Meet Our Community: Phillip Oliver, blogger and transplanted gardener

 

Let's get to know each other!

Since we're not able to meet up in person this year, let's meet online. Every week we're introducing a member* of our Fling community here and on Instagram, in their own words. We're excited to see what everyone's talking about and sharing with their followers!

(*Any garden blogger, vlogger, podcaster, or Instagrammer who follows our Instagram or is a member of our Facebook group. If you'd like to be considered or recommend someone for a Meet Our Community profile, email us.)

Phillip Oliver

My passion for gardening started 30 years ago. I easily get bored and scattered, but gardening remains my chief solace in life. In 2007 I started my blog, Dirt Therapy -- an extension of my website A Southern Garden -- while working as a librarian at the University of North Alabama. In addition to documenting what my husband, Michael, and I are doing in the garden, I like to share other gardens, garden books, and recipes. Blogging is an excellent way to meet other gardeners and discover new plants and gardening concepts. And more than anything else, it makes an excellent gardening diary. 

Our lives took a major detour 5 years ago when we relocated across the country to Vancouver, Washington. I had always felt an affinity for the Pacific Northwest. When an opportunity came for me to retire from the academic world, we took the plunge. Looking back, it was a daring decision, but we are thrilled to be living here. The only downside is, in our quest to downsize, I now find myself running out of room for plants. 

My favorite part of gardening is creating a design and putting it all together. My plant obsession, however, often gets in the way, and I find myself deviating from my original plan in order to cram in more plants. I love a wide variety of plants, but I’d say heirloom roses are at the top of my list. We had a lot of them in Alabama. I don’t have as much room here and am always trying to figure out how to incorporate more. I absolutely love David Austin roses as well as trees, conifers, and camellias. 

I have visited many wonderful gardens, but my favorite may be Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C. I’ve studied and admired how it all came together. Dumbarton Oaks: Garden Into Art by Susan Tamulevich was very influential for me. Many more gardens, especially here in the Pacific Northwest, I've yet to see. 

I work at a retail nursery during the growing season, which gets me into trouble plant-wise. I am also active with local gardening groups, and I serve on the board of the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon. Gardening is huge in the Pacific Northwest, and I feel fortunate to be a part of it.

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Thanks for sharing your work and your gardening passions with us, Phillip! You can follow Phillip on his blog Dirt Therapy and on his Facebook and Instagram pages.

Photographs courtesy of Phillip Oliver.

Meet Our Community: Michelle Chapman, veg plotter and garden writer

 

Let's get to know each other!

Since we're not able to meet up in person this year, let's meet online. Every week we're introducing a member* of our Fling community here and on Instagram, in their own words. We're excited to see what everyone's talking about and sharing with their followers!

(*Any garden blogger, vlogger, podcaster, or Instagrammer who follows our Instagram or is a member of our Facebook group. If you'd like to be considered or recommend someone for a Meet Our Community profile, email us.)

Michelle Chapman

Alliums and clematis in spring

Stories often come into my head fully formed when I'm gardening, or in the early hours when I'm awake. Those moments demand an outlet. My blog is 13 years old this week, and nearly 2,500 posts later I'm still finding fresh things to say. I never dreamt when I started Veg Plotting on a rainy November day that it would morph into another career for me as a garden writer. 

Veg Plotting is a mix of gardening and garden visits along with seasonal recipes, travel, and lifestyle. I'm a latecomer to gardening, so the bulk of what I write about is something I've learned or that strikes me as interesting. I smile to myself when I'm described as an expert in the papers; there's so much to learn that I still rate myself as a beginner. I'm only an expert in my own garden.

Hesperaloe in my garden inspired by Austin Fling

My small urban garden is located in the southwest of England, just south of the Cotswolds and approximately 80 miles west of London. It's comparable to USDA hardiness zone 8a. I have both deep shade and “scorchio” (hot and sunny) Mediterranean on a slope with 5 different levels. 

Since I’m close to the countryside, I try to make my plot part of our neighbourhood's wildlife corridor. My garden isn't perfect, but I'm happy to spend hour upon hour there. It's been a lifesaver this year and will continue to do so as we head into another national lockdown. 

A field of sunflowers a local farmer grew this year.
The whole town turned out to see it!

