Author: Laura Lee Rose

One of my first horticulture experiences involved my grandparents and a sandbox. They appropriated my sandbox – I guess I’d outgrown it, if that’s possible. It was in a sunny garden area beside their house. I thought their yard was a magical place.

Pack a punch with native plants and attract pollinators at the same time. A Carolina fence garden is a great way to set aside an area in a home or school yard that will be easy to design, install and maintain. Using native shrubs and perennials will also give the landscape plants with a purpose.  There is a native plant for every square inch of this garden. 

I’m often asked, “When is winter here?” There really is and isn’t a good answer. The calendar and the weatherman don’t always sing from the same songbook.  Official winter is late December to late March. That lands spring at the end of April until late June. Looking out into the February garden in the lower South we have daffodils, yellow jessamine, saucer magnolias, tea olive, and so many other flowering shrubs and trees blooming in our gardens.

Several families are commonly known as gingers. Sold as ornamentals they can really spice up a garden bed and evoke exotic places.  Many grow from fleshy underground stems or rhizomes and send up shoots with solid green, red, or striped foliage. I found eleven separate genera and some with multiple species and varieties listed in a plant catalogue hardy in zones 7-11.