My gardening story

I’m Nancy Kressin, a longtime Boston gardener. Frankly, I am obsessed with gardening and with plants. Though I learned many things about plants from my mother while growing up in Maryland, I have deepened my knowledge and experience over the past 35+ years. Most of this time I have cultivated a one third acre lot in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, which has rich, loamy, acidic soil, typical of the Northeast. I am an avid plant collector of perennials, woody plants and trees. I have an extensive collection of hemerocallis (daylilies), many types of hydrangeas, numerous hostas, and a great number of heuchera. Realizing the importance of native plants and nourishing pollinators, I am now embellishing my substantial plant collection with native plants. I yearn to have everything, but the relatively small size of the space and the specific soil conditions limit what I can successfully grow (speaking from experience!). I have had a long career as a health systems researcher and often think about gardening as a series of scientific experiments, such as “what if I plant this here?” and “maybe this will grow in shade…let’s experiment and see”. I love to share experiences and knowledge with other gardeners – I am always learning.

My background

In addition to the experience and knowledge I have gained while experimenting in my own garden, several years ago, I trained to become a Massachusetts Master Gardener, which further deepened my horticultural knowledge and connections to other gardeners. Through the Massachusetts Master Gardeners Association I am continually learning, in part by volunteering at several local historic garden landscapes.

My approach

There are few greater pleasures than ‘walking the garden’ with other gardeners and discussing various plants, challenging conditions, results of experiments, getting insights and plant ideas from others, and sharing problems I’ve solved. Since I can’t literally stroll through the garden with everyone, I am seeking to share this experience virtually through this blog and website, and I hope to have conversations with readers about what I write. My blog posts, and articles I write for various publications aim to share what I’ve learned, with the goal of deepening others’ knowledge.