Garden Journal

Paul Barbano writes about gardening from his home in Rehoboth Beach. Contact him by writing to P. O. Box 213, Lewes, DE 19958.

Double daffodil named for Churchill is as enjoyable...

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
With people arguing politics all summer, it is nice to recall these words of Sir Winston Churchill...

Medlar is an ugly fruit with a lovely flavor

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
It is fall and time to gather fruit that has been nipped by frost. Some fruits need frost to...

Moving plants indoors means watch out for pests

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
Here comes September, a quirky month and the beginning of the harvest season. Indeed, the September...

Green beans, armadillos and leprosy – oh my!

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
It is summer and it is hot. In the dog days of summer, the Eiffel Tower actually grows 6 inches...

Counterintuitive gardening can make a lot of sense

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
Counterintuitive means something is contrary to our own intuition or common sense but is still true...

A new twist on hazel shrub offers visual interest

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
Sir Winston Churchill called him "Scotland's greatest ever ambassador," and he was at one time the...

Peach Melba from the garden

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
Growing your own peaches means you not only have fresh healthy fruit but fresh somewhat-less...

Special maple tree provides vibrant early color

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
No one can improve on nature. Or can we? The bittersweet autumn season, when things are beginning...

When life gives you lemons, make limoncello

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
Waste not, want not. So that nothing goes to waste, we gardeners can use dead leaves for mulch or...

Late bloomers provide plenty of garden options

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
Late bloomers abound. Frank McCourt didn’t publish his first book, “Angela’s Ashes,” until he was...

Four o’clocks provide daytime beauty, nighttime...

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
Americans call it snacking, but the British fight afternoon hunger with afternoon tea. This is a...

Grow a pineapple in your garden with this heirloom...

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
Johann Georg Schröpfer was famous for performing seances using images of ghosts projected on smoke...

Keep broccoli from bolting with steady watering and...

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
A bolt of lightning is a sudden burst, and a horse that is spooked will bolt or run suddenly. And...

Plant Italian striped zucchini, and friends will...

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
It is warm, sunny and time for summer squash, a popular gardening choice that is notorious for...

Take a Roman holiday in the garden with romaine lettuce

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
Lettuce wilts in the heat. Such is the sadness of the hot summer garden that the crisp, crunchy...

Slang phrase gives begonias a memorable name

2 years ago
Back in the day, before the 1990s Sopranos, before the 1972 film “The Godfather,” the 1958 Pat...

Janosik watermelons are a sweet summer treat

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
In the 17th century, in what is modern Poland and Slovakia, a young robber named Janosik led a band...

Plant red carrots early for summer treat; repeat for...

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
Kyoto, Japan, is a city of wonder, with 1,681 temples and 812 shrines. Kyoto residents eat more...

Use Rockwell beans in nutritious dishes to share...

2 years ago
Sometimes families adopt people, and sometimes people adopt families. One family I adopted is the...

Grow fava beans for lovely flowers and nutrition...

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
In the 6th century B.C., this man believed the earth was round. He was no head-in-the-clouds...

Plant red buckeye trees to attract hummingbirds

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
The buckeye tree gets its name from the tree's seed, or nut, which has a pale patch on a shiny red-...

Chickadees add beauty and song to the garden

2 years ago
One would think that gardeners would cheerfully say good riddance to winter, but we know one part...

Peggy Martin rose is a hardy survivor, abundant bloomer

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
Bringing someone back from the brink of death is a bit of a miracle. When performing CPR for a...

Grow a smokable herb that isn't marijuana

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
We hear what we want to hear. When Brewer and Shipley performed the hit song “One Toke Over the...

Grow and eat caterpillars

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
They're cute, they're fuzzy and kids love them. The word “caterpillar” is from the French word “...

Sunflowers bring cheer in times of war and peace

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
During World War I, the countryside of Europe was dug up by bombs, artillery and marching armies...

Plant Jimmy Red Corn for a taste of history

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
In the old wild west days, fur trappers would go to the rough and ready Canadian town of Lethbridge...

Give your plants a little pick-me-up with coffee

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
For some of us, coffee is a magic drink that lets us get gardening done quicker, and for some,...

Albino beets are a sugar-sweet, versatile variety

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
A real albino whale living off Mocha Island, Chile, was a fierce sperm whale that survived numerous...

Plant a rocket in your garden for evening aroma

Paul Barbano
2 years ago
When scientists in the 1600s began firing projectiles made of a cylindrical tube filled with...

