The Home and Garden sectionof the New York Times recently published an article on nearby greenhouses to visit for a dose of the tropical. It's accompanied by a slide show of some of the green houses at Wave Hill in The Bronx and the Tower Hill Botanical Gardens in Boylston, Massachusetts.

The January/February issue of Veranda Magazine has a stunning photo essay of the country estate of Chauncey Devereux Stillman in the Taconic Hills of Dutchess County, New York. Unfortunately, it's not published online. It's really inspiring in the use of globes, cones and rectangular plants to create deep winter interest.