That pretty much covers it. I am unsure at this time who my hero is and I hope to decide after reading your postings. Who is your favorite GARDEN HERO??? Why? Thanks for the input!

I have read alot about Gertrude Jekyll,I 'm not sure if I would call her my hero but,the things she has done with gardening is very inspiring to me.She was a dedicated lady and she loved gardens and plants.She was a very clever and witty lady and she possessed many artistic talents.She knew alot about herbs,flowers and plants.

My dad. He's real quiet about it but very knowledgeable, and it was him who gave me some canna lilies a long, long time ago, starting my gardening addiction. He still comes over to identify poison ivy for me.

This is a very difficult question, I am very influenced by the English garden gurus, and I love classical Italian gardens, but my hero is probably Andre Le Notre. I fell in love with Versailles when I was 20 (the garden, not the palace) I spent my last day on the continent in that garden. One always has a fondness for a first love. My grandparents gardened, I love some plants because I associate them with my grandparents, but Versailles was the first designed garden that I fell in love with.

I'm not sure if I would call her my hero, but I greatly admire Elizabeth Lawrence, who wrote the classic "A Southern Garden". I was greatly inspired by it and still refer it often especially during the winter. It is a wonderful book and she was a great lady.

The late J.C. Raulston. The man and his mission has had a hell of an impact on my life and how I look at plants.

I'll add a second to J.C. Raulston who died in a car accident last December, and was a wonderful man.

A second, more literary vote for Margery Fish, who created a wonderful garden (without 100 garden helpers) in England in the 1930's and 1940's, and wrote We Made a Garden to chronicle her garden development. Her book is one of the warmest, most down to earth writings on gardening and garden design that I have ever read.

Mike McGrath. Since he took over the helm of Organic Gardening, it has become the most widely subscribed-to gardening magazine in the US, and IMHO, anyone who can persuade people to pay more attention to the world around us while still being entertaining is certainly a hero.

Ken Druse, author of "The Natural Garden", "Habitat Garden", "Collectors Garden", etc. He has so many philosophies I vehementy agree with. Really a proponent of getting our property back to nature...NOT having lawns that look like putting greens, not hiring Chemlawn every week, welcoming violets, clover, dandelion, etc., planting plants native to your area, etc. I really enjoy his work. I also admire Barbara Damrosch, she is a wonderful author and teacher. I admire her philosophies toward gardening as well, a more natural approach.

David Engel, who wrote "Japanese Gardens for Today". (1959) He made me realize that with just trees, shrubs and groundcovers, I could create a garden. Not necessarily a Japanese garden...I didn't want that. Just a calm, cool space around our home, with subtle changes throughout the year. We do have blossoms: dogwood, viburnum, corylopsis, nandina, blueberry, etc. but they are fleeting pleasures. The branch structure and foliage shape and texture are what the Japanese appreciate and emphasize, and Engel led me to this through his photos and writing. He taught me to value the varying shades of green in spring, the glory of autumn leaves, and the bare branch structure in winter. Many of our evergreens came from Japan (or China) originally, but we have fine natives which Engel suggested for use, also.

Since first reading his book, I've found many others who have written books on foliage: Christopher Lloyd, Michael Jefferson-Brown, Myles Challis. J.C.Raulston (another hero) introduced me in later years to many fine underused shrubs and trees which will add to my garden in years to come. But Engel was the first to make me "see" the beauty of foliage. jo

I agree with Phillip about Elizabeth Lawrence. I have her books THE LITTLE BULBS and GARDENING FOR LOVE and they are just lovely. Another wonderful writer was Celia Thaxter, who wrote AN ISLAND GARDEN in the 1890's. I've never heard anybody write so LOVINGLY about the everyday aspects of raising flowers.

