How Does Your Garden Grow

In 1992 when I moved to the Triangle, knowing little about gardening, I quickly picked up on the fact that the color magenta in the garden was verboten.

It all began when my writing partner for The Absentee Gardeners, Lise Jenkins, gave me a package of rice.

Thirty years ago, I began my long love affair with camellias.

Spring might be just around the corner but we still have some cold weather ahead of us. What is a gardener to do?

About 10 years ago, a sudden yearning for some palm trees appeared out of the blue, hitting me hard.

Hydrangeas are confusing creatures.

The longer I garden, the more I realize how much gardening knowledge I lack.

Vines can be both overwhelming and scary. When I first moved to Chapel Hill in 1992, my front yard consisted of English ivy, my backyard nourished Japanese wisteria, while my side yard contained Chinese honeysuckle.

I love hostas. Because I erected a fence around my property, I am able to grow this ultimate deer candy.

Why am I talking about container gardening in the middle of winter?

Some years I have a vast accumulation of acorns and yet other years I have a dearth of them.

Sooner or later, all garden writers end up writing about mulch – and I am no exception.

When I didn’t know any better, I planted three dahlias of uncertain parentage – and they managed to return year after year.

If in the middle of July, you find yourself wondering why you ever chose to live in gardening zone 7, just ponder the camellia.

As I write this, the weather is turning chilly (finally!) – it’s close to that time when we have to part with the annuals in our garden.

Patience, alas, is a virtue I lack. In fact, I named one of my beloved dogs “Patience” in an effort to acquire this asset.

As a gardener, I love the change of seasons. While I have friends who dread the fall as they fear the winter that follows, I love almost everything that autumn has to offer.