I garden in Frisco (where I live now and enjoy a lovely koi pond with waterfall), Prosper (where I plan to build a Tuscan farmhouse with vineyard on 3 acres next year, my "practice house"), and Celina (where I plan to build my final house on 20 acres with a 1 acre deep quarry pond and shallow pond in the woods). Half of Celina is cornfield now, but eventually I plan to grow specialty cut flowers there commercially with a Come and Cut garden. Gee...when I put it all on paper like that it looks pretty overwhelming. Wish I had a full time crew to help me. But in fact I work fulltime in law, so I have to pace my gardening projects for weekends, and sometimes before dawn and after dark!
Besides planning my gardens, and educating my garden club ladies on the organic alternatives, I have wanderlust. I started backpacking in Europe for a year after college, been round the world in both directions, and took a 1 year sabbatical for travel a few years ago. It's been a lifelong challenge to be a nomad AND a gardener. You've really got to be a sturdy plant to survive in my gardens! And I've got some beauties. I try every unique plant I can get my hands on to test its viability in my microclimate. And most thrive, even if they are marginal in Zone 7 because of the organic techniques. I just returned from 10 days in Italy collecting inspiration (
![Idea :idea:](https://www.dirtdoctor.com/efl/dirtDoctor/images/smilies/icon_idea.gif)
now I want to try olives), and when I got back, my Frisco garden had exploded into lush growth, its prettiest Spring ever, and I didn't even get around to fertilizing yet. It is in its 3rd year and I think that is when you really see a garden mature and organics kick in.
I'm also interested in airplanes, antique farm vehicles and pottery.
I've listened to Howard since day 1, and owe him and Malcolm Beck and John Dromghool (The Natural Gardener in Oak Hill near Austin) big time for all their information and inspiration and genuinely good hearts.
I'm anxious to get to reading this Forum to learn from you all and hope to share some of my gardening experiences.