Currently I’m writing a Lockdown Life magazine for Pewsham Belles Women’s Institute. I got everyone gardening earlier this year with a tallest-sunflower competition and lettuce seeds to grow, and had an amazing response. They're all going to get pea seeds in their December care package and learn that gardening can continue even in winter! I'm also growing 50 rosemary cuttings, one for each member to be gifted when we can finally meet in person again.

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Thanks for sharing your work and your gardening passions with us, Michelle! You can follow Michelle on her blog Veg Plotting and on her Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube channel.

Photographs courtesy of Michelle Chapman.

Meet Our Community: Jeff Fisher, designer/artist and CRPS survivor

 

Let's get to know each other!

Since we're not able to meet up in person this year, let's meet online. Every week we're introducing a member* of our Fling community here and on Instagram, in their own words. We're excited to see what everyone's talking about and sharing with their followers!

(*Any garden blogger, vlogger, podcaster, or Instagrammer who follows our Instagram or is a member of our Facebook group. If you'd like to be considered or recommend someone for a Meet Our Community profile, email us.)

Jeff Fisher

For years my primary focus in life was as an identity designer, on an international level, as Jeff Fisher LogoMotives. My work appeared in nearly 200 books, I earned over 700 design awards, and I wrote two graphic design books. For a good portion of that time, I worked out of my home studio in Portland, Oregon, allowing me to step outside and putter in the yard, which evolved into a garden through talks with Mike Smith of Joy Creek Nursery and an initial hardscape design by John Caine. The garden eventually appeared in print and on television. 

But then my life took a dramatic turn. About 7 years ago I had a "silent" heart attack, followed by two angiograms and stent implants in my heart. While in cardiac rehab I developed chronic pain issues. My ability to work at a computer, write, speak at industry conferences, and teach classes in graphic design began to fade away. Five years and 22 specialists later, I was diagnosed with CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome), an extremely painful nervous and immune system malfunction. Throughout those years and since, gardening was my escape and refuge, keeping me sane-ish. Medical professionals constantly encouraged me to play in the dirt as physical and mental therapy. I made gardening work for me the best I could, with an incredible amount of encouragement and support from my husband, Ed Cunningham. 

Writing, including traditional blogging, became a tremendous challenge. Still, I wanted others to know that someone with physical challenges, and without much horticulture knowledge or gardening experience, could find great satisfaction in creating and maintaining a garden. I realized I could express my experiences on Instagram by posting photos of the evolution of our garden, the variety of plants, visits to nurseries and gardens, travel, and more. That led to a Facebook page about the garden, and I’m currently creating a garden-specific Pinterest page. Self-published photo books and other related projects are in the works. 

Gardening has become my passion and best therapy. For me, gardening must be fun. I enjoy finding and using unique plants. As a designer/artist I have great appreciation for color, texture, and shape – all elements conveyed throughout the garden. Dubbed the Fishingham Garden – a combination of Ed’s and my last names – the garden is an extension of our home for cooking, dining, entertaining, and relaxing. By sharing the garden online, I hope to inspire others to create their own unique garden space.

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Thanks for sharing your work and your gardening passions with us, Jeff! You can follow Jeff on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest.

Photographs courtesy of Jeff Fisher.

Meet Our Community: Karin Hicks, "snake lady," native plant lover, and educator

 

Let's get to know each other!

Since we're not able to meet up in person this year, let's meet online. Every week we're introducing a member* of our Fling community here and on Instagram, in their own words. We're excited to see what everyone's talking about and sharing with their followers!

(*Any garden blogger, vlogger, podcaster, or Instagrammer who follows our Instagram or is a member of our Facebook group. If you'd like to be considered or recommend someone for a Meet Our Community profile, email us.)

Karin Hicks

My most rewarding days are spent watching wildlife live their best life. I’m known as the snake lady to my neighbors, who sometimes call on me to rescue an unwanted snake from their garage or basement. On my blog Southern Meadows, I share my love of insects, snakes, amphibians, birds, and other critters and their relationship with native plants.

I garden on 10 acres in the Georgia Piedmont. We have a little bit of everything: woods and meadows, dry shade and full sun, rain gardens and water gardens. We also grow food in our organic kitchen garden and 1-acre orchard. My family has put a lot of sweat into creating our habitat haven, and there is still much to do. It is a place for us to study and appreciate our ecosystem.

