Eddie Smith
Being the name and face of a franchise is just another day in the life of Eddie Smith.
Since April 2023, Smith has been the host of Southern Gardening, a weekly show, print column and social media presence produced by the 大象APP Extension Service. He is just the third person to ever hold this position in the 30 years Southern Gardening has existed.
鈥淭he thing I like best about my role in Southern Gardening is getting to go around the state and meet different people and see how they are incorporating plants in their landscape,鈥 Smith said. 鈥淚 like to write about the new plants they鈥檙e using and show in photos and video what they are doing in their landscapes.鈥
Smith鈥檚 role also makes him a public speaker in demand, and he frequently speaks around the state to different groups such as garden clubs, Master Gardener groups and others interested in learning about plants and trees.
He said coming up with new material every week for the video shows and written columns is not difficult.
鈥淭here are millions of plants out there and new varieties always being released to write about and show how we can use them in our landscape,鈥 Smith said. 鈥淏ut one of the things that is a challenge for me is finding people who are comfortable with me coming to look at their landscape.
鈥淢any people don鈥檛 think their landscape is acceptable enough to take a picture of or write about, but truly it is,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hey get really intimidated when I tell them I want to come and do a TV segment on it.鈥
While Smith gets to spend a lot of time in the gardens of other people, he also relishes time in his own landscape.
鈥淲henever I鈥檓 not traveling, every day when I get home from work, I walk out in my yard and do a little work,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 my therapy. My stress relief is growing plants and working in the yard.鈥
Constantly seeing new plants and admiring beautiful landscapes means Smith finds a lot of plants he wishes he could bring home.
鈥淚 try to practice what I preach, and that is you should never purchase a plant if you don鈥檛 know where you鈥檒l put it,鈥 he said. 鈥淲hen I do see something I like, I sit there and think, where will I put this in the landscape? If I can鈥檛 figure out a place, I will not buy it.
Before becoming the host of Southern Gardening, Smith was the Pearl River County Extension coordinator. Before that, his career included teaching high school agricultural science, managing three commercial greenhouses, and training city employees in Bay Saint Louis, Picayune and Pearl River County to maintain city and county landscapes.
Additionally, Smith is an internationally certified arborist, Produce Safety Alliance certified trainer and one of the developers of the Mississippi Smart Landscapes program that encourages the use of native plants in the landscape.
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