Celia Thaxter, 19th century gardener, poet, artist and author. Wrote An Island Garden, 1894. She was a flower arranger also, cutting multiple stems of fresh flowers every day from her small 15x50 cutting garden located on the rocky Isles of Shoals (Appledore Island). One can visit the original site today where her garden has been recreated. Another garden in the manner of Celia is planted in Tolar, Texas by Linda and Bill Anderle. We held a multi-sensory conference with Design Experience partner Sharon Stephan last April 97 here in Granbury, Texas...a great success to be followed in April 98 with Celia Thaxter: The Visual Arts. She paints pictures with words.

Eliot Coleman,author of "the New Organic Grower",and "Four-Season Harvest",and co-host with his wife Barbara Damrosch of the "Gardening Naturally "series on TLC.He teaches organic gardening as it should be taught,as feeding the soil instead of feeding plants,and respecting nature's systems of checks and balances.

Koichiro Wada for sharing Rhododendron yakushimanum with the world even though it was headed for the madness of World War II.

Mine would have to be the late Jim Crocket(sp?) from the old "Crockets Victory Garden" on public television. He had such an easy going manner,had a wealth of information and let people know his gardening successes as well as failures.
NancyLouise

Norman C Deno, professor emeritus at Penn Stat University is my hero for all his work on unlocking the secrets for germinating seed. I never plant a seed without first checking his published data to see if that species was studied-and most were ! Anyone who loves to grow everything from seed should have his books. Contact him Norman C Deno 139 Lenore Drive State College PA 16801 He will direct you from there. Hats off , Mr Deno !

spike hernandez, of course. who else has done so much for the gardening community? in one convenient stop i can get plant information, opinions on gardening questions, pet information, advice on insulating my home, and, in the beer forum, can get a diet coke and chat with some bright, funny,sexy folks(not to mention bonsai perverts)....well done, spike....

Roy Lancaster his books and TV prog. are witty aswell as educational.

I have to agree with Louise - my dad is my garden hero.
He, too, inspired me at a very young age. We grew pract- ically everything together. I have fond memories especially growing neck pumpkins. Even to this day when something excites me, and that's usually every day during the growing season, I'll call my dad and share it with him. Because he is as excited as I am.

johnny appleseed-,,of course!!-,..without him,..where would we be? ;o]

G'ann

i have 3. first mike mcgrath from organic gardening magazine(you will be missed) and the husband and wife duo of elliot coleman and barbera damrosh all of whom areteaching the uninformed how to grow ORGANIC maxx

My mom, who passed away a year ago this month but will forever reign as Queen of my Garden!!!

After consideration, I would have to say there are three.My grandfather,now 96,always had a market garden when I was a kid and my love of the soil came from him. As for methods, I've learned more from Dick Raymond,Joy of Gardening,Gardenway Press,than anyone else.And finally both J.I. and Robert Rodale for teaching me to garden with my conscience as well as with my hands. P.S I just received Sheperd Ogdens book,Step By Step Organic Gardening and its excellent reading so far.

Katherine White. I don't know how well she gardened, but she wrote marvelously about gardening in Onward and Upward in the Garden. She was the first person who convinced me that gardening was something you could -- had to -- think about. My father, a law professor, often quotes Oliver Wendell Holmes to the effect that the law is "a way to the world." Katherine White showed that gardening was, too.

Thomas Jefferson and Adelma Simmons.

Isn't anyone going to name Jerry Baker??(Ha Ha Ha)

Either Gregor Mendel or Luther Burbank. Both spearheaded the study of genetics during their lifetimes. Then again there is Walter Knott who developed the best tasting berry.

I'm big on Luther Burbank & Liberty Hyde Bailey. I've always admired the great botanists of the past who would never have thought themselves plantsmen if they weren't able to grow things as well.

There was a wholism in horticulture/botany/plant science which is sorely missing today.

