Ruth Kassinger's Blog, page 2

My book group read Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier this month, and we were all surprised by the descriptions of deeply fragrant azaleas at Manderlay in Cornwall. Around Washington, DC, the azaleas we know, while beautiful, are unscented. Why? Azaleas are members of the rhododendron genus, and are closely related to the woodland rhododendrons. Most […]

“Leaves of three, let it be”: that’s the old mnemonic warning for avoiding poison ivy. Spring is the worst season for running into the plant, or rather the sap it carries in the cells of its leaves. That’s because the new leaves, which are often reddish, are particularly thin and fragile. A light touch can […]

In my yard in suburban Maryland, hellebores are the first of the spring flowers. This year, despite the unusually cold weather, they were up as early as ever. Even so, I know they’ll be in bloom for weeks and even months. What makes them such persistent bloomers? For one, their petals are not really petals. […]

  One of the most interesting and easy plants for cold climate gardeners is the Coffea arabica. I’ve had a potted one for years. It lives in a shady spot in the backyard in summer. In the colder months, I move it indoors to an east-facing window. Last May, per usual, my tree (about five-feet […]

This lovely drawing by Eva-Maria Ruhl is a family portrait of the Leyland cypress (in the middle), that ubiquitous suburban conifer. I was delighted to write a guest rant for Gardenrant.com, and let off some steam about Leylands, or rather the way they’re misused in landscaping. The Leyland is the offspring of two venerable North […]

Stems come in all shapes and sizes, and some of them are imminently edible. Take the potato, (which I can do only if I add lots of butter.)  The potato is actually a “stem tuber,” a stem that stores energy in the form of carbohydrates. Potatoes differ from “root tubers” such as carrots, radishes, and […]

Morrow/HarperCollins just released my new book, A Garden of Marvels. As part of the promotion for the book, I am guest posting on gardening blogs. Yesterday I was featured at Cold Climate Gardening where I explain why growing a kumquat tree is a great idea even for northern gardeners. Coming soon: a guest rant about […]

  Some of the most beautiful trees in winter are sycamore, birch, crape myrtle, and other species with exfoliating bark. Thin layers of bark peel off the trunks and branches of these species, which gives them an interesting, flaky texture like the top layers of an oven-crisped spanikopita. Before they blow away, the layers come […]

Publishers Weekly announced that A Garden of Marvels is one of three science books chosen as a “most notable” book of Spring, 2014.

When I was fifteen and a student in Baltimore, I fell in love with the early twentieth-century poet Mina Loy. I’d read a few of her crackling, avant-garde poems in an anthology, and was intrigued by her wit. She was little remembered …Read full guest blog post here »