A funny thing happened while I was writing A Cultivated Corpse. For months, I immersed myself in the world of garden clubs, landscaping projects, flowers, and dedicated gardeners. My protagonist, Hope Early, happily joins the Jefferson Garden Club and embraces her new hobby with far more enthusiasm than I’ve ever had for gardening.

Or so I thought.

This spring, my husband and I decided our garden beds were in desperate need of some TLC. What started as a simple cleanup quickly turned into a full-scale garden refresh involving a tremendous amount of weeding, landscaping fabric, and enough mulch to make me wonder if we’d accidentally started our own landscaping business.

Over the weekend, we added fourteen new plants to the beds, and as I stood back admiring all our hard work, I couldn’t help but wonder if writing a garden-themed mystery had somehow influenced my newfound interest in gardening. Below is a snapshot of part of the garden bed that runs along our driveway. All of the plants along the fence are newly planted and the bird statue was also added. Over the summer and into the fall, there will be more additions to the garden bed.

I’m still a beginner and I don’t think I’ll ever rival Hope’s enthusiasm for creating new garden beds, but I have to admit it’s been rewarding watching the transformation unfold. Thankfully, unlike Hope, the only things we’ve uncovered in our garden have been weeds, roots, and a few forgotten landscape stones.

With A Cultivated Corpse arriving on June 16, it feels especially fitting that this spring has included a little gardening adventure of my own.

Since I’m new at this gardening thing, if you have tips, please share them in the comments section!