Many gardeners first fall in love with these lavish blooms and extravagant foliage in wintertime, when little else grows with such abandon. Then the affair continues with the discovery of the full range of delightful year-round perennials, including the new strains coming out each year, some for shade, others for sun. Start your romance with the snow-white purity of the Christmas rose, then expand to the variegated Lenten rose, before trying your own year-round hybrids.
I'm a Transatlantic Gardener, I write about plants and gardening from our homes and gardens in Pennsylvania (zone 5) and in Northamptonshire (zone 8) in England. It's both exciting and challenging, especially as many of my favorite plants will grow in one of our gardens but not the other!
Originally trained at Kew Gardens in London, perennials and annuals are my special enthusiasms but all plants interest me. I've published a number of books on both subjects including the award-winning Encyclopedia of Perennials, published in association with the American Horticultural Society.
I've also written about sweet peas, small gardens, ornamental vegetables and herbs, and more (take a look at the books in the left) and won awards for writing on both sides of the Atlantic. I'm also a Transatlantic lecturer, my blog at TransatlanticGardener.com was runner-up in the Garden Blog of The Year awards and you'll find my Royal Horticultural Society New Plants blog at RHSNewPlants.co.uk. Or start at my website GrahamRice.com.
