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Polly McDaniel

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About Polly McDaniel

Polly McDaniel: United States

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 15 years, 12-year-old son. My dog, a Sheltie. And a cat.

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

All things roses: (7 members)
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Disney greenhouse tour

Added 18 hours ago by Polly McDaniel.

suburban gardening

Added Jul 4 by Polly McDaniel.

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Forum

Weaverville Garden Tour features Wildlfie Habitats

Added a post Jul 3

Look for more on this tour in Saturday's Citizen-Times, in the Home & Garden section. We will also be putting a photo gallery of one of the gardens up on CITIZEN-TIMES.com, probably by Friday a... Read More »

Concrete driveway needs repair

Added a post Jul 2

For that matter, who in the heck do you go to for an asphalt driveway? Mine is gravel and we'd like to have it paved but not with concrete. And I have no idea whatsoever as to what to expect to pay... Read More »

Let's talk about integrated pest management techniques

Added a reply Jul 2

I appreciate this information. I was trying to put a handle or definition on what exactly it meant. Thanks for the posts. Read More »

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Polly McDaniel's Blog

Garden Nights at DSBG

I've blogged about the outstanding Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden before.
About 120 miles from here in southern Gaston County (just before the S.C. state line) is one heck of an outstanding, eye-popping public garden.
Well apparently, they're holding these Garden Nights programs on Thursdays through July 24 with specialty drinks, food and live entertainment geared toward adults.
According to the press release:
"Guests will have the opportunity to sample several fruit-inspired co…

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Posted by Polly McDaniel on July 5th, 2008 at 11:21pm — No Comments (Add)

Happy-tired

I’ve worked 3 days of 10+ hour shifts, and I’m pretty tired. That said, I couldn’t wait to get out in the garden today to plant some flowers for a fresh look. It really does refresh my soul to dig in the dirt, to ponder plant combinations and to see blooms, buds and vines twining.
I have an online exercise calculator. Now who knows how accurate that thing is, but by its calculations, I burned 820 calories in 3 straight hours of gardening.
I did spend most of the morning resting and readi…

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Posted by Polly McDaniel on July 5th, 2008 at 9:08pm — No Comments (Add)

Wild Herb Weekend

Here’s an idea: Ditch Bele Chere and head over to Valle Crucis July 25-27 for the N.C. Herb Association’s Wild Herb Weekend. It’s being held at the Valle Crucis Conference Center (didn’t know they had one).

Keynote…

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Posted by Polly McDaniel on July 4th, 2008 at 8:21pm — No Comments (Add)

A well-designed garden

I spent a brief period in Kathleen Griffin’s North Asheville garden this morning, taking pictures to go with an article by Linda Blue.

I would have loved to spent more time. Kathleen has a beautiful, well-matured landscape, front and back, with lots of conifers and woody perennials mixed in with the flowers. A…

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Posted by Polly McDaniel on July 3rd, 2008 at 11:17am — No Comments (Add)

Interesting garden events

Thought I would share this information early in case folks want to get these events on their radar.

Native plants conference

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Posted by Polly McDaniel on July 2nd, 2008 at 7:55pm — No Comments (Add)

Comment Wall (55 comments)

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At 9:28pm on July 1st, 2008, Michael Coyle said…: Heya Polly,

Yeah, it has been rather busy. I'm able to get back to posting a bit more these days though. I'll be much more of a regular.

Cheers.

At 5:10pm on June 29th, 2008, Sylvia Elwyn said…: Polly,
I have invited someone from my last AB-Tech class to tour my garden on July 22 at 10:00am. I wondered if you might be interested in joining us. If that doesn't work, maybe another day that week?
Hope your garden in doing okay in this drought. I am trying to be conservative, but have to do some regular watering.
Sylvia Elwyn

At 10:10pm on June 28th, 2008, GardenThymeGirl said…: I mentioned GardenAsheville.com on URTV yesterday when I was talking about vermicomposting.