And, there's Tasha Tudor, too

two people-my grandmother (she passed away 3 years ago) from mississippi who loved gardening and flowers. she lived on a farm and flowers were everywhere. also, my dad who passed away a year ago. even while in the hospital going through aggressive chemo, he talked to the nurses about tomato plants, bugs, roses, etc. and two nurses actually began gardening because of his enthusiasm. at his funeral i met so many people whose lives he touched just talking about gardening.

my Aunt who had the lovliest flower garden of anyone I ever knew personally . Mike McGrath who I agree will be sorely missed, Eliot and Barbara that I can't find anymore but have tapes of , Gertrude Jekyll and almost anyone that writes a good book on gardening or whose garden I've seen either on tv or in person.

Helen and Scott Nearing have always been of great inspiration to me.

I am also in agreement with Sue. Tasha Tudor is something of a living icon.

Peace

Anyone ever read Beverly Nichols? He wrote many books, among them a number on his houses and gardens -- Sunlight on the Lawn, Garden Open Today, Garden Open Tomorrow, and Merry Hall. Long out of print, and very hard to find, but charming books by a man who loved his gardens. Also his cats, who figure largely in the books. My local library has copies, and I plot how to steal them. I don't know if I would call him My Hero, but he writes very engagingly.

Anyone who wants to join the "Bring Back Mike" movement is welcome to join the Organic Gardening forum, "I want Mike back, DO YOU?" We even had an email from Mike.

any one who gardens without chemicals!!!!

bryan

Mark, who took the rototiller out to the garden a couple of days after his 100th birthday! (and used it!)
Mike McG who takes on big chem for us little guys!
David Austin, for bringing scent back to roses!
And, of course, everyone out there who grows stuff without wasting water, or using chemicals!!!
Cat

My grandma, who taught me that peas and tomatoes taste best when eaten right in the garden on a hot summer day, a weed is only a weed if you don't like the flowers, and all plants have a purpose if only to drive you crazy. When I first started gardening I told her I couldn't tell the weeds from the flowers. She said "Wait a while, you'll figure it out."

I've walked the Nearing garden with Helen and the Coleman-Damrosch greenhouse with Eliot and Barbara. They were and are uncommonly fine gardeners, the best.

But as far as heroes go I'd have to say my grandfather who subsistence farmed on sand in zone 4. He did not come from priveleged circumstances as many famous gardeners had. His garden was full of mechanical gizmos he invented so he could grow corn and peas and other goodies.

Then I'd have to say those Russian scientists that died of starvation in the midst of plenty at the seed bank they protected with their lives. In a quarter century of gardening miracles and disasters, nothing, nothing at all, has jolted me into revering plants like those scientists' ultimate sacrifice.

Mary in Maine

I would have to say Paul James, Gardening by The Yard, on HGTV. He is as crazy as I am. Plus his methods have helped me solve a lot of problems in my own garden.

I have 2 heroes.

1) My grandmother who had an green paradise around my grandparents' home in the high desert.

2) Jenny Buchart who took the bleak pit of an exhausted quarry [from her husband's cement business] & turned it into the Sunken Garden in what is now Buchart Gardens on Vancouver Island in British Columbia.

My father was my favorite garden hero. I have many happy memories of following him around the garden as he worked the ground and planted the seeds. He always was and always will be my garden hero. He could grow the best garden of anyone. I still can close my eyes when I smell the freshly turned earth in the spring and picture him there. He died in an accident 35 years ago and I still miss him so much. I also really admire Tasha Tudor and have many of her books. Judith

Edna Walling and Paul Sorenson. Edna was an Australian landscape designer who inspired people to create rooms in their gardens using walls and arches to create an informal but structured look. Paul Sorenson was a gardener and landscaper in the Blue Mountains in NSW who created several gardens that are now heritage protected. Everglades at Leura is one.
Deb

Here is a link that might be useful: Blue Mountains guide

Wrong address for the Blue Mountains. Sorry. Correct attached
Deb

Here is a link that might be useful: Blue Mountains Australia

I would have to say Henry Mitchell, who inspired me to write about gardening, even if it is only for my local club newsletter (My column is called One Man's Wasteland, in homage to his One Man's Garden).

