Just as the gardener is ready to pitch the hand spade and the smelly gardening gloves, the chrysanthemums burst into bloom, causing us to smile. Mums are popping up everywhere, beckoning us with vibrant flowers. Time to remove weary summer annuals and replace them with fresh faces.

Yikes. The lilies are in bloom! My husband calls them “statuesque beauties.” This is a perfect description for this showy charmer; some, like the tree lily (a cross between an Asiatic and Oriental lily), can reach five feet with magnificent blooms resting on the tops of slender stems. Althou…

Spring has been a dilly. We have had two or three April nights in the 30s as well as days in the mid- to high 80s. The flowers and the gardener were both confused at times.

Spring officially started on March 20. It has been giving and unforgiving. Terrible storms have wreaked havoc, destroying lives, properties and the sense of security of those in their way.

Any experienced home buyer or seller will tell you that one of the big ticket items when it comes to houses is the bathroom. But why do we care so much about them?

Oxford resident Joy Greenwood grew up surrounded by artistically-gifted family members. 

Lately there has been a quiet drama unfolding in my garden. Birds are dying — especially Pine Siskens and Purple Finches — not because they hit a glass door or ran afoul of a neighborhood cat, but because there are too many of them and they are contracting salmonella.

When Coke Williams and his wife, Kelly Kitchens, designed a getaway home on the old family farm, they wanted it to rust.

Recent columns have dealt with the tremendous influence of color in our lives and in our gardens.

Volumes have been written on proper pruning techniques. Never fear; we are not doing so today. We are, however, going to discuss some basic pruning procedures to avoid mishaps.

As a newbie gardener more than four decades ago, I made a lot of mistakes. It took years to learn new tricks to fix them. The effort has been successful for the most part. (No one is perfect.)

You’d be forgiven if you thought that the columned white house atop a hill at Fiddler’s Green in Jacksonville had been standing there for centuries. 

The holiday season is upon us, despite lockdowns, masks, illness and shortages. The pandemic has not curbed our traditional urge to shop as we seek some normalcy.

Since I am still living in my pandemic bubble, I spend more and more time gardening. These months have been devastating for so many. Loved ones have gotten very ill. Some have died. Jobs have ended. Homes have been lost.

Whenever someone visits my garden, the first plants on the tour are the pitcher plants.

It is surely no surprise that Mississippi chose its state flower, the Magnolia Southern Grandiflora, for its new state flag.

It is surely no surprise that Mississippi chose its state flower, the Magnolia Southern Grandiflora, for its new state flag.

White flowers provide a sparkle of light in a shade garden. They can brighten the darkest corners.

Having survived June and July, more than a handful of dedicated gardeners are ready to throw in their holey, smelly gardening gloves by August’s arrival.