In high school and college, I worked on golf courses, for a tree care business, a lawn chemical business and for the Plant Industry Division of the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. That's the division that oversees nurseries and monitors and works to eradicate or contain noxious pests such as witchweed, fire ants and gypsy moths.

After college, I worked briefly for an Atlanta-area landscaping firm and golf course then for a newspaper in Georgia covering, among other beats, agriculture and writing a weekly lawn-and-garden column.

I moved to Greenville in 1994 and began the landscaping business the following year.

I have associate's degrees in ornamentals and landscape technology from the N.C. State University Agriculture Institute in Raleigh. I also have a bachelor's degree in English from N.C. State and a master's in English from East Carolina University in Greenville.

In addition to being a licensed landscape contractor, I'm also a licensed pesticide applicator. Boyd Landscaping is fully bonded and insured.