July in the Garden
July is an important month at Parterre, when all the demanding garden work expended from March through June pays off…none more so than in the Green and White Garden. For… Read More
Summer
The Newport Flower Show 2026
The theme for this year’s Flower Show was “Pearls of Newport.” And can there be a more appropriate pearl than Rosecliff, this architecturally splendid Gilded Age mansion, where many a… Read More
Containers, A Valuable Garden Detail
In honor of my dear friend, Margot Shaw, founder of Flower magazine and one of the headliners for the 2026 Newport Flower Show, I’m taking a page from her new… Read More
Flowering Outdoors: Gardens and Parties
The Newport Flower Show will have a Star headliner this month, Margot Shaw, founder of Flower magazine, introducing her new book, Flowering Outdoors: Gardens and Parties. Don’t you love the… Read More
Peony Magic
I’m so excited that the weather has finally turned and my glorious faves, peonies, are starting to show off! Appreciating how much we are all besotted with peonies, I chose… Read More
A Notable Newport Estate, The Orchard Part 2
In a town of many old mansions, most have become house museums or condominiums or have been turned into dormitories and classrooms for a local university. Only a special few,… Read More
A Notable Newport Estate, The Orchard. Part 1
Memorial Day reminds us that summer is just around the corner, when friends return from all parts of the country and houses are “opened for the season.” One of those… Read More
Designing with Hydrangeas
Though late to bloom this year given our wet and wonky summer, these Newport signatures never fail to make their statement…and complete many a landscape’s je ne sais quoi. Look… Read More
Show-Stopping Hydrangeas at Marble House
After a few years of disappointing blooms, this summer of ’24 is a show stopper of what can rightfully be described as a hydrangea heaven, contributing muchly to the pleasures… Read More
Bellinis and Blossoms and a Second Bloom
Given our love of gardens and flowers, Cathy B. Graham and I were destined to meet — but actually, it was Instagram that first brought us together — where so… Read More