The Garden Aker

I've learned to love plants that tolerate heat and drought and still manage to put on a show.  This specimen of spinystar, Escobaria...

  I'm back.  Back from Sioux Falls, where my nephew got married, and back on posting.  I suddenly find myself with some time due to t...

I posted when these Cornus florida var. urbiniana seedlings were in bloom .  Today, they caught my eye when I was out giving a tour of th...

A close friend bought this for me and left it on my desk.  I was audibly startled when I opened the door when I arrived that morning...

Courtesy Chinese fringe tree, Chimonanthus retusus . This, along with the weeping willow, are always the last trees to turn and loose the...