Succulents are tricky little plants. They look easy to grow, everyone says they are, yet somehow I struggle to keep them alive.

Today has been the kind of autumn day you see in the movies. You know what I mean: blue skies, sun shining, sweater weather temperatures, and the trees showing off their golden colors. What a glorious fall day, but good grief I worked hard.

The beginning of the holiday season is here, and the first fall frost is in our rear-view mirror.

My dearest readers, I come to you as but a humble gardener who, for your delight and whimsy, has traipsed into the wondrous world of science. When I could find no satisfactory information on an intriguing sweet leaf plant, I took it upon myself to test my ideas and curiosities upon the stone…

October: Dracula, brains and eye balls. Yes, this is garden column but I can’t seem to resist the spooky theme this year.

Spooky things happen this time of year. Ghosts, goblins and ghouls are scary enough, but a man-eating plant? Come on, I thought that was just in the movies.

As I have gotten older, and more aware of my diet and waistline, I am continually looking for an easy fast fix in the health department of my life.

Something you may not know about me is that I love spicy food. My tabletop spices are salt and red pepper flakes, not salt and black pepper. When I make dishes for potlucks and gatherings, I have to change almost all of my recipes so I don’t accidentally ruin someone’s day with my hot pepper…

My retail past is a strong part of who I am, and old habits die hard. If the calendar says fall, regardless of the temperature, it’s time for fall. Clothes, accessories, food and, yes, the garden all must reflect the change in the season.

“The blue bell is the sweetest flower

The West Virginia University Extension Service’s Master Gardener program in Kanawha County will offer a tree pruning class on Saturday, Oct. 12, from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the North Charleston Community Center located at 2009 7th Avenue in Charleston. The class is free and open to the public.

Sharing my garden knowledge with my son has been a top priority for me since finding out that I would be a father.

As members of the human race, we have had countless experiences, from the unbearably mundane to the spectacular. This influences everything, from the choices we make to the way we think. And no two people have had the same set of experiences.

By the time a young Tom Hardman started working at his family-owned business in Spencer in 1972, the Hardman Supply Company’s happenstance relationship with a very specific green bean had already been long established.

School bells and school buses — it must be September. As summer is winding down and the school year is getting started, I am thinking about the ABCs of fall gardening.

I’m just back from visiting my friends who live in the big city.

The frost-free spring and the high temperatures this summer were the perfect conditions for a bad wasp year.

When I was young, I had — surprise, surprise — a LOT of opinions.

County fair, school fair, heck, “My Fair Lady.” I love a fair, but nothing is quite like a state fair. It’s August, which means I’m headed to Fairlea, home of the fairgrounds and the State Fair of West Virginia, which runs Aug. 8-17.

I’m just in from walking my back gardens, and the blackberry lilies are getting ready to bloom. It’s always fun to watch new buds turn to flowers, but this plant excites me. There is something special about its flower, like it is hiding a secret to reveal later.

The other day as I commenced my weekly lawn mower disentombing from the garden shed, it dawned on me that I may have too many garden and lawn tools.

Referencing the American Begonia Society, there are over 1,000 named species in the begonia genus or family, and they are often divided into seven different categories. Some are much more common than others, so for the sake of this column, let’s focus on two of the well-known types — cane and wax.