I hope that our native plant garden will inspire others to move beyond the highly manicured lawns and sheared shrubs that dominate Atlanta suburbia. It’s possible to have a stylized, natural, native plant garden and still meet the restrictions of an HOA. One of my favorite plants is Aralia spinosa, a native found at woodland edges. Its compound flowers are a pollinator favorite, the berries support birds and other wildlife, and the sharp spines on the trunk are cool!

I work at our county extension as a horticulturist and master gardener coordinator. Through gardening I’ve discovered my calling in education. I teach classes for the state botanical garden and native plant society, train master gardeners, give talks to gardening and homesteading groups, and lead a youth gardening program at a local elementary school.

My other passion is photography, something I learned from my father. I always carry a camera and always discover a moment to capture. I post daily on Instagram and have photos on Flickr.

I will never pass up an opportunity to view a garden. It’s such a pleasure when a gardener is willing to share their passion and work. I always find at least one takeaway from every garden. My favorite gardens are those that creatively transform challenging conditions into functional spaces or use plants in unique ways.

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Thanks for sharing your work and your gardening passions with us, Karin! You can follow Karin on Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, and at her blog Southern Meadows.

Photographs courtesy of Karin Hicks.

Meet Our Community: Noelle Johnson, desert gardener, designer, and teacher

 

Let's get to know each other!

Since we're not able to meet up in person this year, let's meet online. Every week we're introducing a member* of our Fling community here and on Instagram, in their own words. We're excited to see what everyone's talking about and sharing with their followers!

(*Any garden blogger, vlogger, podcaster, or Instagrammer who follows our Instagram or is a member of our Facebook group. If you'd like to be considered or recommend someone for a Meet Our Community profile, email us.)

Noelle Johnson

Gardening in the desert is challenging, and traditional garden media tends to ignore our area. There’s a widespread myth that cactus and rocks are the only things you can grow in the desert. As a horticulturist, I love dispelling that notion and showing people what’s possible.

My website AZ Plant Lady is a one-stop resource for those who want to learn how to create, grow, and maintain a beautiful garden that thrives in a hot, dry climate. Within the site, people can learn about desert gardening on my blog, set up a landscape consultation, learn where I am speaking next, or sign up for one of my online classes.

I garden in the low desert of Phoenix, Arizona, and I love flowering plants and BLUE pots! I've also recently become enamored with a variety of succulents and a few different cacti. I don't like high-maintenance plants, with the exception of my roses. My goal is to use plants that need pruning once or twice a year at most. In landscapes I design, I mix the textures of spiky succulents with the softer, mounded shapes of shrubs, ornamental grasses, and groundcovers. Many lush, green flowering shrubs and groundcovers are well adapted to hot, arid climates. 

My favorite plant is probably desert willow, a small tree native to the Southwest that produces pink flowers spring through summer. There are several new varieties, and 'Bubba' is my current favorite. I’m growing five different desert willows in my garden.

When I was growing up in Southern California, my parents would take me to The Huntington Library and its gardens in Pasadena. It's still one of my favorite places to visit. I like their focus on drought-tolerant gardening and spectacular landscape design.

I have an active Facebook group called The 'Dirt' on Desert Gardening. I've also been featured by the filmmakers at PlantPop. And if you're interested in my online courses you can find them here.

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Thanks for sharing your work and your gardening passions with us, Noelle! You can follow Noelle on Facebook, on Instagram, and at her blog AZ Plant Lady.

Photographs courtesy of Noelle Johnson.

Meet Our Community: Melissa Denney, Houston Garden Girl

 

Let's get to know each other!

Since we're not able to meet up in person this year, let's meet online. Every week we're introducing a member* of our Fling community here and on Instagram, in their own words. We're excited to see what everyone's talking about and sharing with their followers!

(*Any garden blogger, vlogger, podcaster, or Instagrammer who follows our Instagram or is a member of our Facebook group. If you'd like to be considered or recommend someone for a Meet Our Community profile, email us.)

Melissa Denney

Firecracker fern in the hellstrip

When people struggle with gardening, I don’t believe it’s because they can’t garden. Oftentimes, they're just planting the wrong kinds of plants for their region. I love helping people successfully garden in zones 8-9. I started my blog Houston Garden Girl ten years ago -- after I found out there was such a thing! I’ve learned that a lot of folks in Houston are not from this area and don’t have the know-how to garden here. I hope my blog and social media help local gardeners understand what they can grow here and when it can be planted.

