Monday, March 16, 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: O Tannenbaum

With some planning, the holidays can be as green as Arbor Day.

Preserving our gratitude

Perhaps what is most meaningful to me about Thanksgiving is that its purpose, going back to the Pilgrims, has been about sharing the bounty of the season, not just with our families but with others who may not look like us or practice the same religion, but with whom we share a common humanity.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Preparing for the next term

Cool season weeds are the bane of a gardener’s existence and, if left in place, easily wreak havoc in the garden. I liken them to John Podesta or Governor Chris Christie.

The Self-Taught Gardener: A rake’s progress

Leaves are in essence nature’s mulch, covering the forest floor, holding in moisture and suppressing weeds. So why are we bagging up all of these leaves to be carted away each fall?

The Self-Taught Gardener: The Gift of Bulbs

Bulbs are usually the last plants (after trees, perennials and shrubs) to be added to a garden because, like ferns, they are so good at filling in the remaining empty spaces within a bed or border.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Seeing red

From now on, when fall takes on its crimson tones, I can thank these crimson beauties (as well as the lady bugs) for helping to control my aphid population.

The Self-Taught Gardener: The late season

I just enjoy this crescendo of color that precedes winter, when this colorful chorus will have finished its song and will be muted.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Bringing Nature home

My newfound appreciation for the beauty of native plants, as well as this information about their value to other species, has changed how I garden and the plants that I select.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Autumn leaves

This year, trees that have suffered from a lack of water may present us with an array of muted browns. Is it a lack of water, or election-year ennui, I wonder?

The Self-Taught Gardener: Good breeding

For gardeners like me, who consider the plants in our gardens almost as our children, the idea of giving their breeding some thought sounds nothing short of miraculous.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Rudiments of seed-saving

A gardener can simply collect seeds, sow them the next year and see what comes up, but a little understanding of the process can greatly impact the results.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Fields of Heaven

Gardens for me have always served as a reminder of man’s small role in the hierarchy of the universe.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Going nuts

For many, the end of summer is a moment when they feel that their favorite seasonal foods are passing and this is a sad moment. But for me, there is nothing more glorious than the fall harvest that is to come.

The Self-Taught Gardener: The importance of being green, or the yellowing of America

I realize that my disdain for yellow leaves is not for the color itself, but for its unconscious overuse. For instance, yellow-leaved evergreen conifers, such as ‘Skylands’ spruce and gold false cypresses, always seem more chlorotic than colorful.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Flowers and fruits

I have been shocked by how little gardeners often know about the structure of plants and flowers. A visit to the Harvard Museum of Natural History has made me look at plants in a new manner.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Seeking paradise

I have always been fascinated by how we view the difference between gardens and nature, for in our history they have always been different.
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