Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Shall We Introduce Ourselves?, 1 by rcn48

rcn48 wrote:
So glad we finally got our own forum! Figured I'd join everyone and give you my 'history' :)

Only been a DG subscriber since the fall of 2004. I first found DG when I was searching for images of plants. My searches kept bringing me to davesgarden.com and although I was familiar with "that other site", I had never heard of DG. It didn't take me long to realize what a wonderful community this is and within the week I had subscribed!

I'm originally from Maine, having moved to Virginia in the fall of 1999. Back in the 70's when I had wonderful vegetable gardens, I never even knew what a perennial was! It didn't take long once I discovered that perennials were plants that came back every year to start planting them in the small beds around my house to replace the areas planted every year with annuals. By the mid-80's I was hooked and began developing new beds everywhere on the property. I had wonderful rich "bottomland" soil for planting but had to contend with the ample supply of rocks every time I started digging. Before long, I began using my 'excavated' rocks and built some rock walls and incorporated the rocks into my gardens.

In the late 80's I tried to enroll in the local Master Gardener program but the demand for the classes had generated a two year waiting list! I decided to educate myself and checked out tons of books from the local library and studied in my spare time. By the early 90's I had formed a small landscape company with another gardening friend. We had so much fun that I knew I wanted to start my own small nursery selling perennials. I initiated a plan to develop the area for the nursery and incorporated trails through the adjoining woodlands to educate people about the wide array of wildflowers I had growing naturally. Unfortunately things didn't turn out quite the way I planned. I survived a divorce, met my future husband (who already owned a nursery) and moved to Virginia in 1999 to help him. I had to start learning all over again since I was gardening in Zone 6 versus the extreme conditions of a Zone 4 garden! My only regret - I wish I had moved to Virginia when I was younger, stronger and had more energy :)

I have three grown children, two still living in Maine and one in Phoenix. We have a sweet little dog, Flopsy, who's a Springer Spaniel-Jack Russell cross - she has all the mellow traits of a Springer Spaniel but the size of a Jack Russell, almost like a SS puppy who never grew up! I'm a cat lover, having had a number of cats through the years. I've had favorites, but our current cat, Lucky, who is approx. 3 yrs old is the best ever!

Favorite plants - lots of shade perennials including Hostas and Ferns, Tricyrtis, Heucheras, and one of my very favorites - Thalictrum kiusianum. For sun, Salvias and I love Cleome 'Linde Armstrong'. We have a nice collection of Begonias which have been on my favorites list for years.
Least favorite - the "thug" Artemesia 'Limelight'! Thought I would love it, but after it started invading one of our gardens, after four years I'm still yanking it out of the garden - the darned thing just won't die!

We also collect rocks! We have rocks from Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan and of course Virginia. We've used some of them in our gardens, and started a rock garden along our driveway last summer to display some of the more unique ones from Michigan.

I've met alot of great gardeners at DG. Now you know a little bit about me (or maybe too much? LOL), I'm looking forward to meeting more of you from the Mid-Atlantic now that we have our own forum!

Debbie