My Instagram feed is new and currently focused on my indoor gardening. Since the stay-at-home orders in March, I’ve spent more time in my house than I ever have in the past. It’s been a fun challenge to adjust my skills to indoor gardening. Now I'm discovering an entirely new gardening social network and a new generation finding creative ways to garden in small indoor spaces.

Outdoors I grow flowering perennials, fruits, and vegetables. I love low-maintenance plants, and most of my gardens survive on a fair amount of neglect. I have a 50-ft. hellstrip full of perennials that I haven’t watered in years, including three roses and a pomegranate. It’s been fulfilling watching that strip of Bermudagrass-turned-garden inspire my neighbors to convert some of their grassy patches to flowerbeds. The other thing I absolutely love is gathering produce from my yard. Over the years I’ve had peaches and apples, but those are difficult to keep alive more than 5 years here in Houston. The easiest producers have been figs and citrus. Then of course there are tomatoes, basil, peppers, and eggplant, which I love having in summer.

I prefer plants that are easy to grow in Zone 9. Don’t fight the climate you live in. There are great plants for every climate. My favorites for low maintenance and long bloom time are firecracker fern (Russelia equisetiformis), rock rose (Pavonia lasiopetala), white trailing lantana (Lantana montevidensis 'Alba'), shrimp plant (Justicia brandegeana), and candlestick plant (Senna alata), a host plant for sulphur butterflies. For indoor plants, I’m developing a strong affinity for aglaonemas, syngoniums, and sansevierias -- easygoing houseplants with a huge variety of leaf patterns and colors to keep things interesting.

Claude Monet's garden at Giverny

My favorite U.S. garden is Denver Botanic Gardens. I lived in the Denver area in my mid-20s and absorbed a few harsh lessons about gardening on the Colorado Front Range. I learned so much about Colorado gardening at DBG, and I took all my visitors there. It is a must-see! 

I weave a garden tour into most of my international travels. The most memorable garden I’ve been to is Claude Monet’s house in Giverny, France. It was surreal to be in the same place Monet was when he painted so many of his great works. And it’s a beautiful garden with lots of blooming perennials -- right up my alley.

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Thanks for sharing your work and your gardening passions with us, Melissa! You can follow Melissa on Facebook, on Instagram, and at her blog Houston Garden Girl (archived).

Photographs courtesy of Melissa Denney.

Meet Our Community: Angela Judd, food grower, citrus lover, and YouTuber

 

Let's get to know each other!

Since we're not able to meet up in person this year, let's meet online. Every week we're introducing a member* of our Fling community here and on Instagram, in their own words. We're excited to see what everyone's talking about and sharing with their followers!

(*Any garden blogger, vlogger, podcaster, or Instagrammer who follows our Instagram or is a member of our Facebook group. If you'd like to be considered or recommend someone for a Meet Our Community profile, email us.)

Angela Judd

Growing in the Garden is where I share inspiration and tips to help others be successful in their own gardens, with an emphasis on how to garden in the low desert of Arizona and other hot climates.

When I first began gardening, it was difficult to find specific information about gardening in my climate. I started my garden in Mesa, Arizona, with one 4x4-foot raised bed and gradually added one raised bed or container at a time. As I began to have success, I shared pictures of my garden and what I was learning on Instagram, joining the supportive gardening community there.

I started my blog to reach a broader audience. Blogging has pushed me to continually learn new things, practice them in my own garden, and then share what I’ve learned on my website, YouTube, and other social channels. 

My writing journey began with articles I wrote for a Master Gardener newsletter. Writing didn’t come easily to me, but I kept at it. My writing muscle was stretched even further this year by writing a book. How to Grow Your Own Food: An Illustrated Beginner’s Guide to Container Gardening comes out in May 2021. 

My favorite place, however, is not behind the computer, writing about gardening, but out in the garden with hands in the dirt. From only one small raised bed 12 years ago, I’m now up to 18 raised beds, plus several in-ground beds and containers. Vegetables, herbs, flowers, and fruit trees – I love growing them all. As the mother of five children, I especially enjoy growing and preparing food from the garden for my family.

Although gardening in Arizona has its challenges, we are lucky to be able to grow citrus easily. We almost take it for granted. I love the endless variety of available citrus (17 different types grow in my garden), its year-round greenery and fragrant blossoms, and the harvests. 

My favorite public garden is The Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia – easily the most beautiful garden I’ve ever seen. Difficult as it is to imagine, Butchart was once a worked-out limestone quarry. I had no idea what to expect when I visited, but then a curving path opened up to an amazing view, and it literally took my breath away.

