Sunday, March 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: The art of subtraction

“Once you've dressed, and before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take at least one thing off.” -- Coco Chanel

The Self-Taught Gardener: The postman plants twice

There are two times of year when gardeners start thinking ahead. The first arrives in January when the seed catalogues show up; the second happens in early summer when bulb catalogs arrive.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Dahlia Days

I have to confess that I love every vulgar flower the genus Dahlia has to offer, from its initial blooms in mid-July to its explosion of flowers come late fall.

The Self-Taught Gardener: My inner gardener

I am first and foremost a gardener, and while I enjoy the pleasure of others. But another aspect of me is staring at the sun as it moves up in the sky and thinking of all the tasks that I am not accomplishing.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Drop-Ins

I have always thought that volunteer plants pop up in a way that energizes any garden. They seem to inhabit it and give it life.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Living on air

My garden will grow well with the soil that I was given, as my plants simply take in the air around them and get most of what they need.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Growing tomatoes with Dad

In the gardens that I grew up with in the Midwest the vegetable that was always king: the tomato. For my father, these fruiting vines defined summer.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Back-seat gardeners

Gardeners rarely think about sitting down… but there is another vantage point from which to view and observe our gardens.

The Self-Taught Gardener: For variety’s sake

Most gardeners are generous people who share their knowledge as freely as they share cuttings of their favorite plants.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Lunar Landscape

Some gardeners sow the seeds of pumpkins on the full moon with the belief that fruiting vines are helped by the gravitational pull of the moon.

The Self-Taught Gardener: No More Tears

These weeping trees are not downtrodden or sad; rather, their branches bring us back to the earth and remind us of our place in it.

The Self-Taught Gardener: The earth is flat

My old garden in Connecticut cascaded down a hillside, and its steep slopes defined the eighteen years of hard labor that were to ensue.

The Self-Taught Gardener: Putting down roots

An understanding of time and maturation is at the center of the artful selection and placement of trees. There are wonderful species and varieties for almost every situation.

The Self-Taught Gardener: The morning after

The spring season abounds in plant sales and, for many gardeners, they are the equivalent of a night out on the town.

The Self-Taught Gardener: One-night stands

New gardeners often do not want to consider the plant’s needs and how they could ensure its survival; they want to buy the plants they are drawn to.

The Self-Taught Gardener: The New Edwardians

Gardening is in the process of evolving and being transformed into something that requires a level of care and nursing different from the highly manicured beds and borders.
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