Thursday, October 22, 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: Time travel

For our Self-Taught Gardener, plants are mnenomic devices, connecting him to past places and people and helping him take them into the future.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Hydrotherapy

Our Self-Taught Gardener Lee Buttala discovers that sometimes the oddest of circumstances can remind us how a landscape can provide solace.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Rooftop dancing

At a roof party in downtown Chicago, our Self-Taught Gardener Lee Buttala discovers that, just like in the garden, there is room for us all to inhabit the same world and to dance to our own music.

The Self-Taught Gardener: A backward glance

Advice from Lee Buttala, our Self-Taught Gardener, to all his misguided fellow gardeners: Learn to live in the moment!

The Self-Taught Gardener: Tree torn

As we face the demise of two of Edith Wharton's prized trees at The Mount, our Self-Taught Gardener provides solace.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Nativist inclinations

Our Self-Taught Gardener Lee Buttala reflects on the virtues of native trees and shrubs in our gardens.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Rainy days and Tuesdays

Don't take trees for granted, says our Self-Taught Gardener Lee Buttala. More important, know what they do and where they should go.

The Self-Taught Gardener: The experience of place

Nature and the man-made world. Can they coexist? Our Self-Taught Gardener thinks yes, with a little effort.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Plaza Suite

Our Self-Taught Gardener takes away very different impressions from visits to two new plazas in New York City: one inspires hope while the other seems like a missed opportunity.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Division Street

A visit to his former home in Richmond, Virginia, teaches our Self-Taught Gardener Lee Buttala the art of moving forward.

The Self-Taught Gardener: A river runs through it

The power of water for both good and bad shows our Self-Taught Gardener Lee Buttala that we all can share a collective future if we focus on what brings us together.

The Self-Taught Gardener: The California Gold Rush

In this year's "super bloom" in the California desert, our Self-Taught Gardener Lee Buttala sees a metaphor for the boom and bust of the California dream.

The Self-Taught Gardener: A place in the shade

Seeking shade from the Los Angeles sun, our Self-Taught Gardener finds a refreshing oasis tucked into the heat-reflecting folds of Gehry's Disney Center.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Winter Tour

A trip to Chrystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas, reminds our Self-Taught Gardener Lee Buttala about the importance of good architecture, structure, and landscape design, especially in the dead of winter.

Self-Taught Gardener: The Great Migration

While snow birds may head south for some color, our Self-Taught Gardener Lee Buttala shows us why we should love the muted colors of the winter.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Subzero dreaming

Minus 27 degree temperatures in Minneapolis lead our Self-Taught Gardener Lee Buttala to surprising new sources of gardening inspiration.
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