Garden & Gun

Follow me on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) @davedibenedetto As this issue was going to press, a pitched battle was taking place on gardenandgun.com that reverberated across our social media channels. For our annual Southern bracket, this year we

Don’t call it a revival, or a celebration of history, or even a renaissance. That’s not what the BambooBash is about. The annual get-together does bring a passel of bamboo fly rod makers and restorers and vintage tackle collectors to the banks of the

Tyler Florence has spotted a tom turkey, one of two dozen meandering in the driveway of the home he shares with his wife, Tolan, and three children in her Marin County hometown, just north of San Francisco. “I’ve been outside twice today to get the m

Have a conundrum of your own? Email [email protected] Nothing says Flora-Bama louder than a pair of flip-flops. I’m a menswear designer and retailer originally from a small town in Mississippi, so don’t get me wrong—I’ve had many a great tim

It may look a touch absurd, donning snorkeling gear to lie on one’s stomach in a shallow mountain stream, face submerged, head swiveling to spy creatures invisible to terrestrial passersby. But the world a river snorkeler becomes privy to makes any a

Strolling down the gravel path at the Broyhill Equestrian Preserve last July, I felt a sense of déjà vu. I’d never visited the Western North Carolina venue, home to the Blowing Rock Charity Horse Show, but my mother and grandmother had, and it seemed

Mike Harmeier hated the name almost from the start. The Texas native cut his teeth in the mid-2000s, playing country covers at any Austin bar that would have him. A highlight of his set back then was a version of Tracy Byrd’s 1994 hit “Lifestyles of

You recall, of course, what triggered the mutiny on the H.M.S. Bounty. You don’t? Well, it was a theft from the captain’s private provision of coconuts, a transgression that set in motion the infamous uprising. “There’s nothing more refreshing than c

It took a full decade after Amy Parker Anderson and Huntley Rodes first met in the New York City fashion world for the pair to realize, over a chance dinner, that they shared a love of golf. The next time the two got together, they did so with Rodes’

Most chefs will tell you their best recipes start with a memory. For Silver Iocovozzi, one in particular stands out: his grilled eggplant smothered in a bright mix of seasoned tomatoes, a dish he first tasted on a beach in the Philippines. Iocovozzi,

While touring a farm outside Baltimore a few years ago, chef Kat Petonito and her team spotted gemlike orange fruits, wrapped in thin papery husks, sprawling across the soil. The farmer lifted the bug net so they could take a closer look—and enjoy a

In Ted Flato’s youth, summer days often meant snorkeling in the Nueces River, cooking outside over an open fire, or ambling through persimmons, prickly pear, sotol, and sedge grasses at Kickapoo Ranch, his family’s estate on the western edge of Texas

Arrange flowers and greenery in the basket of Michael Healy’s solid cast-brass door knocker for a greeting that delights the senses ($140; michaelhealy.com). Now that the United Kingdom–based Little Greene Paint & Paper’s rich hues have crossed the

In the deep Lowcountry shade of a pair of gnarled live oaks, artist Gret Mackintosh’s three-year-old son, Mack, draws fleeting chalk masterpieces on the bluestone hard-scape abutting the screened porch and the garden beyond. Fox, the family dalmatian

Her frame looks like four Popsicle sticks jammed into a marshmallow. She commands attention due to her great height and awkward body composition. She is fluffy and top-heavy, gangly and unsteady. “What type of dog is she?!” they ask. They all ask. Ju

I found myself at BabyLand General Hospital, the home of the Cabbage Patch Kids, on a lark. Late last year, I attended a writing residency at Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences near Dillard, Georgia. Winding my way through the North G

Last year, my son had to write a poem about me for Mother’s Day. My kids have been dealt an assignment like this before, so I braced myself for the sure-to-be-eye-opening experience of reading his unvarnished thoughts regarding my private life. The o

Should we have stayed at home, / wherever that may be? —Elizabeth Bishop, “Questions of Travel” COMING AND GOING, PACKING AND unpacking. Where’s the green sweater? Oh, in Italy. Don’t we have a wok? Yes, in North Carolina. They’ve canceled the fligh

Detroit borders Canada, dips below zero degrees in winter, and long epitomized the American Rust Belt. And yet the Motor City, making a cultural comeback, shares a kinship with the South, thanks to the twentieth-century influx of Southerners, mostly

IS THERE A POPULAR RESTAURANT DISH that hasn’t been endlessly photographed, filtered, and fine-tuned on social media? Probably not. But be thankful that no one has yet found a way to send taste through your gadget. For the adventurous eater, travel b

OREGON: From late May through October, some ten thousand rosebushes in Portland’s 1 International Rose Test Garden burst into bloom. Varieties include Southern favorites like the pink Savannah and the pale-yellow Fairhope. WASHINGTON: A short walk fr

YOU COULD BE FORGIVEN FOR ORGA-nizing a junket to the British Virgin Islands around three simple steps: (1) plop yourself in a lounge chair near the shimmering turquoise shallows; (2) order a round of Painkillers; (3) repeat as needed. But should amb

AS A BOY, HOWARD CONYERS TAGGED ALONG WITH HIS FATHER, HARRISON, to auctions and estate sales all across their native South Carolina. A longtime professional welder and farmer, Harrison might pick up a vintage washing machine at one stop, perhaps a p

I WOULD HAZARD TO SAY THERE AREN’T MANY world-class writers who spent their last days hanging off the back of a garbage truck, smelling of “piss and green mayonnaise.” Harry Middleton did. And Middleton, who wrote principally about his life among mou

The movie sprang, of course, from the eponymous 1986 novel by the late Winston Groom, who was a Garden & Gun contributing editor. When asked how the film version affected his life, his favorite response became “I upgraded to a better brand of toilet

DANGER: ALLIGATORS AND SNAKES IN AREA. STAY AWAY FROM THE WATER, read the signs tacked to the rails of the creaky wooden platform behind Ray’s Millpond restaurant. But we were a horde of children on summer vacation, and reading, for those of us who c

In 1991, Chicago’s Comiskey Park became a parking lot, bequeathing the title of America’s Oldest Baseball Park to Birmingham’s 10,800-seat Rickwood Field. Built in 1910, the spearmint-green, mission-style gem had been home to Birmingham’s minor-leagu

You write about food, you get hungry. You write about naps, you get a little fuzzy. But there’s work to do! A nap, according to Winston Churchill, is “the refreshment of blessed oblivion which, even if it only lasts 20 minutes, is sufficient to renew