Tasha Tudor & Mike McGrath get my vote.

...Many are actually nameLESS though... and in this particular area it would be impossible to narrow down to one "hero" or "shero" (to be absolutely PC about the matter!)...

In this age of so many nurseries selling only hot new stuff which catches public fancy,
this age of so many large farm operations growing only a limited number of edible species that are perfectly saleable & transportable,
this age of so many shelterbelts and old irreplaceably naturalized areas being razed for new developments,
and so on...

in this age, I vote for everyone -- amateur or professional-- who rescues a native plant from destruction or obscurity, who struggles to keep an antique seed viable or a heritage plant available, or who works to create or preserve even one small, wild, natural habitat for us and for our fellow "critters."

My hero is Michael Dirr, the woody plant guru, and I'll second Norman Deno for telling me all I ever need to know about propagation from seed.

My hero is Don Burk of Burks Back Yard. I wish I had his e mail address.

all of the organic farmers out there!

A second vote for Jim Crockett. I remember watching Crockett's Victory Garden on PBS when PBS really didn't have all those commercials that they say aren't commercials. He indeed had an easy-going manner and alot of information. Lucinda Mays has been the only follow-up to him on the Victory Garden who I really enjoy watching and learning from. Of course now all the show has become is a tax writeoff for Russell & Miriam Morash. They travel to posh hotels and eat in fancy restaurants and film a stroll through the garden and a tour through the kitchen and of course, it's all a business expense to them. I have really gotten tired sitting through the frills for 5 minutes of gardening in each 30 minute episode. Okay, I'm through venting now...

Does no one remember Ruth Stout? Ask the OLD 'Organic Gardening Magazine' people about her contributions to this gentle science. Fabulous lady; my choice, hands down.

-dicken.

Another vote for Paul James on HGTV's Gardening by the Yard.
He is such a nut and even when the topic doesn't interest me he makes the show interesting with his humor. I have used some of his ideas in my garden too.
Lynn

Hi Linda
My favorite would be Canada's own, Lois Hole. She is very knowledgeable, and her books are good for the beginner gardener. ~Darryn~

Loved Paul's vent on the Morashs!! My fav would be the "elderly" probably 40ish neighbor lady, when I was 12. She was a DIVORCEE, Quite intriging to us kids in those days. she lived to be 100. I still remember all she taught me. Other favs would be Thalassa Caruso. She of hating, "plaants in plaastic pots", Jim Crockett, of course. Beverly Nicols and Tasha.

Tasha Tudor; Canada's Marjorie Harris who wrote "Ecological Gardening"; Paul James of "Gardening by the Yard" on HGTV; and David Hobson for his "Garden Humour" website, his very funny daily diary that I recieve daily by email, and his down to earth personality.

Here is a link that might be useful: David Hobson's Garden Humour Website

How's about Vita Sackville-West and Penelope Hobhouse?

Ruth Stout--isn't she the one who used to garden neck-ed?

First, my father, who started me gardening when I was 4 when I helped him plant 500 tulip bulbs. Then, Jens Jensen, father of the natural landscaping movement in America. Third, Sara Stein, author of Noah's Garden. Finally, all those natural landscapers who tear out their lawns, stop using pesticides and herbicides, and plant prairies and more wildflowers and native grasses.

I grew up watching Jim Crocket, Bob Thompson and the Victory Garden. Then I went to university. After I grew up, and became acquainted with Elliot Coleman and Barbara Damrosch through their TV series, Gardening Naturally, I fell in love with gardening. Elliot's ability to teach his wonderful philosophy accompanied by his ever-youthful enthusiasm for gardening makes his approach to growing truely natural. Barbara is the perfect companion to Elliot. Her love for flowers is the best possible accompaniment to the symphony that is "Gardening Naturally."

