Someone referred to me as “the gardener.”

The calendar officially marked the first day of summer as June 21. It seems summer’s heat arrived much earlier than its official beginning. Spring seemed practically non-existent this year.

Since the big wind came through my neighborhood on March 19, residents of the Avenues (the northeast) and the northwest sides of Jacksonville are working toward a new normal. It will be a long trip to that normal, full of bumps, detours, tears and frustration. With patience, fortitude and ti…

In the first ugly days after the March tornado ravaged “The Avenues,” my neighborhood on the northeast side of Jacksonville, I believed life would never be the same. I doubted that anything could be normal, including me.

In Elvira Snider’s yard in the Hollingsworth Community near Jacksonville, the large purple azalea is over 8 feet tall.

Joy Patty sent in these photos of her pug, Frankie, in the peonies, as well as her large snowball bush.

Since the tornado blasted through my neighborhood in northeast Jacksonville, I can barely recognize the streets I have called home for 47 years.

Barbara Tucker of Alexandria shared these photos of her azaleas. The yellow and orange azaleas are natives.

Ron Caldwell of Jacksonville has a large garden divided by a central lawn, planted with some 700 trees, shrubs, perennials, vines, palms and more. Caldwell has friends who lost their homes in Monday’s tornado, but he said that, thankfully, his home was spared. “We did not even lose electrici…

Ah, spring!

A trip and fall in my flower bed a few weeks ago got me thinking about how easy it is to get hurt working in our own personal paradise.

We all know people who have issues (some more obnoxious than others). They may be close loyal friends, and we choose to overlook annoying habits and continue to shower them with affection and attention. Others have such pervasive problems we walk in another direction.

Recently, I posted a question on Facebook asking about other people’s favorite gardening attire. I did not get 1.9 thousand answers as I often see on some pages. Maybe three or four kind souls commented. They were partial to jeans, straw hats and T-shirts; pretty standard choices for folks w…

I am not one to compile a list of New Year’s resolutions about my life and health. I will not keep them, and I soon forget I had ever imagined changing some of my bad habits.

A gardener can never have too many hand trowels. Or gloves.

The home of Bill and June Waldrop is one of four on the annual holiday home tour sponsored by the Anniston Museum of Natural History.

How many modern families have a tradition of purchasing or cutting down a live tree?

This holiday season, consider live plants and flowers for others (and yourself) as a one-size-fits-all gift. A seasonal container of something beautiful on the table can revive a tired body or spirit.

I have always liked this statement that I made up: “Only a gardener understands that something that fits in the palm of your hand can turn into something beautiful in just a few months’ time.”

Fall is a good time to inspect your home’s basic systems. Regular home maintenance is crucial to keeping your house in top shape. An annual checkup can head off any problems before they occur, saving money down the road.

When I first met Anniston’s master plantsman Hayes Jackson, I asked him how long he worked in the garden every day. He told me it was not work.

There’s a warning sign on the side of the steep, winding driveway that leads to the Golden Springs home of Ann and Clayton Angell:

What are the home decorating trends this fall season? We asked Anniston designer Scott Skinner for his take.