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Profile Information

Hometown:: West Asheville

Gardening Experience:: Expert

About Me:: I love all things related to gardens.
On weekends my husband has to make me come inside the house. Even after it's dark. I will garden for hours on end and it will feel like only 10 minutes have gone by.
I certified as a master gardener in 1996 in Lincoln County, N.C.
I love to visit public gardens. I go on garden tours.
I love to grow flowers to cut for vases, for me to enjoy at home and work, and sometimes to even give away.
I also enjoy growing my own food but I have a lot of mature oaks on my lot and so I've kind of had to choose between the flowers or the veggies.
I was raised on a 40-acre farm in Indiana until the age of 13 and I would farm for a living if I thought I could make it pay my bills.
I have always gardened as an adult, even in college.
Other info: Husband of 16 years, 14-year-old son. My dog, a Sheltie.

Favorite Plants:: The peony is my all-time favorite. I also love roses, zinnias, mums, and many more flowers. I am also very partial to herbs, including rosemary and thyme, plus lemon verbena and bay. But I'm not a big basil fan.
For shrubs, nandinas and false indigo. Plus you can't beat azaleas, but I was slow to come to this realization. For trees, weeping cherry, tulip poplars and maples.

Garden as a hobby?: Yes

Polly McDaniel's Groups

Community Gardens

12 members
All things roses

8 members

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Polly McDaniel's Discussions

How are you keeping your garden going in this heat?

Started Jul 22, 2011

Last frost date
4 Replies

Started this discussion. Last reply by Mark Wilson, RLA, ASLA May 4, 2011.

Blue hydrangeas
4 Replies

Started this discussion. Last reply by Polly McDaniel Jul 19, 2010.

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Polly McDaniel's Blog

Welcome to a new garden season

Ah, spring….the season of promise. Hope swells in the gardener’s breast. The disappointments of last year’s garden are banished with the first flush of new green on those rose bushes. Anyway, it does for me.

But I’ve also come to a realization. Yes, I can grow plants, quite well. But while I’ve studied garden design and continue to study it, I’m not so good at it. My gardens are cluttered because I love statuary, birdbaths, pots, etc. and they spill out all over the place. Yes there…

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Posted on March 15, 2012 at 3:47pm

First of fall claims last rose of summer

I cut the last rose of summer from my yard yesterday. It's in a vase with a sprig of rosemary on my living room mantel.

Sigh.

It seemed awfully optimistic of the rose to bloom just as this frost was moving in anyway.

But I bet the roses at the Bascilica of St. Lawrence downtown aren't giving up just yet. Bud Hansbury, who tends the roses there, can keep them going until Thanksgiving most years. Yeah, he's got one talented green thumb.

Mine's not quite that well…

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Posted on October 21, 2011 at 9:45am

Quick reminder for our newcomers

Hi folks,

And welcome to GardenAsheville.

We've had a fair number of people signing up to join the site without any real relevant information. Because of lotsa spammers (some pretty icky ones too), I am now moderating who can become a member. If you'd like to become a member - and we welcome all levels of gardeners - you need to add more than name, age and town. Please add some qualifying information about what kind of gardening interests you.

And for our new members, I…

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Posted on October 20, 2011 at 11:53am

Watch folks catch hummingbirds (and maybe help out too)

It’s been a while since I reminded everyone about the wonderful Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden in southern Gaston County, about a 1½ hour drive from here. And well worth it!

A hummingbird program coming up Aug. 6 could be a great time to visit. Wildlife researcher Susan Campbell and several trained volunteer assistants will be at the garden 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Aug. 6 to catch, band and release hummingbirds as part of her research.…

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Posted on July 25, 2011 at 12:57pm

Speaking of Gardening symposium coming up

The N.C. Arboretum has its Speaking of Gardening synposium set for Aug. 26-27 and as usual has national and even international gardening experts lined up as presenters.

The keynote speaker is Helen Dillon of Dublin Ireland, described as a "gardener, author, broadcaster, and traveler." The arboretum website says she operates Dillon Garden in Dublin, Ireland, which is open to the public and has been featured in magazines worldwide. Not one to be daunted by a plant that doesn’t perform…

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Posted on July 22, 2011 at 9:55am

Polly McDaniel's Videos

A new way to look at your vegetable garden

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30 Minute Vegetable Garden

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Fall frost protection for your plants

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Comment Wall (91 comments)

At 12:17pm on March 20, 2008, Gerda said…: Polly: I was considering joining your rose group, but I'm no expert. I just love them and somehow get lucky.

