As you can see in this snapshot, I’ve been fascinated with flowers for a long time (and don't you love my checked shorts?).

My dad helped me plant my first garden when I was seven, and although I soon learned that weeding is an endless chore, I was thrilled when I harvested my first radishes and I’ve been gardening ever since.

Eventually my love of plants led me to launch Old House Gardens, and now that I’m retiring in May we printed a short history of OHG on page 48 of our catalog.

Even better is the clickable version we posted online recently, with links to the “welcome” letter from our first catalog, our dramatic 1996 debut in Garden Design, a short video of me planting bulbs with Martha Stewart, and more.

I hope you’ll enjoy it – and then please help my crew (aka the new owners) continue the Old House Gardens story!

‘Carolina Primrose’

There’s an unlikely “cover girl” on the front of Garden Gate’s December issue – gladiolus!

Once scorned as hopelessly out of fashion, glads continue their slow rise back into popularity. Garden Gate’s headline touts their “Gorgeous Color, Dramatic Shape, Old-Fashioned Charm,” and adds “your garden needs this flower!”

To integrate glads into your garden – instead of just growing them for bouquets – check out the article’s excellent tips and photos in “Design Your Garden with Glads.”

There’s a great section on non-traditional glads, too, with photos of our small-flowered and surprisingly hardy ‘Carolina Primrose’ (pictured) and ‘Atom’ as well as the fragrant Abyssinian glad.

To get your own copy, click the “Free Preview Issue” tab at gardengatemagazine.com. We’re long-time subscribers ourselves, and we know you’ll find a lot to like in Garden Gate!

Imagine an entire wall in your home or office covered with a huge image of a Dutch flower painting from the 1700s, or a bulb catalog cover from the 1800s.

For less than you might expect, a British company called Surface View offers custom-sized murals of thousands of images ranging from antique maps and vintage comic books to abstract patterns and modern photography. Any good wallpaper hanger can install them for you, and shipping for most orders is free.

Among the 600-plus botanical images they offer you’ll find 18th-century paintings of broken tulips, Victorian chromolithographs of daffodils, floral wallpaper by William Morris, close-up photos of ‘Snowbunting’ and ‘Rip van Winkle’, and antique catalog covers such as the one here of ‘Pallida Dalmatica’ iris.

That image as well as several of our other favorites are part of a recently added New York Botanical Garden collection that you won’t want to miss.

Even if you don’t end up ordering any, it’s fun browsing through the wonderland of images. Enjoy!

iris borer

With warmer-than-usual weather in much of the country, it’s still a great time to do some of the little things that will pay big dividends in your garden’s health and beauty next year.

Click these links for helpful tips from our newsletter and website:

how to do a simple fall clean-up to prevent iris borers and eliminate peony mildew,

how to get free bulbs by digging and storing your glads (later is better), dahlias, and crocosmia,

how to store – even without digging! – tuberoses, rain lilies, and crinums,

how to safely plant spring-blooming bulbs in outdoor pots,

how to force bulbs indoors for winter bloom – just add water!

For even more bulb care tips, check out the 47 other links at our complete Planting and Care page. Your garden will thank you!