ROCKWALL, TX (Sept. 24, 2026) Ever consider gardening? Enjoy these personal insights from Rockwall County gardeners who have found more than vegetables, flowers and dirt in their garden.
Walter and Carla have a beautiful vegetable garden. Walter has early memories of helping his grandmother hoe, weed, and harvest vegetables in her garden. Carla’s childhood memories about garden-fresh produce came from her family’s weekly trips to the Dallas Farmers Market.
After moving to rural Rockwall County, Walter, with Carla’s help, prepared and planted a vegetable garden, with the goal to see what they could accomplish. What they found was an ongoing need to adapt to multiple barriers including weeds, birds, rabbits, and the weather. Through it all they kept learning – improving the soil, adding bee hives for reliable pollination, and what and when to plant.
“The Year of the Cabbage” is one of Walter’s most memorable, joyful experiences. Cabbage was a new vegetable for the garden, and they had a bumper crop of picture-perfect cabbages that they shared with many. Achieving tangible, replicable successes and sharing their harvests with others keeps them gardening.
Walter’s and Carla’s tips for new gardeners: Have patience. Be teachable. Make a commitment.
Debora remembers playing under the grape arbor in her Italian grandfather’s Pennsylvania garden. Debora never got to help with the gardening as her family moved from Pennsylvania when she was seven. Fast forward to the Covid pandemic. Debora, a recently retired teacher, started working in a local garden center. Working daily with the plants renewed her interest in flowers and gardening. Realizing that North Texas has two growing seasons with the possibility of flowers blooming 9-10 months a year, she planted colorful flowers with a focus on Texas natives, perennials and pollinator-attracting plants. She first converted part of her yard to a pollinator area and continues to find new ways to use her landscape.
Debora views gardening as a creative outlet, acknowledging “Gardening gives me something to look forward to.”
Sharing her garden’s beauty, even with a kitten, is another way that Debora experiences joy. One morning she noted many Monarch butterflies on her Gregg’s Mist bush. Turning to go inside, she saw a kitten sitting about 10 feet away watching those butterflies. The kitten kept still all morning, watching the Monarchs.
Debora’s advice to those interested in gardening: Be patient. Don’t rush into it. Start small. Go Native…. Garden smart.
Connie grew up with parents and grandparents who gardened. Connie considered gardening an “adult” activity. So, she started with tomatoes, relishing the vine-ripened fruit. Annually she planted flats of colorful flowers. Since becoming a Rockwall County Master Gardener, she cultivates flowers and plantings from seed and through propagation. She added herbs and cutting flowers to her tomato garden.
Connie sees gardening as a creative outlet and a stress reliever, taking a walk through her garden the first thing every morning. Some of Connie’s most memorable gardening moments come from the success of her cutting flower garden’s attraction to flocks of butterflies and other pollinators. Being able to share beautiful bouquets made even more fragrant with fresh herbs brings her joy…as do those vine-ripened tomatoes.
Connie’s advice to those interested in gardening: Have fun with it. Don’t get discouraged, even Master Gardeners “kill” plants.
Linda, as a young girl, was intrigued by her mother’s plant propagation and willingness to introduce new plants to the garden. Being a wife and mother to four children while managing a busy career, gardening was not often on Linda’s mind. However, all those responsibilities may have nudged Linda into gardening as she enjoyed its physicality and solitude.
After moving to Rockwall, she embarked on major landscape improvements, adding raised beds and containers, noting the beneficial, almost therapeutic benefits of this sort of gardening. She said, “Gardening makes me happy.” Each challenge, such as need for soil improvement, drainage issues, adapting to damage from weather extremes, presented opportunities to pivot and continue learning.
Since adding Texas natives, bees, butterflies and other pollinators are daily visitors. Linda is fascinated with the activity they bring to her garden sharing, “I am in awe, seeing God everywhere.”
Linda’s advice to those skeptical about gardening: Dip your toe in, even in small spaces there are many ways to garden. Start small and expand as you find the joy in gardening.
As you consider these gardening stories, you may appreciate this quote from Aubrey Hepburn,
“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.”
Article by Virginia Davis, Rockwall County Master Gardener. Photo by Michele Campbell, Rockwall County Master Gardener.
Experience Gardening: A Little Soil, A Lot of Joy added by Editor on
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