Welcome to the 15th issue of PITH + VIGOR, a weekly newsletter by me, Rochelle Greayer, with a focus on garden design, plants, and making this world a better place. I'm glad you're here. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? You deserve your own: Subscribe here.

Harvard, MA, April 30th, 2023

I have too many things to tell you about this week - so I am going with a brain dump: 

1) I posted a new 40 things list.*  This one is about Container gardens - 40 IDEAS FOR MAKING BETTER FLOWER POT DESIGNS AND COOL CONTAINER GARDENS

2) Also - this crossed my path this week and I thought you might find it inspiring as you plan your garden:

3) I'm on my annual Sanguinaria canadensis multiplex kick. This plant (pictured above) is also known as double flowering bloodroot. It is the prettiest, easiest, native wildflower I've ever seen and it is in full bloom right now - remindng me to start talking obsessively about it. 

I paid $35 (!) for my original plant and I had immediate buyer's remorse.

(It was tiny little thing in a 2" pot I got from a random backyard nursery on the promise of a stranger who had the audacity to charge $35 for a slip of nothing he pulled from the depths of his shed). 

Good thing this type of place doesn't have a return policy. 

It has become a glowing white siren whose call ensnares everyone who visits my garden in late April and early May.

I accidentally dug into the clump last fall. With fingers crossed, I replanted the inadvertent splits and hoped for the best.  Now I have 4 happy clumps and the confidence to split the big clump for at least a half dozen more. 

I consider it buried treasure - it I were selling it as I bought it - my collection would easily be worth $900.**  

.....

That is all for this week - now, I must get back to recording new lessons for my container gardening course.  Our first live session is next weekend (May 7th) and I am excited to meet everyone who has joined. I just finished lessons on soil, pots, and color selection and matching your garden to your house and I am spending this rainy Sunday polishing off the plant lists and planting guides to get those posted soon. If you want to hop in and join us, you still can - I'd love to meet you next weekend too!

- Rochelle

*I'm beyond weirdly obsessed with lists of 40 things. The format reminds me of my first celebrity crush - David Letterman. When I was in college someone in our dorm would post top 10 list topics on an actual cork bulletin board in the hall and it would get filled out communally. The result was always hilarious. I lived amongst some seriously clever nerds.  I even wrote a list of 40 things (all garden and design related) that I can write a list a of 40 things about. (I might have a problem). You might think it is trite or silly (I kinda do) but at the same time, it is too much fun to quit. 

**I think I need to draw up a pirate's booty map to include in my will.