Gardeners are amazing people, eager to share their advice and the bounty from their gardens. Who has not received a pretty bouquet of fresh-cut flowers or a basket of ripe tomatoes from a gardening friend? We can spend hours discussing (or arguing about) the best methods for pruning a rose, killing weeds or getting deer to leave our plants alone. There is so much to talk about and learn!
Thank you for checking out the first edition of my column, Garden Views, dedicated to all-things-gardening, I look forward to sharing my views about gardening, along with photos of my garden – my personal garden view. But this is your column as well, and I am eager t to hear your views and garden insights from that special space outside your window.
Let me start by telling you a little about myself. I was born in Georgia, grew up in Maryland, and returned to Georgia after high school to attend the University of Georgia. Go Dawgs! No, I did not graduate with a degree in Horticulture but in History! Like many of you, I became captivated by gardening a little later in life.
I am married with two grown children. I spent 24 wonderful years living and working in beautiful San Diego where the locals claim it is “74 degrees and sunny” every day of the year – easy gardening weather! After my husband and I purchased a new home in San Diego with no landscaping, I got attacked by the gardening bug, and gardening became my passion, my joy and my sweet spot.
Twenty years ago, Dan and I moved back to Georgia and settled in Peachtree City. After all these years “away,” it felt like coming home. One of my first goals when I moved here was to become reacquainted with gardening in the South. In 2005, I completed the master gardener training through the Fayette County Extension Office. I am a long-time member of the Peachtree City Garden Club and the Art of Landscaping Garden Club in Fayetteville. Since 2007, I have written gardening, nature, and day trip articles for the Fayette Woman magazine (now Southern Woman)
My First Gardening Tip: Winter is a good time to add a focal point in your garden.
Did you know that the winter months in the South are a great time to garden? There are so many projects you can tackle outside when cooler temperatures finally defeat the clutches of our long hot summers. How much more pleasant is it to garden when you are not fighting heat and stinging, biting bugs! In the winter, after the leaves finish dropping from the deciduous trees and blooms fade away, you can get a good sense of the structure of your garden and where you might need to add a focal point or two to provide interest during the winter months.
A focal point is a place for your eye to rest and savor something interesting. A good design principle is to place something outside each window for you to enjoy. Garden focal points add “bling” to the winter garden when plants are dormant and we get the winter blahs.
A focal point can be anything that is appealing to you. If you have something you love that can withstand the elements, why not place it in the garden? Interesting structural elements can include arbors, gates or trellises. Benches, birdhouses and garden sculptures are fun to look at during the winter months. Don’t forget to add a few showcase plants that have interesting textures, bark, and structure for winter interest.
I hope you will use this as a forum to ask questions, share good tips, as well as gardening mistakes, and encourage others to get outside and plant something. You can reach me at helanderb@comcast.net.