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Thanks for sharing your work and your gardening passions with us, Angela! You can follow Angela at her blog, Growing in the Garden, her Instagram, and her YouTube channel.

Photographs courtesy of Angela Judd.

Meet Our Community: Jim Charlier, Buffalo gardens advocate and garden art experimenter

 

Photo: KC Kratt

Let's get to know each other!

Since we're not able to meet up in person this year, let's meet online. Every week we're introducing a member* of our Fling community here and on Instagram, in their own words. We're excited to see what everyone's talking about and sharing with their followers!

(*Any garden blogger, vlogger, podcaster, or Instagrammer who follows our Instagram or is a member of our Facebook group. If you'd like to be considered or recommend someone for a Meet Our Community profile, email us.)

Jim Charlier

My front garden

I consider my Buffalo, New York, garden a design lab for my garden art experiments. I’m an art director/graphic designer and spent my formative years in advertising agencies; since 2000 I’ve been self-employed. Gardening is my creative outlet, devoid of client input, opinions, deadlines, and change orders. But there’s still a budget to work within!

My artistic garden projects include a diamond-shaped dwarf pear tree espalier, a grass-and-paver checkerboard garden, a hanging sculpture with two fountains, and what may be Buffalo’s most famous garden shed, designed in the style and colors of our 1897 Dutch Colonial home. 

Everything about gardening is relaxing to me: weeding, watering, trimming, digging, planning, and planting. I lose focus on everything else when I’m working in the garden. Some days I forget to eat until evening. 

I started my blog, Art of Gardening, way back in the blogging frontier days of 2007, to share my own garden and those on my travels. I also showed off what other Buffalo gardeners were doing. At the time I was president of Garden Walk Buffalo, the largest garden tour in the U.S., which today features more than 400 urban gardens and 65,000 visitors. (We get more than 3,000 visitors at our garden alone.) This free annual event is always held the last full weekend of July. Because of Covid-19, Garden Walk Buffalo went virtual in 2020. 

The checkerboard garden & famous shed

I created a video about my garden in the summer of covid and am co-author of the book Buffalo-Style Gardens: Create a Quirky, One-of-a-Kind Private Garden with Eye-Catching Designs. Teaming up with Elizabeth Licata of Garden Rant, I co-planned the 2010 Buffalo Fling, which was attended by 80 bloggers from around the country. I hope you had a good time! 

I also helped start a horticultural tourism group that eventually became Gardens Buffalo Niagara (GBN), now merged with Garden Walk Buffalo. I’m most proud of the fact that GBN has granted more than $100,000 to clubs and community groups for more than 100 garden-oriented beautification projects. 

I learn from any garden I’ve ever visited. That’s a reason I like the Fling so much. One garden that I think heaven will be like is the Gentling Garden, which we visited during the 2012 Asheville Fling. I revisit my blog post about it whenever I'm feeling wistful and want to be inspired.

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Thanks for sharing your work and your gardening passions with us, Jim! You can follow Jim at: 

ArtofGardening.org

Instagram

Facebook

JCharlier Communication Design

Buffalo Style Gardens Book site

LinkedIn

YouTube

Pinterest

Photographs courtesy of Jim Charlier, except as noted.

Meet Our Community: Loree Bohl, fearless gardener and author

 

Photo: Gerhard Bock

Let's get to know each other!

Since we're not able to meet up in person this year, let's meet online. Every week we're introducing a member* of our Fling community here and on Instagram, in their own words. We're excited to see what everyone's talking about and sharing with their followers!

(*Any garden blogger, vlogger, podcaster, or Instagrammer who follows our Instagram or is a member of our Facebook group. If you'd like to be considered or recommend someone for a Meet Our Community profile, email us.)

Loree Bohl

Danger Garden is about plants -- my love of plants and garden design. I started my blog to connect with like-minded gardeners, but it has turned into so much more. I’ve tracked the development of my Portland, Oregon, garden for 11 years and along the way met many interesting people. I hear from followers who say that I’ve inspired them to look at gardening (and spiky plants!) differently. That’s a huge compliment.

