One thing that Ken Druse and I are certain about when it comes to plants: that they will often surprise you, Some grow bigger or stay smaller than the catalog promised, and some are better- or worse-behaved, or tougher or more tender than expected. Some plants that have surprised us over the years, for better or worse, was the subject of a recent conversation we had.
Ken, who gardens in New Jersey, is the author and photographer behind 20 garden books, and a longtime friend who grows lots of plants that definitely surprise me. We discussed plants that in one way or another weren't quite what we expected, as in: surprise!
Becoming a successful vegetable gardener involves a lot of trial and error. As the seasons pass we hopefully get better at it—harvesting not just...