These two are my heros. I teach their philosophy to my students, I tell my neighbours of their books and TV series. I consider their knowledge a gift, well worthy of passing on to all who will listen.

Several good names up ^ there but the one that should be at the TOP of the page is: JAMES UNDERWOOD CROCKETT For those of you that did not get enjoy his original Victory Garden show,you don't know what you missed.I still use his books for research.

My gardening hero? My hubby-The one that makes it really happen. He supplies the finances, digs the holes, makes the compost, picks up my gardening waste, oils my tools. You get the picture-yes, I am truely spoiled. A close second would be Lucinda Mayes from Victory Gardens South. I had the opportunity to work with her and in her garden at Callaway. Such an encourager-such a teacher! Prune prune prune, never be afraid to try new things (rip it out if it doesn't work!) and keep good records are some of the best things she taught me. Also,she taught me how to see a larger picture when looking at a garden. Invaluable! I have to mention Dr.Michael Dirr from UGA. He makes me look good by doing all that research and then so willingly sharing his knowledge and his cuttings.
debbieo

Geof Hamilton, without a doubt. His enthusiasm was infectious. He had an amazing knack of imparting horticultural knowledge and know-how in a manner that was easily understood, and with a style that was humble and inviting. In every of the BBC Gardener's World TV shows that I have watched him host, I am amazed by his unspoken invitation, conveyed only by his mannerisms and his unfettered enthusiam - "Here, try this yourself!".

Next on the list would be J.C. Raulston, a man with a great vision, who then went on to make that vision a reality and beyond. He has the courage to go with his convictions, even when it was against the grain of gardening and garden design philosophy prevailing at that time.

I am still greatly saddened by the premature loss of these two great man. They would have had so much more to give us.

I would like to second the vote for Geoff Hamilton. I only got a chance to see one video on gardening which he created but the genuine love he felt for gardening clearly showed through. Very imaginative ideas. I'm trying to locate any videos of BBC Gardeners World episodes or any other videos he may have made. Can anyone help in my quest?

I also started gardening after watching an episode of Canadian Gardening in the 80's with Bob Switzwer and David Tarrant so they were a big influence.

Lori

I couldn't possibly have only one garden hero, but my all-time faves are Vita Sackville-West, Gertrude Jekyll, Thomas Jefferson, Jim Crockett, Roger Swain, and Tasha Tudor.

God is my Garden Hero as He made it all. Just thinking that He had the "difficult" task to create it all causes me to feel a certain, tangible awe...and it's as if He has called me to give these flowers a home. I'm also very thankful for Him creating the plants...and giving me the heart to work with them.--Mark

After reading all the posts here, it made me realize that one could not have just ONE favorite 'garden hero'.

First was my mom and dad, as they always had a vegetable garden. Even when I was quite little, I was allowed to put some of the seeds in after they did all the hard work. I still remember what carrot seeds look like from then, and what fresh peas out of the garden taste like.

Then, it was my grandmother, who always had a flower garden. Sometimes she would cut some flowers for me to take to an elderly neighbor that I would visit. What a thrill!

Then, all the famous people that have already been mentioned in these posts, just keep me going when I am unable to go outside. Jim Crockett, Roger Swain, Gertrude Jeckyll, Penelope Hobhouse, Vita Sackville-West, Josephine Nuese, Luther Burbank (I went to see his museum in Santa Rosa..), Louise Beebe Wilder, Lester Rowntree, Thalassa Cruso, Liberty Hyde Bailey, Thomas Jefferson, Rachel Carson, Mike McGrath, Robert Rodale, Malcolm Hillier, Lauren Springer, H. Lincoln Foster, Eliott C. and Barbara D., Roger Phillips and Martin Rix, Beverley Nichols, The people at Findhorn, Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird and so many more that I certainly could not name them all. Even a neighbor friend of mine that accompanies me on nursery tours several times a year...so rich! And all the people who have gardens that I pass by each day on my way to work.