The Pacific Northwest is home to great gardeners and fantastic nurseries. We’re lucky to be able to grow so many different kinds of plants here. I love to push the boundaries of what people expect to see in a Portland garden, and, yes, that means agaves and cactus, yucca and nolina, along with hardy ferns and proteaceous plants. We really do have winter here, complete with ice storms, snow, and a record low of 14 F in my garden. But I don’t let the fact that something isn’t hardy stop me from growing it. This means that every spring the Great Migration occurs as container plants are moved out to the garden for their summer vacation, and then in fall they’re moved back undercover to stay cozy over the winter months. 

I love agaves maybe most of all but also adore mosses and ferns. Currently I’m rather obsessed with bromeliads. I have at least a half-dozen favorite gardens, but at the top are Lotusland and The Ruth Bancroft Garden. Each was created by a woman with a strong vision and the passion and work ethic to make it happen. 

My first book, Fearless Gardening: Be Bold, Break the Rules, and Grow What You Love, is coming out in January 2021. The pandemic has changed the way I’ll promote the book, with no big garden shows or in-person events for the foreseeable future. On the upside I’ll be able to talk to groups across the country via online webinars, so I’m all ears if you’re part of a group that might want to have me give a talk. Let me know!

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Thanks for sharing your work and your gardening passions with us, Loree! You can follow Loree on her blog Danger Garden and her Instagram.

Photographs courtesy of Loree Bohl, except as noted.

Meet Our Community: Julie Thompson-Adolf, food-growing evangelist and nature nut

 

Let's get to know each other!

Since we're not able to meet up in person this year, let's meet online. Every week we're introducing a member* of our Fling community here and on Instagram, in their own words. We're excited to see what everyone's talking about and sharing with their followers!

(*Any garden blogger, vlogger, podcaster, or Instagrammer who follows our Instagram or is a member of our Facebook group. If you'd like to be considered or recommend someone for a Meet Our Community profile, email us.)

Julie Thompson-Adolf

Garden Delights follows my adventures as an obsessive organic gardener, local food lover, nature nut, eco-adventurer, and writer as I grow food and explore the world with my family. I started my blog during the last recession. Many of my friends were worried about their ability to feed their families, and I wanted to help alleviate those fears. Anyone can grow a garden to sustain their family or offset a reduced grocery budget. Even without access to a backyard, it’s easy to grow food in a container on a balcony, porch, or even a stairwell. These days I share more on my social accounts like my Instagram page than on my blog, but I still focus on growing organically, both food and ornamentals, as well as wildlife and nature.

I started a boutique heirloom-plant business back then too, growing organic vegetables, herbs, and flowers and selling online and at our local farmers’ market, where I used my booth to educate customers about growing food. I always had a free kids’ activity to help them learn about growing plants, whether it was planting “magic beans” they could take home or sowing sunflower seeds. It was such a pleasure to talk to both parents and kids and get them excited to garden together. While I don’t sell plants anymore, I still love helping people learn how to grow food, which is especially relevant during the pandemic. Everyone wants to garden now because we’re all stuck at home and because of uncertain economic times. And it can be frustrating when you first start gardening. Whether you’re growing your first tomato plant from seed or want to create a tropical retreat by the pool, I’m excited to help.

I’m a tad obsessed with bulbs. Every fall, I plant thousands of tulips, daffodils, and minor bulbs. Knowing those babies will begin popping up in January helps get me through gray winter days. And I have about 30 orchids that I’ve kept alive for a few years, and that bloom each year! I’m very proud of those because I’m terrible with houseplants.

I dream of owning a flower farm. Seriously. Sadly, we live in the middle of a forest with little sun. Instead, I focus on edible gardening, trying to grow every weird, funky, heirloom veggie possible. One year, I grew 168 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, just because I wanted to try them all. That was a delicious summer! I also grow from seed and save seed, and I even wrote a book about it, Starting & Saving Seeds: Grow the Perfect Vegetables, Fruits, and Flowers for Your Garden.

I make my living as a garden writer, working with many fabulous clients and brands. From writing articles and product copy to managing their social media accounts and designing marketing campaigns, I adore my job and clients. Plus, I’m privy to the latest plant introductions, which is always fun! Recently I worked with Bonnie Plants on an Instagram campaign, promoting their partnership with Ample Harvest and encouraging gardeners to donate their excess harvests to food pantries. Gardeners can find a food pantry in their area by visiting AmpleHarvest.org. It’s a terrific way to help people in need of fresh produce.

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Thanks for sharing your work and your gardening passions with us, Julie! You can follow Julie on her Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and her blog Garden Delights.

Photographs courtesy of Julie Thompson-Adolf.