Mary's garden of earthly delights

"It won't make a bit of difference if you come to my garden before or after the cold," said Mary MacArthur, whom I first met when she was president of the late Dogwood Garden Club.

Not many of us can make such a statement.

Mary has been gardening for about 30 of the 42 years she has lived in her present home.

"I didn't know much when I first moved here," she said "I learned from trial and error and reading good books and newspaper articles."

As a member of the Native Plant Society and the Camellia Society, she has a nice balance of the easy and the difficult and she is always learning new things. Her nine camellias were just beginning to bloom when we met.

When a large chinaberry tree had to be removed from the back garden, Mary replaced it with a live oak.

"Nurseries should tell people that live oaks can live for 500 years while the other oaks start to die after 80 years," she said.

Her native plants include several Simpson's stoppers, one she pruned to be a small tree, the others as shrubs, and the same with Walter's viburnums. One of her favorite trees is the East Palatka holly, and she is eagerly awaiting the bloom on her young redbud. Redbuds used to be seen much more in the area. They may only live about 40 years, but they don't leave you with a large tree to remove and they are beautiful in the meantime. There is even a redbud variety with deep red leaves called Forest Pansy.

Mary has a thriving vegetable garden and two giant fruiting trees, a grapefruit and a loquat, lean over from her neighbor's yard and give her much fruit.

"He even picks them and hangs bags on the fence for me," she said.

This lady is close friends with all her neighbors.

"I like best being outdoors, living in Florida, watching the season change and getting excited about the blooms, or when I see bees or butterflies," she said.

In addition to her lovely garden, I liked best her attitude and her sense of humor.

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Today's pick: Camellias have rich, glossy, dark evergreen leaves and flowers of elegant beauty.

The plants grow slowly into large shrubs or small trees and can be started from cuttings.

They need partial to light shade. Too much will slow their growth.

The shrubs can take the cold, but the blooms can be zapped. Cover your best one with gloves or socks if we have another freeze warning. They often fall off the stems indoors, but they will last several days to a week indoors if floated in a bowl.

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• Feb. 11: The Tampa Bay Area Camellia Society's annual Camellia Show and Plant Sale will be open to the public from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Tampa Woman's Club, 2901 Bayshore Blvd. in Tampa. The plant sale will be open from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Admission, parking and instructions on growing and showing camellias are free.

For more information, call (813) 689-8859.

• Feb 12: The Rare Fruit Council International will present its famous Citrus Tasting Celebration from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Horticulture Building at the Florida State Fairgrounds.

You can taste fresh-squeezed orange and grapefruit juice for $1 a cup, and many different varieties of oranges, tangerines, lemons, limes, grapefruits, kumquats and pomelos for $1 a plate.

• Feb. 14: Master gardener Jim Hawk will present a program on modern roses at the Seffner Library, 410 N. Kingsway Road, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. For information, call (813) 685 1055.