What were your earliest influences towards the gardening world?

I have always had a need to nurture. I was the kid who rescued the baby birds -- while building dirt forts in the backyard. These things naturally led to a love of nature and gardening. My mother is not a gardener, but she loves plants and especially woodland wildflowers. I think many of us have an
affinity with the habitat-type in which we grew up and I am still drawn to the woodland that typifies the area of the Northeast where we (used to) get 49 inches of rain a year.

How much of a garden do you personally care for?

I have two gardens at the moment in two states. One is the New York City garden shown in The Natural Shade Garden. The other is on 2.6 acres in an area of New Jersey typified by woodland, mountains and lakes.

What are your favorite or perhaps easiest plants to grow?

Whenever I am asked this question, and I am asked it often, I say my stock answer -- the last plant I saw. I could add, don't have but can grow. Seriously, I love so many plants, and I do find that I have favorites but it comes down to what's happening and when.

In January, my favorite is the Osmanthus fragrans, Sweet Olive, because it is covered with tiny cream-colored flowers that smell like apricots and fill the house with fragrance -- but then, there is the new selection of Abutilon, Flowering Maple, which has huge, wide-open bells that resemble hibiscus, a close relative. This plant blooms nonstop from October to May when so many things are not in bloom. It is also very resistant to pests usually associated with Abutilons and a vigorous grower. This week, it has twelve open flowers. The color isn't a favorite, it is tangerine orange, but in winter -- it is the
best color.

So what's my favorite plant? The last one I saw and the next one I'll see.

What do you feel is the most prominent design principle or element that most gardeners overlook when creating their gardens?

This is a hard question to answer. I think gardeners should have fun and do whatever they want providing it is not in any way injurious to the environment. That said, I would imagine that a common difficulty is thinking of a garden in four dimensions. There are points of interest -- one dimension. Lines such as paths and edges of borders -- two dimensions. The sculptural quality of plants and beds and the overall plan of the landscape -- three dimensions. And there is also time -- the fourth dimension. Plants grow, needs change. You have to flexible when planning the garden but also be aware of the changes that are going to take place. Short-lived plants will die, but more imprint, those plants you may have put in too close together are going to be problems in short order. We are a nation of instant
everything. A good garden can look good instantly, but a great garden considers ways to look good as long-term contributors become established.

Do you prefer writing, photography, or gardening, one over the other?

I need to write, to communicate, share, teach. I always have ideas and have to jot them down. I like to take pictures and make that kind of art and augment the communication of the words. But I lament not having enough time to garden. There is no danger of my avocation being tainted by being my vocation because what I love, gardening, is not what I do for a living. It is just the subject of my work and my love.

How have you nurtured your successful style of writing?

Another big question. It is always a big fight to communicate through the editorial intervention of magazine styles and book publishers. I know in the end, that the public likes my work. Some of the things I fight most for are the very things that are quoted back to me when a book comes out. As far as
nurturing my writing style? I write for myself. I write for my functionally illiterate reading style and ear. I like to read things that are funny, engaging, entertaining, and that challenge me, but not by making me go to the dictionary. As it has been said, writing is easy. You just go over to the typewriter and open a vein. It is true in that writing is the hardest and loneliest work imaginable. The easier it reads and sounds in the end, the harder it was to produce.

What are some basic photography suggestions in capturing a backyard garden on film?

Don't shoot in sunlight. I almost never do, and on the rare occasions when I have to take pictures in full sun, I wind up throwing them away. Think about it when you go out to the garden. The garden looks its best in the early morning and the late afternoon and evening and great on overcast days and in a light rain. There are no harsh shadows -- even the weeds don't seem to show as much.

What is your most valuable tool in photography?

Obviously a camera is necessary. Film, too, and films vary greatly. I would have to say beyond those two, the most important tool is a tripod. It is great when you have a good one that is quick and easy to use. A tripod slows you down in a good way, and makes you think more deliberately about the picture
you are about to take and but also about your garden. Carefully composing a shot, deciding what will be in it and what will not -- framing the picture -- will give you the best results. And putting a frame around a garden scene is a great way to improve your garden in general. This helps you to step back
and take a more objective look at what you are creating. You also will get a record of your garden's development and your progress.

Do you prefer taking photographs of landscapes over individual plant material?

I think that I do like to take pictures of individual plants most. I love it when the light is right, the wind is still and I am alone with beautiful plant. I spend a lot of time trying to communicate in the photo what the plant means to me and looks to me. I can't take snapshots, and friends joke that I have never taken a photo in less than an hour. That isn't always true -- but as for plant portraits and the still life photos in my new book, Making More Plants: The Science, Art, and Joy of Propagation, it is definitely the case.
And, there are 590 photos in that book.

Where are your top 5 places for gardening photography?

Do you mean places I want to take pictures? I guess, my garden, my garden, my garden, my garden and oh yes, my garden. I am trying to grow an outdoor studio. I want to spend more time in the garden so growing it, as a place to take photographs, will allow me to stay there. Actually, I like all gardens
and almost always take some good pictures; depending of course, on the light.