Here at Fine Gardening, the staff wear many hats. Our editors are photographers, script writers, test garden managers, and audiovisual engineers. Associate editor Carol Collins has one additional title as well: illustrator. Unbeknownst to many of our readers, Carol is responsible for several of FG’s more memorable illustrations in recent years. She is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Fine Arts in Pittsburgh and while enrolled there spent an unforgettable semester at France’s national school of fine arts, Beaux-Arts de Paris. Through a ten-year career as an affordable housing developer, and since joining the staff of Fine Gardening in 2013, she has continued to pursue painting, drawing, printmaking, and ceramics in her free time. Her love of drawing has come in handy at the magazine, where she has illustrated a range of topics from ladybug larvae to blueberry pruning. Here are a few of our favorites from Carol’s work over the years, including a recent montage of gorgeous hosta leaves (scroll to the end to download a high-res version of this illustration for free).

Carol’s illustration of animals and insects feasting on a compost pile, from the article Critters in Your Compost?

More insects from Carol, this time pollinators and other beneficial bugs, from the article The Best Biological Controls.

In this illustration, Carol demonstrates the process of succession planting for the article Market Growers Tell All.

This illustration of an epimedium was used to explain the anatomy of these flowers in Epimediums: What Your Shade Garden Is Missing.

For an article called Veggie Q&A from issue #177, Carol illustrated good blueberry shrub pruning.

We can only hope our gardens look as beautiful as the illustrated ones Carol creates. This plan, featured in More Flowers = More Food, is of a vegetable garden supported by lots of native flowers.

Finally, Carol’s most recent work of art, a wide variety of hosta leaves from 10 Amazing Hostas.

Click here for a free download of the hosta montage. 

Fine Gardening Recommended Products

Corona E-Grip Trowel

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Handle Material: Aluminum. Handle Length: 14-1/2 in. Overall Length: 14.5 in. Head Material: Aluminum. Handle Color: Red.

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Plant Covers Freeze Protection 10 ft x 30 ft Floating Row Cover 0.9oz/yd²

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Lightweight and Breathable MATERIAL Good for protecting Plant: the plant frost cover material is 0.74 oz/sq non-woven polypropylene fabric, which is lightweight, breathable, and durable. The plant blanket frost protection allows sunlight reach the plants, perfect for protecting plants from the damage of freeze or frost. Wide Application In your Garden Work. The plant row cover not only can work as a barrier against frost, but also can be a great tool for germination and good for rapid seedling growth. By using the fabric plant covers over your plant, you can start the plant earlier in the spring and extending the growing season of your plants. How to Use the Plant Covers: you can cover the plant covers for freeze over your the plants loosely directly and then secure the plant frost blanket with soil, stones or staples. You can also support the floating row covers with a hoop, make enough room for plants to breath and grow. You could also cut the plant covers into different sizes for different purposes.

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Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes

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Featuring gorgeous photography and advice for landscapers, Planting in a Post-Wild World by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West is dedicated to the idea of a new nature—a hybrid of both the wild and the cultivated—that can nourish in our cities and suburbs.

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