Opinion- Page 12

“Guess what my mother-in-law gave me for Christmas,” said my friend Jill, rolling her eyes. “Menopause pajamas!” This was about 10 years ago, and I almost fell on the floor laughing. Menopause pajamas! What even was that? Jill and I were barely…

In this summer of extremes—drench, drought, horrible heat—many plants in my garden have struggled. But one of them, purple love grass, Eragrostis spectabilis, has taken it all in beautiful stride. Purple love grass is an easy to grow, low-maintenance, perennial bunchgrass. It…

Even if you don’t know its name, you’ve likely seen black swallow-wort around town. This twining vine with narrow, glossy leaves is as likely to lurk in shadow among the branches of a privet hedge as sprawl across a chain-link fence. When…

I remember my 10th high school reunion fairly well. I’d recently moved back to New England after spending much of my twenties in North Carolina, so I didn’t need to travel far to my home town of Wolfeboro, N.H. I genuinely had…