I garden in a typical suburban Northern Virginia home, work full-time in a Rockville-based office, and am married with twins. I have a B.S. in horticulture from Virginia Tech and have been involved in horticultural communications for 30 years. I have written about 100 articles for Horticulture, The American Gardener, Chesapeake Home, Early American Life, Virginia Gardener, the National Gardener, Southern Living, and Birds and Blooms.
Currently, I serve as the Mid-Atlantic District Delegate for the Herb Society of America, a board position. In 2023, I completed two 2-year terms as chair/president of the Potomac Unit of the HSA. I am a member of GardenComm, a professional organization of garden communicators, and served as the National Director for Region IV of GardenComm. I write articles for the HSA blog, the GardenComm newsletter and blog, and other magazines and newsletters. I am a member of the National Capital Area Garden Clubs‘ District III Camelot Garden Club. From 2021 to 2023, I served as the blog administrator for the National Garden Clubs, Inc.
I give hands-on workshops and Powerpoint presentations on growing and using culinary herbs, edible flowers, herbs and spices for the holidays, plant propagation, and saving seeds from the garden. I have presented at the Fairfax County Public Library branches, Merrifield Garden Center, Green Spring Gardens, Brookside Gardens, the NCAGC Gardening School, and various garden clubs and master gardener groups. I also give presentations virtually, am very experienced with Zoom, and welcome invitations to speak either in person or virtually. Contact me at pegplant at yahoo dot com.
In April 2014, I created Pegplant, an online resource for gardeners in the Washington DC metro area. Pegplant offers local gardening news, resources, and information about gardening, gardens, and plants.
In March 2018, I created Pegplant’s Post Gardening Newsletter, a free, monthly e-newsletter for people interested in gardening in the Washington DC metro area. Pegplant’s Post has local gardening events; new books; advice; tips; relevant articles; a spotlight on gardening-related products, tools, seeds, or plants; and sometimes a giveaway. To subscribe, simply enter an e-mail address in the “subscribe” field on the right column of pegplant.com. Pegplant’s Post is issued on the last weekend of the month.
I initiated a Culinary Herbs and Spices Facebook group that is open to anyone but it is a private group. Please join and share your experiences growing and using herbs and spices as well as recipes.
For the green industry, I initiated the annual Capital Region Connect, a social networking event for horticulturists and landscape designers who work in the local green industry. This includes wholesale and retail nurseries, public gardens and botanical gardens, and arboreta. Capital Region Connect is a private, invitation only event for people to “connect,” network, and share with others in the Capital Region area.
I invite you to follow me on my gardening adventures as pegplant on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Pinterest.