I Simply Remember These Favorite Things with Dr. A, May 2024
A Plant
Hybrid Rex begonias
I write this for everyone who embraces container gardening. Containers are everywhere, from decks in the backyard to apartment and condo balconies. As I write this, I am thinking of my brother Howard and his wife Phyllis’s 14th-floor balcony in beautiful Waterloo, Ontario. It’s not a large space, but Phyllis brightened it by planting gorgeous begonias in her containers last summer. The new Rex forms are grown mainly for the foliage and are beautiful all season. So, when I revisit Waterloo this summer, I may see the balcony shimmering in begonia beauty again.
A Garden
Chicago Botanic Garden
It is hard to believe that I have been penning this commentary every month for over a year, and I have not included one of America’s great public gardens. Chicago Botanic Garden has it all and does it all. The venue in Glencoe, IL, is a wonderful place to visit and walk around, admiring spectacular gardens, berms, and verges. Their display of ornamental grasses is other-worldly; everything they do is world-class. Not only do people roam, admire, have weddings, and study pollinators and native plants, the garden is well known for its research. A great place to visit, a wonderful American treasure.
A Book
Rachel Hatch series L.T Ryan, Brian Shea
Fiction series. I try to recommend what I consider good reads that also teach me something. After finally finishing a book, I like to say that I have learned something. However, every now and then, I like to chill out with an “airplane book,” simple entertainment for listening in the garden or reading on a plane.
Rachel Hatch is essentially a female Reacher. If you have chosen not to pick up a Reacher book, this series will not interest you either. Hatch (like Reacher, she goes by a single name) is always saving villages, towns, and communities by protecting the innocent and removing the guilty. The stories are simple, easy to follow and great fun to read; the world needs world needs more bad-ass heroes.
11 books in the series.
A Show
Our Planet, Netflix
The photography in this series is unbelievable. David Attenborough, who is always fabulous, narrates this eight-part series that takes us all over the world. Every show opened my eyes to the diversity, wonder, and, yes, fragility of this place we call Earth. I can’t possibly describe what astonishments you will discover when you tune in to this show, but I can almost guarantee “oohs and aahs” from each episode.
A Place
Highlands of Scotland
Scotland is a grand destination, regardless of whether you are visiting Edinburgh, Glasgow, or the Hebrides. The country is beautiful, often rugged, and always beautiful. And without doubt, history is always alive and well. It is even more present if you visit the Highlands, which I recommend for anyone’s to-do list. Inverness, regarded as the capitol of the highlands, was first settled in the 6th century AD and is a good place to start. The Culloden Visitor Center is a must-see in order to understand the Jacobite Rising and the final violent dissolution of the Scottish clans at the battle of Culloden in 1746. Inverewe Gardens, about an hour NW of Inverness, is extraordinary, especially when you think it is on the same latitude as Hudson’s Bay in Canada. And, of course, if you are a fan of Jamie and Claire from the Outlander books, you will not be alone, especially in the stone circles such as those found at Clava Cairns.