Monday, October 12, 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: Patience not required

This fall, I find myself planting myriad bulbs as the days shorten. How wonderful that I do not need the patience to wait until spring to see the rewards of my labor.

THE SELF-TAUGHT GARDENER: The observant gardener

What is the right plant for the right place when weather varies in the region from the rain-soaked summer of last year to the dry-as-a-bone season we are now three months into?

THE SELF-TAUGHT GARDENER: Holy water

On the trip out from the heat of Rome, nothing prepared us for the ultimate use of water to keep one cool that was the Villa d'Este in Tivoli.

THE SELF-TAUGHT GARDENER: Getting buzzed

I hope that, like the Italian honeybee, I am on a mission of some importance.

THE SELF-TAUGHT GARDENER: Making the bed

Looking for the secret to successful gardening maintenance? A few simple actions can make the garden look more orderly than it really is.

THE SELF-TAUGHT GARDENER: Dutch still life

It is not surprising that the Dutch exert a big influence over plant selection, starting with the 17th century Tulip Craze and continuing today in surprising ways.

THE SELF-TAUGHT GARDENER: Immigration policy and the moth formerly known as gypsy

Like many of us whose families immigrated to America, the sponge moths are here to stay. So how do we learn to peaceably coexist?

THE SELF-TAUGHT GARDENER: Plays well with others

In the wake of Tuesday's massacre in Texas, I realize gardening teaches me ways of seeing the world and the actions of others.

THE SELF-TAUGHT GARDENER: Green space

Over coffee with a new friend, I suddenly realized how much I love the power of green and how exciting it can be to see it take center stage.

THE SELF-TAUGHT GARDENER: Narcissus

Narcissistic gardeners forget that good plantsmanship reflects a pact made between plants and gardeners, that they will meet our needs if we will meet theirs.

THE SELF-TAUGHT GARDENER: Spring

The calm I feel in the spring may well be the very reason why I garden.

THE SELF-TAUGHT GARDENER: Federal Twist

I came to know the gardens of Federal Twist by getting glances and glimpses on Instagram throughout the seasons, a sort of naturalistic Brigadoon.

THE SELF-TAUGHT GARDENER: Growing up in the garden

Cultivated forms of witch hazel provide some of the first flowers of the year in the garden, and I love them for their flowers and their scent.

THE SELF-TAUGHT GARDENER: Flowering times

As pollinators struggle to survive in a developed world, can we in our little individual gardens make a difference? The jury is still out.

THE SELF-TAUGHT GARDENER: Splendor in the grass

A century of conservation policy has focused primarily on wetlands and forests, ignoring the value of grasslands as bird habitat. It's time we started gardening for the birds.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Gardening with resolve

Gardeners make new year's resolutions, too, and those of our Self-Taught Gardener Lee Buttala may surprise you.
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