I worked at the Chicagoland Gardening booth at the Chicago Flower & Garden Show most of last week. I was selling subscriptions to those who stopped by. People are so happy when they discover there is a gardening magazine for our region. But in the process of signing up new subscribers, many of them ask me questions about gardening. And conversely, I ask them if there are topics they would like to see addressed more often in our magazine.

Many told me the biggest nuisance they face are rabbits and deer eating their plants. Next on their list was shade (which people "confess" to having, as though it were a something embarrassing like warts or intestinal upset). Many told me they didn't understand why this perennial died or why that tree didn't live. So what do you tell people to do about these common curses of gardening? Rabbits, deer, voles, moles, chipmunks, squirrels—we all have one or the other. We all do battle each spring when our little plants are so succulent and green and edible. We all scuffle with shade to some extent, even if it is just on one side of the house or building. And we all are in the same boat when plants mysteriously keel over and expire. Why do they die? Who knows. There are no answers, only questions we have yet to learn to ask.

—Michelle Byrne Walsh;  Photo: Andrea Georgiou