The Power of Spring: Get your inner gardener growing this season
By Alice Crann Good / Photos by Kate Treick Photography
Holy home horticulture!
About 72 million Americans — yes, 72 million — have discovered their inner gardener. Of those 72 million gardeners, about 18 million are new to the hobby, according to Garden Pals 2024 stats.
And about 35% of households are growing vegetables, fruits, herbs, and other edible plants.
So, stop daydreaming about fresh tomatoes being right outside your door, and get growing, urge several Northwest Florida seasoned gardeners. This trend is ripe for the pickin’!
EAST HILL GARDENERS SHARE THEIR PLANTS AND EXPERTISE
On a bundle-up kind of winter morning, a consistent stream of people stopped at the East Hill Edible Gardening tent at Palafox Market in downtown Pensacola looking at the starter veggie plants ready to become a part of someone’s garden.
Highlighted with small colorful information cards, hand-grown choices spread across several tables included the familiar, unusual, gourmet and strikingly interesting — Radicchio Rossa di Verona, Aalsmeer King Pansy, Cold Comfort Celery, Green Beauty Snow Peas, garlic, onions, zucchini, squash, and plenty more.
Overhearing a young man say he wanted to learn how to grow a vegetable and herb garden is all it took for Renée Perry to scurry to him, answer his questions and help him dig up some confidence about developing his inner gardener.
Experienced and passionate gardeners, Perry and her husband, Tom Garner, own East Hill Edible Gardening, which has about 5,000 Facebook followers; offers dozens of plants at Palafox Market typically every Saturday; and presents an updated website page weekly to let you know what plants are coming to the market. East Hill Edible Gardening focuses on varieties that are most appropriate for growing in the area and some bee-safe flowering plants.
“I got into this because I always loved gardening, ever since I went to college at the University of Florida in Gainesville,” Perry said. “That’s when I had my first garden. I became sort of a hippie back in the ’90s, and I wanted to do as much as I could on my own. I did it for years, but my husband and I really got into it when we had enough space at our first house in Pensacola.”
Perry said friends admired their home garden and suggested they teach others. One thing led to another, resulting in selling plants on a regular basis and gardening education by offering a variety of classes.
“We’ve been at the market for more than 10 years, and I love talking to people about gardening,” Perry said. “My husband and I have been teaching gardening classes since 2014 and have taught more than 800 people how to garden here.”
So, why are some people reluctant to dig in?
“People fear making any kind of mistake at all,” Perry said. “But I failed tons of times, tons of times! And I am going to continue to fail because I keep trying new and different things. While some are real failures, others are, ‘Oh, I learned how to do something differently.’”
But gaining as much knowledge as possible before purchasing plants is key, stressed Perry’s husband.
“Many of our students come to us after struggling with the Gulf Coast’s unique gardening conditions. What we teach in our classes is how to garden here,” Garner said.
“Much of the advice available about vegetable gardening is from someplace else, and it doesn’t necessarily work well here,” he continued. “We have our own unique soils, climate, seasons, garden pests and so forth. We focus on adjusting the gardener’s approach so that it works well here on the Gulf Coast.”
East Hill Edible Gardening offers many classes year-round.
“Our signature class, Easy Gulf Coast Vegetable Gardening, is well-suited to both beginners and more experienced gardeners from other parts of the country who may be struggling,” Garner said.
ROSE GEORGE, A REAL ROSE
Several miles from Palafox Market lives a like-minded gardener, Rose George. You frequently find her tending her gardens in the back area of her home in the peaceful neighborhood of Broadview Farms, a place she has lived for 46 years.
The first serious cold spell of 2025 didn’t stop her routine of checking on 30 or so thriving collard greens plants looking downright perky in raised beds along both sides of her driveway.
Wearing a soft, cream-colored beret adorned with pearls, pearl and gold earrings, a pearl necklace, crimson top and royal blue velvet hoodie with jeans, George smiled and said, “My handyman always tells me that he can’t believe how I come outside to work. But the pearls are a sorority thing, and our sorority colors are crimson and cream.”
George has been a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority for 56 years; a member of Zion Hope Primitive Baptist Church for half a century and retired in 2023 after 40 years with the Christian Education Ministry. In 2000, she retired from the Escambia County School District with more than 30 years at Edgewater Elementary School.
As a co-founder and board member of the Pensacola Delta Enrichment Center, a nonprofit that focuses on the needs of children and the elderly in underserved communities, as well as involvement in other nonprofits, George still finds plenty of time to cultivate her longtime love of gardening. As a matter of fact, George is known at all her affiliations for sharing her bounty.
“I started gardening at 11 years old by following my brother James around the yard as he planted zinnias and marigolds,” she said. “I really liked being outside. I didn’t pay much attention until that age when I realized how pretty the blooms were; it was just fascinating watching the little green piece come out and then the blooms. I would run out each day waiting for the buds to open.”
George said her “inner gardener” came into full bloom when she was 22, bought her first home near Montclair Elementary School and planted rose gardens. She garnered so many compliments that she increased the number of roses, and then when she met her husband, Fred George Sr., the couple moved to Broadview Farms — where she created flower beds along the entire perimeter of the house.
Laughing, George shared a summer memory that fueled more laughter.
“I remember the day I drove up from school and he was out here — he was always out here,” George said. “After a period of time, he looked at me and said, ‘You know. We have to stop growing flowers and plant something that we can eat!’ That was the birth of our vegetable gardens.”
Ever since her husband, “the inspiration behind our family garden,” passed away in 2011, George devotedly nurtures their mutual love of gardening. Sure, she still has all types of plants other than vegetables — such as roses, begonias, coleus, ferns, Sago palms and tall banana trees — but vegetables now have a stake in it all. She rattled off some favorites.
Collard greens. Turnips. Tomatoes. Squash. Bell peppers. Cayenne peppers. String beans.
Gardening doesn’t require being born with a green thumb; all you need is some knowledge, especially about your soil type, a few gardening tools and to practice, practice, practice, said Broadview Farms’ Queen of Collard Greens.
“Don’t be afraid to start gardening, and remember that it’s about trial and error,” George said. “Find your inner gardener by going online and finding something that you are interested in; there is so much information out there. Start out with a few plants and grow what you like to eat.”
Scanning her various patio areas, potted plants, raised beds, atrium and garden décor, George smiled once again before adding, “I see gardening as a fun time, a time to meditate and think — not work. But whatever you choose to plant, just don’t give up!”
