In the life of any gardener, there comes a day when you're forced to admit that no matter how much you worship a certain plant, it's just not going to work for you. There are any number of reasons this might happen: insufficient light, space, or some other factor that makes your garden not to the plant's liking. In these cases, it's likely you've spent many a precious dollar on such plants, even after all the evidence points conclusively to failure: They looked so healthy and vibrant at the nursery! You want to redeem yourself for the last batch you killed! You forget how demoralizing it was to watch that plant wither away over the course of a season or two, despite your unconditional love and constant ministrations. It's also natural, as the years go by, to think that your increasing botanical experience (you may even use the word "wisdom") may lead to success this time around. You say to yourself, well, my hellebores are thriving, why can't I grow heather? You vow to do better, you remember your dream of cultivating an entire field of heather. This despite the fact that your garden is a 15-by-30-foot rectangle in which you've already planted twenty-five deciduous trees, hundreds of ferns, a redwood and a stand of bamboo. READ MORE

These days when I go out in the garden, I’m reminded of how, as a kid, I used to feel at the end of August, when the start of school loomed and you could already hear the gates to freedom and laziness clanking shut. As an adult, it’s a dread of winter tempered by the last of the color; the brightness is all the more striking for being found in a web of leafless, grey vines and branches. There's a certainty that what remains is about to end. READ MORE

As we head into the late days of November, at least here in the region around New York City, most of the ferns have turned sallow and dry, so that it’s difficult to believe that only a few months ago, they formed a lush, dense carpet of shadowy green on forest floors everywhere. While it’s tempting to be taken in by these superficial signs of frailty and expiration, do not be deceived: those of us who spend time with ferns understand that they are plotting, and one day soon will again rule the world. READ MORE

Duff McKagan was 15 when he met Kim Warnick of Seattle punk band the Fastbacks. While giving him a ride home from school, she mentioned that her band might need a drummer. "Guitar, drums, bass, whatever, I'll join!" writes McKagan with the kind of tractable enthusiasm that makes his new memoir, It’s So Easy (And Other Lies) (out today), a fun and heartening read. After dropping out of the local alternative high school (where to show up for half an hour every two weeks "proved too great an obligation") and drifting in and out of trouble with drugs and the police, Duff moved to Los Angeles in 1983 with little in the way of a plan but the vaguest outline of a life in music—but not a career, as he points out, saying it was never his intention to make a living. Yet that's what he did, somewhat miraculously becoming one of the founding members of Guns N' Roses (he played bass). READ MORE

Because I had only planned to stay in the Berkshires for less than a day, my friend suggested we go on a hike up Monument Mountain. I agreed: New York City has a lot going for it, but mountains are not included. I was also happy to take my mind off of a reading I was scheduled to give that night as part of a local arts festival. My slot was between two bands, which when I accepted the invitation sounded great in theory but felt more problematic as I saw myself talking to a bunch of drunks about opera, German Romanticism and the challenges of being a non-heterosexual writer of literary fiction in the modern era. If I was going to be killed, I thought, at least I could first find a nice place to scatter my ashes. READ MORE

In The Last of the Live Nude Girls, Sheila McClear describes moving to New York City where, adrift and low on cash, she eventually finds work as a stripper in the peep shows. The book, published this month by Soft Skull Press, has been called "eye-opening, gritty and compelling" and "beautiful." She'll be reading at McNally Jackson on Tuesday, August 16. READ MORE

89. "Crystal"
88. "Actual Condition"
87. "No Promise Have I Made"
86. "You're a Soldier"
85. "Tell You Tomorrow"
84. "One Step at a Time"
83. "All This I've Done for You"
82. "It's Not Peculiar"
81. "Don't Know Yet"
80. "Bed of Nails"
79. "The Wit and the Wisdom"
78. "Somewhere"
77. "Reoccurring Dreams"
76. "How To Skin a Cat"
75. "Hare Krsna"
74. "Charity, Chastity, Prudence, and Hope"
73. "What's Going On"
72. "If I Told You"
71. "Dreams Reoccurring"
70. "Newest Industry"
69. "Too Far Down"
68. "She Floated Away"
67. "Masochism World"
66. "I Apologize"
65. "Monday Will Never Be the Same"
64. "I Don't Know What You're Talking About"
63. "Private Plane"
62. "Real World"
61. "Whatcha Drinkin'"
60. "Could You Be the One?"
59. "It’s Not Funny Anymore"
58. "Indecision Time"
57. "Too Much Spice"
56. "Lifeline"
55. "I Don't Know for Sure"
54. "She's a Woman (And Now He Is a Man)"
53. "No Reservations"
52. "Ice Cold Ice"
51. "Eiffel Tower High"
50. "The Baby Song"
49. "Don't Want to Know if You Are Lonely"
48. "Hate Paper Doll"
47. "Back From Somewhere"
46. "Turn It Around"
45. "Dead Set on Destruction"
44. "Up in the Air"
43. "Out on a Limb"
42. "Standing in the Rain"
41. "Deadly Skies"
40. "Friend, You've Got to Fall"
39. "Every Everything"
38. "You Can Live at Home"
37. "Plans I Make"
36. "Standing by the Sea"
35. "Visionary"
34. "59 Times the Pain"
33. "Perfect Example"
32. "These Important Years"
31. "Broken Home, Broken Heart"
30. "Books About UFOs"
29. "Keep Hanging On"
28. "First of the Last Calls"
27. "Never Talking to You Again"
26. "The Tooth Fairy and the Princess"
25. "Folklore"
24. "Sorry Somehow"
23. "Powerline"
22. "Flip Your Wig"
21. "Whatever"
20. "Turn on the News"
19. "New Day Rising"
18. "Beyond the Threshold"
17. "Terms of Psychic Warfare"
16. "Makes No Sense at All"
15. "Pride"
14. "Divide and Conquer"
13. "I’ll Never Forget You"
12. "Diane"
11. "The Biggest Lie"
10. "Flexible Flyer"
9. "Hardly Getting Over It"
8. "The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill"
7. "Chartered Trips"
6. "Find Me"
5. "Pink Turns to Blue"
4. "Games"
3. "Green Eyes"
2. "Celebrated Summer"
1. "Something I Learned Today" READ MORE

One of the worst things about summer, at least in New York City, is that by the time the Fourth of July rolls around, you’re pretty much ready for it to be over. It’s beyond hot, everyone has stains down the middle of their backs and under their armpits, you can’t afford a beach vacation, you’re crushed into subway cars touching other people’s sweaty arms and legs in ways that would fall under a definition of intimate relations in almost any other scenario. For these reasons and more, it’s a good idea to stop and pay tribute to the daylily. READ MORE

The title of a book, along with maybe the cover, is most often what’s going to lead a potential reader to pick up your baby book. Which isn’t to say coming up with a good one is easy. To the contrary, it’s the sort of thing, like naming a band, that can cause everyone involved a lot of agony, particularly when an author has settled on something very early in the process and someone else (usually involved in selling it) however many months or years later decides that the book might be better served with something different. READ MORE

Like so many from the old country, my parents were hard workers. They led quiet lives and poured their hopes into their offspring, of whom I was the eldest. READ MORE