I grew up in Florida, but have spent my entire adult life in Virginia. I took my first gardening ‘class’ at the IFAS Extension Service at U of F, in 1975. It was an ‘easy’ credit - and a lot of fun. I was hooked. And as soon as it was possible, I had my own vegetable garden.

It is quite ‘muggy & buggy’ in Chesapeake VA - so, we continually fight the bugs and diseases and other problems that go along with ‘swamp life’. We have given plums, peaches, nectarines, apples, figs, raspberries, blueberries, guavas and even loquats a try. Some like it here - and some don’t. We have found that it takes a lot of spray maintenance to get decent fruit, especially from the stone fruits.

My husband has a little hobby greenhouse, where he grows bananas, limes, lemons, kumquats and any other tropical fruit he fancies. Our biggest plant population is an ‘experimental’ orchard of pomegranate trees, of all varieties. We started with two, in our landscape around the house. When Wonderful and Granada began to bear, we were curious to try to raise others . . . and have been at it since 2018.

I am an artist. I have a studio in my home, where I paint . . . and a shared studio space in downtown Norfolk. I enjoy animals, photography, art, movies, my Apple laptop, and my seven grandkids! (not necessarily in that order!) I live and garden in rural Chesapeake, with my husband of 44 years - and our two professional ‘diggers’, Ziggy the Havanese and Opal the ShihTzu.