We get real excited about plants and will tout the benefits of this or that one to our friends, but we also need to recognize that they are part of a larger group. We in the Lowcountry have many natural gardens to visit and enjoy, from the swamps and forests to the savannahs and sand dunes. Each "garden" has its rare, occasional, special and common forbs (great old English word for plant).

The figs this year have been more plentiful and much fatter and juicier than usual. Last year was a good year, too, but we've had so many it's hard to use them all before they start getting moldy. It's the old-fashioned Brown Turkey, a cutting shared from a long-ago neighbor's yard, now some fifteen feet high and twenty feet wide. A handsome tree, even if it didn't have fruit.

Taking pleasure in your garden in the midst of August's heat and bugs can be . . . well, to put it bluntly, difficult. Recently I was reading a blog by Tom Harris, Ph.D., a Texas gardener, that included a lengthy list of "dos and don'ts" for making late summer gardening more enjoyable. Parts of Texas are even hotter than SC, so many of his suggestions would apply well to our Lowcountry climate.