Oh, and I must not forget to mention Spike Hernandez, who makes this forum possible at all. Isn't it wonderful?

I have two gardening heros:

#1 would be Mrs. Shack, none of you would know here, see she is my neighbor. A sweet elderly woman, who came to my house the year we moved in (over 15 years ago now) and brought me a baggie full of candytuft seed. She said "plant these honey, you'll love them"... You see my yard was nothing more than lawn and three nearly dead maples, and a bunch of dead Poplars. I guess she was trying to tell me something...ha ha! Anyway, Mrs. Shack is the one who first instigated my love of gardening. I will always be grateful to her, because she gave me my "hobby", really my "way of life", nothing in the world, short of my son and husband have ever given me the kind of pleasure and satisfaction my garden has. It is the place I go for solice, to think and to breathe. It gives me a release and lets me feel that somehow "I" am artistic. I never thought I was. It is also the thing that has given me sooo many friends...fellow garden lovers.

My 2nd garden hero is Margery Fish. Margery Fish is a gardener from England and has been dead many years. Of course, I love her conversational way of writing. And she and I are sympatico as to what flowers we love. I admire her so, because she lived in a time when "I'm sure" it took a lot of guts to be a woman with a voice of her own. Margery's husband's idea of gardening was very different than hers. And even though she loved and respected him and never outright negated his opinion, she ALWAYS did what she wanted to do. In fact, that is one of the things I most admired her for. She planted her gardens in HER vision, no one elses. And she had very definite opinion of what she liked and didn't like.

Eileen

I remember Ruth Stout---I am related to her, as well as
to the Stout who the Stout Medal in daylilies is named
for. Ruth Stout wrote a no-work garden book---she believed
in mulch doing the weeding for her. Bend the weeds over--
cover with a thick layer of mulch. I also love Tasha
Tudor------and I am a fan of Martha's!

Christopher Lloyd: he is a great gardener and a great garden writer. His books are a VERY good read.

My parents!!!! I got my love of gardening and plants from them! Heather

How many can I have?

First and foremost would be my parents. Not for what they gardened, but for letting me garden and express myself. I remember that they let me grow Carrots in my bedroom at the age of nine just because I wanted to. They encouraged me and helped me realize that gardening was okay for boys too!

Second would be Heidi Miller. She taught me that it's okay to follow a dream and that lavish is the best way to go. I miss gathering boquets with her.

Third would be Stephanie Cohen from Temple University. Hearing her speak at many conferences, I've learned that it's okay to be totally psyched about perennials and how important it is to pay attention to our native plants. It's because of her that I grow Pachysandra procumbens.

Fourth would be Nancy Ondra. She taught me how to express myself in my garden writing and got me hooked on variegated plants.

Last but not least is Donna Hartman. Her garden designs and own special style keep me grounded and make me realize that beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder. Watching her world grow keeps hope in my heart and encourages me to rely on my own instincts. It's through her influence that I started gardening for my own enjoyment and not just to impress the neighbors.

Here is a link that might be useful: My Home Page

I Loved Jim Crockett, that wonderful man made me ache to garden.

His most wonderful advise? Dig a five dollar hole for a two dollar plant.

Trudi

I hate to admit this because I'm not a fan and I do not watch her programs and I enjoy the parody magazine I keep on
the coffee table for laughs, but Martha Stewart put the shovel in my hand and said the words that have consistently
reminded me of the great pleasures of gardening " it's hard
work but sooo rewarding " and that it is. Each morning before I go to work, I walk over my yard with a cup of coffee and reap the rewards of my hard work over the last
five years and gratefully accept the compliments passed by
people taking their daily walk. With St. Fiacre, my garden
saint, perched on the bird bath watching over, I feel great success in what I've accomplished.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Early Flowering, Fragrant (in most cases) Viburnums

Here is a link that might be useful: Alan Titchmarsh Fan Site