Author: Laura Lee Rose

Found on the southeastern edge of the continent, Sea Island address, marsh viewI was lying in my hammock contemplating the forms and shapes in the leaf canopy overhead when I was shocked to discover that a tree growing by the corner of the screen porch was an imposter, at least not what I had unwittingly supposed was a hickory.

The daffodils are some of the first heralds of spring in my pass along garden. They are the alarm clock that let me know that the garden soil temperature is warming. The red maples and Carolina jessamine are also coloring the skyline and treetops.

This is my favorite season. Nippy nights and cool days get me pulling out favorite sweaters and socks, and looking at the sky, day and night. Weather fronts offer the most unusual clouds. I saw some today that looked like my father’s eyebrows, which resembled overgrown plumose antennae of moths.

American Persimmon, Diospyros virginiana, is a native tree that has small orange fruit and roundish to elliptical dark green leaves.

We get real excited about plants and will tout the benefits of this or that one to our friends, but we also need to recognize that they are part of a larger group. We in the Lowcountry have many natural gardens to visit and enjoy, from the swamps and forests to the savannahs and sand dunes. Each “garden” has its rare, occasional, special and common forbs (great old English word for plant).

There are probably as many answers to this question as there are those who work the soil, and we could also have lots of the same answers in different orders of importance. Many of us garden for fruits, flowers, exercise, therapy, and perhaps an innate need to nurture. If you give me some dirt, compost, water, seeds, tubers, cuttings and bulbs, I can make a garden.

Pollinators are vital to agriculture. Pollination is the transfer of pollen from the male parts of...

One thing that truly defines the Lowcountry would be our trees: Pines, Live Oaks, Cedars, Magnolias, and Hollies. When people move here from other parts of the country, our landscape looks strikingly different because of our native trees, notably the Live Oak.

We are so blessed in Beaufort County to have the creeks, rivers and sounds with abundant recreational and seafood resources. It is also the responsibility of residents and visitors to be good stewards of that natural beauty and wealth. An appreciation of the natural beauty and water quality is not enough. It takes commitment and lifestyle modifications to really protect the resource.

It is appropriate that the first principle of a Carolina Yard and Neighborhood is “Right Plant, Right Place.” Establishing the right plant in the right place makes the other eight principles much easier to obtain. Right plant, right place consists of planning and design. Although picking out the actual plants for your landscape is often the first thing done, it should be that last step in planning and design. The steps of appropriate design are: determine needs for the area, determine maintenance levels, determine site conditions, create your design plan, and lastly, choose plants to meet needs and conditions.