Plant cima di rapa as soon as soil is workable in...

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
In 1889, President Benjamin Harrison officially proclaimed Oklahoma open for settlement, and on the...

Plant love in your garden with heart-shaped veggies

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
In 1866, Daniel Chase made the first motto hearts candies. Today, more than 8 billion of the heart-...

Bearss Lime trees make beautiful indoor accents year...

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
Some people are born to become doctors or lawyers, or at least their names seem to tell what they...

Grow a flavorful Caribbean pepper without blazing heat

3 years ago
Imagine finding a real mermaid skeleton. A late 18th-century mermaid skeleton fascinated the world...

Winterberry holly can offer a bright yard accent or...

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
Is your holly bush protecting your house from lightning strikes? Ages ago, people revered holly...

Use red eggplant from Italy to make a gourmet spread

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
Gardens link us to our past. In my ancestors' home of Potenza, Italy, there is a town called...

Plan ahead for summer by planting this tasty squash...

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
Ever since Robert Prince of Flushing, New York, published his first fruit tree catalog in 1771,...

Sea urchin cactus provides bright blooms for dreary...

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
The poor street kids in old London were bedraggled, ragged and dirty just like hedgehogs, which...

Deter marauding squirrels by keeping them well fed -...

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
Squirrels are both the gardener's friend and enemy. With their antics and acrobatics, squirrels...

Norfolk Island Pines work well for holiday decor and...

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
In parts of Austria and Germany in the 18th century, holiday evergreen trees were hung upside-down...

Mellow Yellows coneflowers benefit pollinators,...

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
As the days get shorter and we snuggle indoors, gardeners’ thoughts turn to spring. The dark days...

Planting ideas for attracting northern cardinals

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
Few sights are more stunning than scarlet-red northern cardinals against the bright white of...

Be careful about keeping Thanksgiving cactus in the...

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
Finally, a blooming houseplant that we can be thankful for: Thanksgiving cacti (Schlumbergera...

Many types of wildlife use the Canadian spruce for...

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
In order to terrify soldiers on the ground, Germany fitted its Ju 87 dive bombers with air-powered...

Use old jack o'lanterns as edible bird feeders in...

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
Gardener Jeff Uhlmeyer of Washington state babied his garden with a shelter from the sun and wind,...

Acorns are a great source of protein for wildlife...

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
Maybe it's because the human head looks like a nut that we call crazy people “nuts.” And this is...

Use leftover kitchen vegetables for a nostalgic...

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
In the midst of autumn, with dying leaves and spent gardens, we gardeners are tempted to long for...

Parsley root is a nutrition powerhouse

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
Not all salsa is Mexican salsa. Traditional Italian salsa verde sauce is bursting with capers,...

Ornamental onion suggests enchantment of faraway lands

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
Garden plants often come from remote corners of the world, and few places are more remote than...

Red Maria is a very productive late-season potato

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
When author Louis Hémon wrote “Maria Chapdelaine,” his epic tale of a lonely French-Canadian girl,...

Pick all your peppers before the frost comes

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
One early American cookbook mentions mango not as a tropical fruit but rather as a “mango of...

Tomatoes ripen best on vine when the temperature...

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
Tomatoes are probably the most popular garden vegetable in America, with 93 percent of American...

The beauty of fall chrysanthemums is that they are...

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
T he unofficial motto of the United States, E Pluribus Unum, is Latin for "out of many, one." This...

Garlic grows best in soil that is naturally loose

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
Count von Count the Muppet from Sesame Street is based on real vampire myth. Count von Count...

Plant Portuguese Hero autumn olive in almost any...

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
In the state of Maine in the early 20th century, an immigrant named Giovanni Amato began selling...

For annuals seeds worth saving let flowers...

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
In the 1980s, when British designer Rachel Ashwell wanted a home style that was easy, inexpensive...

Plant beard tongue at the edge of your garden

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
Eleven-year-old Grace Bedell wrote Abraham Lincoln and convinced him to grow a beard. Not only did...

Many rambling roses go on after blooming, produce...

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
Like a flame that burns, the phrase carrying a torch for someone means holding out a love that is...

For a crop that really grows quickly, nothing beats...

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
It is August and time for your garden to make a dash of it. Not the dash of Morse code signals,...

Red Swan beans are amazingly prolific

Paul Barbano
3 years ago
Think of swans, and you probably think grace and gentleness. But these gentle giants are among the...