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Have you ever heard the phrase, “Out of the frying pan and into the fire?” Although originating from Aesop’s fables, I immediately think of the chapter in Tolkien’s "The Hobbit." In the chapter Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf and the dwarves escape the goblins to find themselves trapped in trees by Wargs. This idiom essentially means escaping one bad situation and getting into an equally or more difficult situation. With the arrival of May, many of us spend our weekends and evenings tending our gardens. In fact, after many of you read this article and finish your morning coffee, you will wand...

“Taylor…I see you mowed your lawn,” he said with a jokingly condescending tone. My neighbor, in fact, had no reason to mow his lawn because it was filled with flowering lyreleaf sage (Salvia lyrata). If he mowed his lawn, he would cut back the beautiful wildflowers in his lawn. Dichondra (Dichondra carolinensis) covers the remaining portion of his yard and does not require mowing. My neighbor, in fact, had no reason to mow his yard. My lawn is diverse, which includes dichondra, lyreleaf sage, winter rye, tall fescue, St Augustine grass, and wild geranium. Like many others, my lawn is a ...

We commonly comment that gardens and landscapes are beautiful. These comments typically relate to the visual structure of the design. The mixture of colors, textures, forms and order created throughout a design are integral components to the design but are only a limited facet of an overall design. Think about a garden you visited in your life — what do you remember? Is it just the visual aspects of the garden or do you begin to recall the smells and sounds or even the sensations of plants on your skin or taste of plants? Proper gardens should evoke all our senses and should not rely on th...

The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, is the United States’ largest home. This home has 250 rooms, measuring 178,926 square feet. Built by George Vanderbilt in the late 1800s, the French Renaissance chateau is breathtaking. If you have the opportunity to visit, I highly recommend taking the time to do so. But, to me, the home is second to the gardens and landscape. Secondly, the garden’s design led to the birth of America’s Forestry Program — earning western North Carolina the title “The Cradle of Forestry." Vanderbilt hired Fredrick Law Olmsted, the founding father of...

It’s that time of year. I saw it floating in a creek, collecting in a storm’s puddle, and caking the outside of someone’s car. The unmistakable yellow hue of Florida’s pollen season. Pollen is absolutely necessary for plant reproduction, but my goodness, this time of year is a metaphorical slap to the face by Mother Nature. Of course, not all pollen angers our allergies, but understanding pollen and which plants cause our allergies allows us to be better prepared. A few years ago while walking during a dry day, a stiff wind blew and I was immediately enveloped by a cloud of pollen. Th...