Dry Shade Garden is my corner of the internet for gardening, plant oddities, old horticultural stories, and all the little things that make growing plants more interesting than it probably has any right to be.
I’ve been gardening long enough to know that success usually comes with a fair amount of trial and error. Some plants flourish. Some sulk. Some appear perfectly happy for two years and then suddenly decide the arrangement is no longer acceptable.
That is part of the fun.
What I Write About
I tend to follow whatever catches my interest.
Sometimes that starts with something practical I have noticed in the garden. Other times it comes from an old book, a strange historical detail, or a question that sends me looking through several sources when one probably would have been enough.
I like writing that is useful without being stiff, well-researched without sounding like a lecture, and personal without pretending my own experience is the only answer. Gardening has too many variables for that.
Those who are interested in how I do things around here can check the site’s editorial policy so that they can know what is to be expected.
A Bit About Me
I’m in my 50s, I spend a lot of time around plants, and I collect old gardening books, nursery catalogues, and botanical prints.
What began as a harmless interest has turned into shelves of material that I probably did not technically need but am very glad to own.
I particularly enjoy old annotations, strange recommendations, forgotten fashions, and those moments when you realize gardeners 150 years ago were worrying about surprisingly familiar problems.
Some things change. Gardeners arguing with plants apparently do not.
How I Approach the Site
I try to base what I publish on a mixture of proper research and practical experience.
If I have tried something myself, I may talk about it. If I am dealing with history or a factual claim, I try to check reliable sources rather than repeat whatever happens to be circulating online.
I am not interested in pretending to know everything.
If something is uncertain, complicated, or dependent on conditions, I would rather say so. If you have some ideas about how I can make DryShadeGarden better, feel free to reach out.
Why Dry Shade Garden?
Because the difficult parts are often the interesting parts.
Perfect gardens look nice in photographs, but awkward corners, troublesome soil, stubborn plants, old stories, strange gardening habits, and failed experiments usually have much more to say.
That is what keeps me interested.
And if you have ever stared at a patch of garden wondering why absolutely nothing is behaving as expected, you will probably feel at home here.
I’m not building profiles on individual readers. I’m mostly looking at the bigger picture.
If you send me a message, I’ll use the information you provide to reply to you.