At 7:15am on June 25th, 2008, ANGELA said…: Hi Polly. Thank you for your advice about posting questions to the forum, I am new to this but very excited about the site. Thanks again. Angela

At 10:45am on June 21st, 2008, GardenThymeGirl said…: Well it's been really fun--I appreciate all the info right at my finger tips--especially local garden events. Mark, Mama Bass and I finally get to go to Lomo Grill tonight. I can't wait to see Ricardo and Suzanne!

At 9:12pm on June 20th, 2008, GardenThymeGirl said…: Did you notice the member count today?

At 9:16pm on June 4th, 2008, Linda Shapiro said…: Hi Polly, I would be more then happy to add blogs etc., but I'm not sure how to do it. I was just playing and replaying your "buzzing cicada" and really enjoyed it. I always hear them in the late summer, but now I was able to see it up close and buzzing!
My mom is 91 and has Alzheimer's. I am her caregiver.
I will be very happy to comply with your request, but it will take me some time. Thank you for your patience. Wishing you a wonderful evening.
Linda

At 8:56pm on June 4th, 2008, Linda Shapiro said…: Hi Polly. Would you be kind enough to please advertise our next hydrangea event on June 28th in your newspaper? The copy is below. Please edit as you see fit. If you would like a jpeg of our guest speaker, Cynthia Gillooly I can e-mail it to you, but I'm not sure how to do it here. Can you give me your e-mail at the paper and I'll send it to you that way? Thank you so very much.
Linda

"CONTAINER POT DESIGN WITH HYDRANGEAS"
Date: Saturday, June 28, 2008
Place: Henderson County Public Library, Main Branch, in the Kaplan Auditorium
301 N. Washington Street, Hendersonville NC 28739 Phone: 697-4725
Time: 1:00 - 4:00
Free Admission and Parking
Please use the parking lot south of the library (across the street @ the Nazarene church). Thank you.

The Blue Ridge Hydrangea Society is proud to present Professional Floral Designer, Cynthia Gillooly for this exciting event. If you have been wowed by her extravagant and massive floral container pot designs flowing with draping foliage plants of all textures and colors at B.B. Barns, just wait to see what she will create with hydrangeas as her main theme. Cynthia will demonstrate how to make several container pot designs using a kaleidoscope of annuals, perennials and foliage with hydrangeas for your garden.

At the end of the event, Cynthia will answer your garden design questions, and Linda Shapiro, Founder of The Blue Ridge Hydrangea Society, will answer your questions on hydrangeas.

Cynthia Gillooly celebrates a life long love affair with flowers that led her to open her first flower shop, located on Sanibel Island, Fla. and named Weeds and Things, in 1980. She moved to Western North Carolina 25 years ago and opened her second flower shop, named The Golden Cricket, with her partner Gary W. Leidner in 1986. Cynthia operated The Golden Cricket, specializing in creative natural design, until 2001 when she sold the business in order to focus on her passion for growing orchids and to allow her more time with her husband Michael and three sons. Currently, she is a floral designer with B.B. Barns garden center and also owns and operates her own interior plantscape and orchid business, Saracena Design.

At 10:49am on June 3rd, 2008, Katherine said…: Thanks, you're always learning, no matter how long you've been gardening! Katherine

At 2:09pm on June 2nd, 2008, Gerda said…: Hi Polly: I'm sorry that some of your roses are not doing well. I have never planted anything but bare root roses, so I don't know if you can blame problems on that. You did build up a cone in the center of the hole, I assume, and spread the roots around that. I always use some version of root boost in the hole as well. I enjoyed your article in the paper about that gal's huge rose garden. I'm glad she admitted to spraying. I spray my roses too, with fungicide and insecticide, of the non-organic varieties. I do it either early morning or evening, whenever the wind is calmest. The rose bed is the only place in the garden that I use such products. If I see a ladybug on a rose I carefully move it to another flower before spraying! All of my new roses have buds now, but I don't expect perfect blooms the first time around. I enjoy your blogs. I feel a little too shy to post blogs, but I do like to stay in touch with individuals like you. Garden Asheville is really fun. Thanks for all your hard work on it.