Ep 231. Three Seasons Tribute to Ongoing Growth

Mary Stone reflects on the life and legacy of her dear friend and design colleague, Marty Carson, who recently passed away. She shares memories of their collaboration and the impact of Marty's wisdom and generosity on the gardening community, including a lecture they gave on deer-resistant gardening, which shared humorous and effective methods to deter deer. Mary concludes with personal updates on her own garden and a poem by Rumi, emphasizing gratitude and the beauty of nature.

Thanks for Tuning in!

 Related Podcasts and Posts you'll Enjoy:

Two Best Gardeners of the Garden State – Blog Post

Remedies for Buck Rub – Blog Post 

 Springfest Lecture -Deer Resistant Plants -  Blog Post 

Ep 117. Deer Remedies & Rat Snakes /  Non-Stinky Deer Deterrents – Blog Post

Ep 202. Pansies Bring Vicki Johnson's Garden Start / Violet and Pansy Season of Happiness - Blog Post

More about the Podcast and Column:

Welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries.

It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about.

Thanks for tuning in, Mary Stone
Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com
Direct Link to Podcast Page

Transcript

Ep 231- Ep 231. Three Seasons Tribute to Ongoing Growth 

Sun, Nov 30, 2025 8:10 AM • 12:44

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Marty Carson, garden design, Spring Fest, deer-resistant plants, Master Gardener, nature's rhythm, Philadelphia Flower Show, garden dilemmas, herb garden, calendula, borage, dill, garden updates, screen porch.

SPEAKERS

Mary Stone

Mary Stone  00:00

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. I'm Mary Stone, and welcome to garden dilemmas, delights and discoveries. It's not only about gardens, it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learn from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in, the spirit of learning from each other, we have lots to talk about.

Mary Stone  00:23

 Hello there. It's Mary Stone on the screen porch, and it was below 30 degrees this morning, but it's crept up a little bit during the day. It's now nighttime, and it is back to being very chilly. Winter is soon in the horizon. Thank you to those who reached back after our last chat. Lessons from a late no till garden. Many of you share that you also leave your overabundance of vegetables on doorsteps. That does make me laugh. Just hit and run. You know it works. And I’m especially grateful for your kind words about my dear friend and design colleague, Marty Carson's passing. So many here in Northern New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania knew and loved her. I shared the news in my column in The Press, and I'd like to share a bit of it here in her honor, if you don't mind. And it starts like this.

Mary Stone  01:20

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green, last week, we reflected on how nature does not hurry, yet. Everything is accomplished. Following nature's rhythm helps us to trust the timing of our own lives, what we plant, the work we do, the friends and loved ones who surround us, even what we perceive as hardship, feeds what comes next. Trusting the flow allows us to join the rhythm of the natural world, which always finds its way back to life. And so, with a tender heart, I share that my dear friend and design colleague, Marty Carson, has passed away. Many of you have come to know Marty through the stories I've shared here, her wisdom, her humor and quiet generosity are so evident. 

Mary Stone  02:07

We met at the Spring Fest Garden Show about 25 years ago. I was a newbie, invited at the last minute, building a design studio display of drawings and before and after photos, and I adorned it with house plants, many of which I still have today. On the set-up day, I quickly learned that Marty, modest, as she was, was the matriarch of the event so to speak. She, with her husband, Buck and the gardeners of her company, Three Seasons, brought elegance to the show. Her garden display was worthy of the Philadelphia Flower Show, and truly, people came to see it. That's really what one of the biggest draws were to the show. In fact, she had her flowers and plants propagated by the same grower that grows them for the Philadelphia Flower Show and have had the privilege of watching them grow there. Visiting the nursery is such a beautiful time. 

Mary Stone  02:59

She introduced herself and admired my designs. You have what I need, she said. I can see you need help with garden design; I teased standing in front of her voluptuous woodland display. Marty doodled her ideas on a yellow legal pad but didn't produce to-scale drawings. And so the Marty and Mary design team began along with our enduring friendship. 

Mary Stone  03:23

When Spring Fest at the Sussex County Fairgrounds retired after 20 years, I wrote about it in The Press that was in 2016. Its final gathering was full of gratitude for its many supporters who preferred anonymity. So, I wrote in code. There are three seasons of growth each year, followed by a season of dormancy. But even then, roots remain active, preparing for the new growth come spring. There are the creative talents of Louise, Kathy and crew, no codes there, working through the seasons, bringing finesse and style to the show. Then there's Gail and Barbara organizing the business of it all with the help of the Spring Fest committee. 

Mary Stone  04:05

20 years of Spring Fest planted deep roots in the love of gardens and the appreciation of all things green. Its supporters created fertile soil for many local businesses to grow. After it retired, big business event coordinators tried to jump in, but they couldn't replace the grass roots enthusiasm and volunteer hours that made Spring Fest a labor of love. When things end, the seeds left behind carry on. Marty's gardens, her kindness, her presence in my life and those she touched around her, and there are so many will continue to grow in ways seen and unseen. Thank you, my dear friend. Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com.

Mary Stone  04:48

 I have to smile. When the family wrote the tribute for Marty, they included that she was a Master Gardener, and she always said that no one is a master gardener. Only Mother Nature is and I wholeheartedly agree. The Master Gardener Program, though, is a wonderful educational experience for those that participate, but none of us are masters of anything really. Hence why we have garden dilemmas. Many garden dilemmas. It's mother nature's way of keeping us on our toes and admiring her perfection. One of the great benefits of Spring Fest was the opportunity for Master Gardener volunteers to help. So that was a good thing. It truly was a labor of love. I was on the Spring Fest committee producing the program each year with my friend Vicki Johnson, whom we talked about in episode 202. Pansies bring Vicki Johnson's garden start. I adore that story that she wrote and shared with all of us. I'll put a link in the show notes. 

