Arlene Marturano a master gardener, writer, and educator. As an advocate of gardening as a tool for learning, she helped develop the Carolina Children's Garden at the Sandhill Research and Education Center. She is an education consultant with T.E.A.C.H. marturanoa@yahoo.com

Jay Morris's garden is his home and an expression of his love for life and living things. Morris wants to be surrounded by plants and animals in a beautiful, natural, and low- maintenance setting.

His dedication to preserving his property for birds and other wildlife was accomplished with several strategies. First, he added native shrubbery, trees, and vines to provide shelter and nesting areas. Azaleas, rhododendron, euonymus, lorepetalum, tea olive, dogwood, pittosporum, and Lady Banks roses border each side of his lot.

He placed fruit and seed- bearing specimens across the property.

Morris also added nectar plants such as abelia, cypress vine, bottlebrush shrub, and weigela for humming birds.

Squirrel- proofed bluebird nesting boxes are spaced throughout the property and ears of corn dangle on rope for the squirrels.

The garden writing spider has a safe haven in Morris's garden. Water is available to plants and animals via an irrigation system, a small goldfish pond with a fountain, and the soon- to- be completed koi pond with a waterfall.

Morris is constructing the pond, which will hold enough water to support a dozen garden koi. Koi can live for 120 years and are often passed along in wills. A koi sitter is taking care of their koi until the pond is ready.

Alongside the pond, Morris will build a pergola with swing.

Morris is building the waterfall with granite culled from the construction site of the new USC baseball stadium, which he hauled home in his pick- up.

Hybrid tea, floribunda, and grandiflora roses aren't thought of as low- maintenance plants, but Morris believes matching the plant with the optimum environmental conditions needed, even roses will do well.

Morris mixes his own rose food recipe and feeds them in early November to encourage blooming until late December. When he prunes them, he will cut canes to nine inches to get less roses and bigger flowers next year.

Morris stands among his Knock- out roses, which are beautiful but not trouble free. In the eight years Morris has been a gardener, he has something blooming every season. Spring bursts forth with cherry blossoms, wisteria, Lady Banks, azaleas, rhododendron, dogwood, and the purple flowers of the chocolate vine.

In fall, the abelia, Confederate rose, pyracantha berries, and Encore azaleas steal the show. Daphne, sasanqua camellia, and loquat are featured in winter.

Over the years, Morris has hauled bags of soil, compost, and mushroom compost to build the soil. He shreds leaves and grass clippings to amend and mulch. He sends a soil sample to Clemson for testing every year.

Morris feeds specially formulated fertilizer to acid- loving plants and 10- 10- 10 to everything else. He has an extensive garden library and travels to gardens and botanical gardens all over the country.

Garden art brings interest to Morris's beds.