Tovah Martin

From growers and merchants to artisans and authors, there’s a garden guru around every corner at the Connecticut Trade Secrets annual garden show.

Years of trial and error gardening with flowers and shrubs, berries and vegetables, has taught this acclaimed gardening writer one thing: her land has a mind of its own.

There’s a garden overlooking the rolling hills of Litchfield County, Connecticut, that is literally scrumptious. At the estate called Highmeadows, rows of plantings spill over with succulent Fiero radicchio, Gigante degli Ortolani escarole, Diablo Brussels sprouts, and dozens of other vegetables planted to form a deep tapestry of color and texture. Purple basil flanks tomatoes, […]

Bill and Eileen Elliott  found their way to self-sufficiency with more than a little help from their vegetable garden. Without precise directions, you’d never find Bill and Eileen Elliott’s house. But with some guidance, you’d find yourself standing before a rustic hand-hewn archway gate, and through that, a curving, colorful path lined with astilbe, geraniums, […]

The best nurseries and garden centers in New England, as chosen by gardening expert Tovah Martin. Tovah Martin, author of more than a dozen gardening books, including The New Terrarium (Clarkson Potter, 2009) and Tasha Tudor’s Garden (Houghton Mifflin, 1994), cruises the countryside on periodic reconnaissance missions, finding ingredients to stuff into her already jam-packed […]

At Stone Acres, head gardener Chris Careb finds that a little Yankee ingenuity pays off  when growing a historic garden from seed—at minimal cost. Chris Careb takes the slow-but-sure route to growing the heirlooms at Stone Acres: Rather than spend precious time and resources driving around the countryside randomly seeking bygone plants at nurseries, he […]

Stewarded by multiple generations of the same Connecticut family, the landscape at Stone Acres is a gracious reflection of the property’s storied past. Christian Careb was 15 years old when he landed his first job at Stone Acres, a gentleman’s farm in Stonington, Connecticut. The year was 1978, and Chris was just getting the hang […]

Patrick Shellman from Fantastic Umbrella Factory Garden shares his best tips for creating dazzling container gardens that are equal parts true grit and pizzazz. Put your sunglasses on. Gardeners spend summers soaking in sun, buoyed by breezes. It’s one of the great pleasures of our work, but those conditions can be stressful for plants, especially when […]

We took everything we love about our region’s varied landscapes and captured it all in these lovely terrarium scenes inspired by New England. [slideshow post_id=”538943″] What do you love about New England? Is it those iconic red barns with sheep grazing nearby? Or the blaze of autumn foliage that signals the growing season’s last hurrah? […]

In “New England Under Glass,” Tovah Martin took everything we love about the New England landscape and captured it in a series of lovely terrariums. This farm scene terrarium calls to mind the rolling hills of Vermont’s countryside. Materials to Make a Farm Scene Terrarium Large open glass container 3/8-inch pebbles (for base drainage) Horticultural […]

In “New England Under Glass,” Tovah Martin took everything we love about the New England landscape and captured it in a series of lovely terrariums. This snowy winter scene terrarium depicts the maple sugaring season in New England, including a maple-sugar shack. Materials to Make a Maple-Sugar Shack Terrarium Open glass container 3/8-inch pebbles (for […]