
How the Garden Grows and Grows      85

Staying in the Pink       92
Gone But Not Forgotten      94
Agave, the Can-Do Plant      97
The Lilacs That Bloom in the Spring      98
Chip Off the Old Bush      100
Garden Pests Don't Bug Me      102
The Beauties of the Black Locust      104
Keeping Envy Out of Your Eden      106

Tea Roses: The Secrets of Success       114
The Right Bedfellows for Roses      116
I Try Not to Do Stupid Things       120
Foliage for Nooks and Crannies      121
Daylilies by the Bouquetful      124
Small Gardens: The Big Picture      126
The Grand and Noble Magnolia      129

A Home for Fish and Flowers      136
A Water Lily's Lust for Life       139
A Word about Petunias      142
Plants That Need Wet Nursing      143
Madame Galen      145
For Dragonflies, a Place to Rest Their Wings       147
The Lessons Never Learned      148
The Perfect Order of a Bulb Garden       150

A Bulb I Can't Resist      156
Beauty or Black-Eyed Susans      158
Tomatoes of Good Breeding       16o
Cleome for Summer Heat       163
Birds and a Few Beasts      164
A Single Sunflower      166
Uprooted by Nature's Plans      167

Felicitous Flowers for Early Fall      174
On Oddments and Changelings      176
Divide and Multiply       178
No Dallying with Dahlias      180
In Some Gardens, Only the Shadow Grows       183
The Common Splendor of Barberry      186
Before You Bring In the Plants, Make Sure Your Rugs Are Clean      188

Room with a View       193
Squills of Delight       195
A Change of Place Has Its Price      196
The Leaves ofAutumn      198
Sometimes Things Just Do Not Go Well      200
Old Duties Before Breaking New Ground      202
When Houseplants Take Over      205

Turning Over a New Leaf      212
High Crimes Against a Rambling Rose      214
The Vine of Subtle Pleasures      216
Cues for Minding Your Peas      218
In for the Winter       221
Not a Monument, Just a Garden      224
Go with the Seasonal Flow      226
A Gardener's Thanksgiving       228

Where Have All the Poppies Gone?      233
Turn Down the Noise      236
Yewing and Strewing      237
Bananas      239
Happiness Is a Hummingbird      241
A Good Time for Pleasant Chores      244
Singular Sensations      245
Nights When the Chickens Sing       247
Gifts for the Gardener      250