Monday, November 2, 2026

News and Ideas Worth Sharing

Lee Buttala

Lee Buttala is a writer and organizational consultant. He is the former Executive Director of Seed Savers Exchange, an organization dedicated to the preservation of America’s garden and farming heritage, an Emmy Award-winning television producer of Martha Stewart Living and the creator, producer and director of Cultivating Life, a PBS series on outdoor living and gardening. He has written for The New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, New York, and Metropolitan Home. As an editor, he has worked for Saveur, Garden Design and Interview, and for the book publisher Alfred A. Knopf. He also served as the preservation program manager for the Garden Conservancy and has studied garden design at Kyoto University of Art and Design, the English Gardening School at London’s Chelsea Physic Garden and the New York Botanical Garden. He is the author and editor of the books Cultivating Life: A Guide to Outdoor Living and The Seed Garden: The Art and Practice of Seed Saving. You can also follow him on Instagram (https://www.igcol.com/user/leebuttala)

written articles

The Self-Taught Gardener: Plants that demand a little support from their friends

The Million Women March has me thinking about relationships -- between individuals and society, between plants and their habitat, and between our fundamental needs and how we demand they be met.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Once more to the lake

This simplicity of spirit is at the heart of what I love about country living and what I occasionally fear is lacking in our present-day approach to rural life.

The Self-Taught Gardener: On Prairie Avenue

South side natives and North Shore residents of every ethnicity imaginable stood side by side, weathering the cold to get tickets to an unimaginable moment: a speech commemorating our first black President and his eight years in office.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Winter’s call

A New Year’s Eve walk through the Olbrich Botanical Garden in Madison, Wisc., made me realize that buds, fruits, and bark can draw us into the winter landscape and keep us outdoors in the depths of the season.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Winter Wonderland — Ruminations on the winter landscape from the road

Snow negates the smaller elements of the landscape – the grasses and perennials that distract us from spring through fall -- and allows us to see the big picture. We see the architecture and poetics of the space itself.

The Self-Taught Gardener: The Holly and the I.v. (Ilex verticillata)

As we enter a new season, a look at some native plants with the stamina to perform well in the winter garden and, ideally, in the years ahead.

The Self-Taught Gardener: O Tannenbaum

With some planning, the holidays can be as green as Arbor Day.

Preserving our gratitude

Perhaps what is most meaningful to me about Thanksgiving is that its purpose, going back to the Pilgrims, has been about sharing the bounty of the season, not just with our families but with others who may not look like us or practice the same religion, but with whom we share a common humanity.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Preparing for the next term

Cool season weeds are the bane of a gardener’s existence and, if left in place, easily wreak havoc in the garden. I liken them to John Podesta or Governor Chris Christie.

The Self-Taught Gardener: A rake’s progress

Leaves are in essence nature’s mulch, covering the forest floor, holding in moisture and suppressing weeds. So why are we bagging up all of these leaves to be carted away each fall?

The Self-Taught Gardener: The Gift of Bulbs

Bulbs are usually the last plants (after trees, perennials and shrubs) to be added to a garden because, like ferns, they are so good at filling in the remaining empty spaces within a bed or border.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Seeing red

From now on, when fall takes on its crimson tones, I can thank these crimson beauties (as well as the lady bugs) for helping to control my aphid population.

The Self-Taught Gardener: The late season

I just enjoy this crescendo of color that precedes winter, when this colorful chorus will have finished its song and will be muted.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Bringing Nature home

My newfound appreciation for the beauty of native plants, as well as this information about their value to other species, has changed how I garden and the plants that I select.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Autumn leaves

This year, trees that have suffered from a lack of water may present us with an array of muted browns. Is it a lack of water, or election-year ennui, I wonder?

The Self-Taught Gardener: Good breeding

For gardeners like me, who consider the plants in our gardens almost as our children, the idea of giving their breeding some thought sounds nothing short of miraculous.
spot_img

The Edge Is Free To Read.

But Not To Produce.