At 2:51pm on March 21, 2008, Gerda said…: It is consoling, although sad, to hear that you are starting over with your roses this year. I too lost all but 3 of mine last year. They just never thrived after that April freeze, because they had already leafed out so much. On the other hand I'm eagerly awaiting a dozen new bare root roses from J&P. Some are old friends and one or two are very new. It might be fun to celebrate and/or commiserate with you over the spring and summer, as we try to get our new "kids" established.

At 5:17pm on March 25, 2008, Gerda said…: Hi Polly: Just a note to let you know I planted 12 bare root roses today, which had arrived over the weekend from J&P. I think the freezing weather is over unless we have an anomoly like last April. I do 90% of the garden work myself. My hubby has his own yard chores and hobbies (golf). But today he helped me with the roses. I had prepared the holes last fall with amendments, then filled them back in, so today it was just fun. Let's all keep our fingers crossed the weather will stay normal. Have you planted your new David Austin roses yet?

At 9:35am on April 1, 2008, Gerda said…: Polly, I was going to set the record straight sooner or later about my roses. When the last two arrive from Wayside Gardens we'll have a total of 17 roses in our yard. They are the only plants I fuss with. The other flowers in the garden are things like shasta daisies, coneflowers, black-eyed susans, foxgloves, irises, hyssop and other herbs. They have to sink or swim on their own. You can see what I mean by the pictures I have posted. I'm glad you had those days off to get started in your garden. I like your area with all the pots. Have a great day!

At 3:27pm on April 1, 2008, GardenThymeGirl said…: Polly,

I love all horticultural issues--gardening, teaching, learning, and especially helping others with garden issues. I believe John Murphy (Bullington Center) mentioned your name recently. I try to support him and the educational classes. Four of my pals in the "Gals in Green" and I just finished teaching some classes at the Bullington Center. Yes--I am enjoying this Blog very much. I hope to meet you sometime and I'm sure we go to many of the same places--Books A Million and many of the garden centers and nurseries.

At 8:41pm on April 1, 2008, GardenThymeGirl said…: Yes!! Let's shop for plants sometime. I just got back from BB Barns with 10 Gumpo/Satsuki azaleas in the back of my truck. The prices were very good and they will definitely soften my steep concrete driveway. They will bloom in May/Jun and grow more prostrate than traditional azaleas. I plan to put them in two groups of five. Lowes had some creeping Phlox that had to come home with me also. Do you make it to the Asheville Herb festival each year? It's suppose to be from May 2 -4th (Fri - Sun) this year. It's a good opportunity for me to buy some medicinal plants from some credible resources. I try to grow some of the medicinal plants in my part-sun yard. So--let me start looking for some more change to get some more plants.....

At 10:32am on April 3, 2008, GardenThymeGirl said…: Hello Polly,

I'm going to try to reach you at your office today--I have some information on the NC Arboretum Symposium/Sep 5th and some other info I would like to discuss with you. The rain has been a blessing.
Dawn

At 10:39pm on April 6, 2008, GardenThymeGirl said…: Ha Ha--Ok I do love thyme a lot! I bought some soap with thyme in it when I lived in Provence. I do business as Gardent Thyme Horticultural Svcs and if you walked around in my yard, you will see a lot of thyme. I suppose I've been using Garden Thyme Girl for a while. I'm even going to suggest a little thyme in my new client's garden. I am a huge fan of container gardens. Two years ago, I had almost 50 planters. I love using thyme, instead of always using the predictable english ivy to drape down your container. There are so many thymes! I nearly flipped when I found a lavender thyme some years back. So, you probably got a crazier answer than you expected....

At 2:09pm on April 7, 2008, Katie McIntosh said…: Hey Polly,
This site looks fantastic! I can't wait to show it to Andy!
Thanks,
Katie

At 5:53pm on April 7, 2008, GardenThymeGirl said…: I mention this Blog every time I'm in a "gardening" situation of any type. Are you able to put a plug in one of your features?