Mary Stone  05:47

And the show featured many garden legends. Ken Druce among them, there's a blog post from June 2017 titled Two Best Gardeners of the Garden State, about when the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society hosted a tour of two private gardens in northwestern New Jersey, Ken's and Marty's. I'll put a link in the show notes to the column, because the photos are extraordinary, as are the gardens so beautiful. 

Mary Stone  06:16

Marty and I also gave several lectures. One in particular always makes me chuckle. Our Spring Fest lecture was titled deer resistant plants, and that was in March of 2015, hard to imagine. 10 years have gone by, but the garden dilemmas certainly haven't ended. In fact, I think they are growing as deer are learning to eat more things. Here's a bit of the presentation that you'll enjoy. 

Mary Stone  06:41

We started off with a rant about the antics we use to keep deer at bay, like decking our gardens with Irish Spring soap, dryer sheets, human hair and cotton balls drenched in predator pee. Then there's the homemade recipes with rotten eggs, chili peppers and other distasteful things, or the store-bought sprays, some that smell like cloves, such as deer out which I like to use, and others that smell like a dead animal or a bad septic on a hot day. If the fowl smells don't keep you from enjoying your garden, the hanging arsenal of deterrence can surely impede your pleasure.

Mary Stone  07:17

Instead, let's enjoy beautiful deer resistant gardens. An herb garden is a great place to start. My colleague Marty Carson of three seasons garden designs shared that deer generally are most uninterested in tasting many types of herbs, including thyme, sage, rosemary, fennel, lavender, oregano and chives, and they all are beautiful plants. In addition, herbs are healthful, delicious and easy to grow. She went on to say, you might enjoy adding annuals to your herb garden. One of our favorites is calendula, commonly known as pot marigold. Calendula is essentially an herb with many healing qualities, but it possesses a lovely, brightly colored Daisy like flower as well. Marty demonstrated with stunning photos from her garden that borage and dill make marvelous Garden Partners. Borage has fuzzy foliage with a mild cucumber flavor. Its lovely blue flowers will be a wonderfully charming addition to your herb garden, especially when partnered with dill. We shared many other lesser-known deer resistant plants and how to place and combine them and referred to the Rutgers deer resistant lists as a go to source in our neck of the woods. 

Mary Stone  08:33

I couldn't resist adding some desperate measures from readers. The best was Liz from Sparta, who used ShopRite bags to cover her plants overnight. This was back when plastic bags were allowed. She couldn't photograph it, though, because her husband insisted, she'd have to wait until dark before she put them on her plants. So funny, I reenacted her technique on a poor blue Holly ravaged by deer. Those bright yellow bags puffed with air, drew such laughter right up there with Irish Spring soap decorating shrubs like Christmas ornaments. Better to laugh than cry. 

Mary Stone  09:10

Of course, besides deer browse, there's buck rub. Jolee, you're not the only one who leaves female around here. The tree I planted in memory of my previous canine kid, Ellie, recently endured a buck rub. Seeing the carnage of the branches, a quarter of them really on one side of the plant were on the ground. No kidding. It brought tears to my eyes. They literally rub and they chew on some of the branches as a way to mark their territory. Then they urinate around it. So that's how they mark their territory. I'll include the how to protect trees in the show notes with the link to the column I wrote about it. There's mesh guards and drainpipes and chicken wire, all of which prevent damage during rut season. Prevention really is the best solution. So guess what? Now I have netting wrapped around Ellie's tree so that that deer does not come back, hopefully. 

Mary Stone  10:07

So, I have to tell you about my own garden updates. I have construction going on here, new boulder walls made from stones on the property. One of my installers is creating a magnificent work of art, replacing the old rotting telephone poles the previous owner used. He was the town building inspector, quite creative, but not very pretty, using things like fire hoses as horse fencing. Never mind the smell of creosote. The telephone poles are doused with the smell escalates when they bake in the sun, I have to say. And sometimes I'm on the screen porch and I literally couldn't tolerate it in the heat of the day. As I dug up plants to prepare for the demolition of the telephone poles I cherished how many were divisions from Marty's garden. I paused thinking how plants represent the love we leave behind, how they continue to grow and keep spreading long after we're gone. 

Mary Stone  11:03

When you're listening to this, it may be around Thanksgiving, but truly, every day is a gift for which we give thanks. We can choose happiness or at least take moments to focus on the good. During times of struggle, there are many blessings and after every storm, the sun does shine. The beauty of the sunshine is that it doesn't expect anything from us in return. I've shared this poem by Rumi before the great Sufi mystic from the 1200s. And still, after all this time, the sun has never said to the earth, you owe me. Look what happens with a love like that. It lights up the sky. Isn't that so true? 

Mary Stone  11:51

I want to thank you for brightening my day. Each week, I'm so grateful to be part of your garden of life. Truly, truly. Have a beautiful day in gratitude for the life that we are privileged to live, and for the loved ones that still love us, that are always with us. See you next time on the screen porch.

Mary Stone  12:14

You can follow garden dilemmas on Facebook or online at Garden dilemmas.com and on Instagram at hashtag. Mary Elaine, stone garden dilemmas, delights and discoveries is produced by Alex Bartling, thanks for coming by. I look forward to chatting again from my screen porch and always remember to embrace the unexpected in this garden of life. Have a great day.