Barbara Gillette, Master Gardener

Barbara Gillette is a Master Gardener, Herbalist, beekeeper, and journalist with three decades of experience propagating and growing fruits, vegetables, herbs, and ornamentals. From sowing seed to harvest, from heirloom tomatoes to wild orchids, her gardening experience encompasses first hand knowledge of best practices for success. 

She has worked with the University of Kentucky Department of Agricultural Communications and with several commercial greenhouse operations and was past president of the Anderson County Farmer's Market Cooperative. She has cultivated and planted more than 150 shrubs and trees on her eight acre property over the past 23 years.

Amanda Rose Newton, Board Certified Entomologist

Amanda Rose Newton is a pest specialist, reviewing pest control content for The Spruce's Cleaning Review Board. She is a board-certified entomologist and volunteers for USAIDs Farmer to Farmer program. Currently, she is a professor of Horticulture, an Education Specialist, and pest specialist.She has a decade's worth of experience in both the academic and professional sides of horticulture and entomology. Her focus is on educating gardeners to use sustainable practices that will lead to improved food security and quality for the next generation.

Julie Thompson-Adolf, Master Gardener

Julie Thompson-Adolf is a Master Gardener and author with over 30 years of experience with year-round organic gardening, seed starting and saving, growing heirloom plants, perennials, and annuals, and sustainable and urban farming.

She’s a Master Gardener, served on the National Garden Bureau’s Plant Nerds team, and joined with television host P. Allen Smith for Garden2Blog. Julie is a member of Garden Comm: Garden Communicators International, Slow Food, Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, and many other environmental and gardening groups.

Debra LaGattuta, Master Gardener

Debra is a Master Gardener who received her official title in 2015. She has over 30+ years of experience as a home gardener experienced in designing, planting, and maintaining cottage-style perennial, vegetable, and four-season container gardens.

She is the lead gardener in a Plant-A-Row, which is a program that offers thousands of pounds of organically-grown vegetables to local food banks. She is also the author of several gardening presentations on topics including perennial plant primers, hardy perennials for different zones, and vegetable gardening.

Andrew Hughes, Certified Arborist

Andrew Hughes is a certified arborist, member of the International Society of Arborists specializing in tree heal care, and reviews tree content on The Spruce's Gardening Review Board. He founded and runs Urban Loggers, LLC, a company offering residential tree services in the Midwest and Connecticut.

Mary Marlowe Levette, Master Gardener

Mary has been a Master Gardener for 30+ years and a commercial and residential gardener. She is a former Clemson University Extension Agent. She worked to develop the Riverbanks Botanical Garden that opened in 1995.

Along with her brother, Mary owns Marlowe Farms Apple Orchards and has 50+ years of experience in vegetables, annuals, and perennials in the home garden as well as commercial crops.

Mary Marlowe Levette, Master Gardener

Mary has been a Master Gardener for 30+ years and a commercial and residential gardener. She is a former Clemson University Extension Agent. She worked to develop the Riverbanks Botanical Garden that opened in 1995.

Along with her brother, Mary owns Marlowe Farms Apple Orchards and has 50+ years of experience in vegetables, annuals, and perennials in the home garden as well as commercial crops.

Mary Marlowe Levette, Master Gardener

Mary has been a Master Gardener for 30+ years and a commercial and residential gardener. She is a former Clemson University Extension Agent. She worked to develop the Riverbanks Botanical Garden that opened in 1995.

Along with her brother, Mary owns Marlowe Farms Apple Orchards and has 50+ years of experience in vegetables, annuals, and perennials in the home garden as well as commercial crops.

Beetles are the primary pollinators of ancient flowers.

One interesting fact about beetles is that they use a form of pollination known as "mess and soil" pollination. Unlike bees and butterflies, these insects can eat all parts of a plant, from pollen and other floral tissues to even the bark of trees. They even poop within the flowers.

They are the primary pollinators of primitive flowering plants like cycads, magnolias, and water lilies. These plants often have large, bowl-shaped, or cup-shaped flowers that are more open and accessible to beetles than those targeted by bees or butterflies.

Rosemary trees

A rosemary plant contains essential oils like geraniol, linalol, burneol, and sineol. These fragrant oils are efficient insect repellents.

Virgin Mary in Moon Orchid (Phalaenopsis amabilis)

This coastal-loving orchid comes almost exclusively in white and glitters as if covered in frost when the sunlight hits it. At first, it appears to be a typical Moth Orchid, but upon closer inspection it looks like a teeny carving of the Catholic Madonna has been placed inside. Something you may not know about the Phalaenopsis Orchid is that there is an actual Island named after them because they were once abundant there (not so much today) The island is called “Orchid Island” and is located in Eastern Taiwan.