It was 25 years ago, and I was getting into it. No longer did I exclaim, “What do you mean you can grow lettuce here in January?” I was growing it and a host of other edibles with a large emphasis on herbs. There were hits and misses.

It was then that Jim Wilson, “Garden Geezer” as he called himself, came into my life. Wilson was a TV celebrity, co-host of the popular PBS program “The Victory Garden,” and was visiting Hilton Head Island to speak to gardeners and farmers on growing vegetables and herbs all year long. He arrived at our home the afternoon before the talk, and husband Larry and myself enjoyed his humorous Southern stories until early the next morning. When I wasn’t laughing I was learning about composting and tricks peculiar to growing in the long warm season in the South.

“Most herbs prefer full sun,” Wilson said, “except in zones 7 through 10 where afternoon shade helps to reduce the stress on plants. Herb literature is full of advice to grow herbs ‘lean’ in rather poor soil. Don’t hesitate to feed your herbs lightly two or three times during our long growing season.”

Wilson gardened on a farm in upstate South Carolina; he and his late wife, Jane, operated a commercial herb farm for seven years, furnishing fresh herbs to restaurants. Since 1985 he has been the recipient of many awards, including from the American Horticulture Society and the Master Gardener Society.

In 2002 Wilson moved to Columbia, Mo., where he continued to write and lecture. His popular books that deal with gardening in the South include, “Landscaping with Wildflowers,” “Landscaping with Container Plants,” “Landscaping with Herbs,” “South Carolina Gardeners Guide” and “Bulletproof Flowers for the South” that has been a hot sell this summer.

Book reviewer Vera Lynn calls “Bulletproof Flowers”: “A book of survivors, flowers that can stand up to the brutal temperatures and humidity of the sweltering South.”

Over the years, I’ve met up with Wilson at various national garden events. I last visited with him in Beaufort in April 1996 when he went there to talk to the Lowcountry Master Gardeners Association. I’ve the date as Jim autographed my copy of “Landscaping with Herbs.”

Last week we received word from Wilson’s dear friend, Jane Mendel, that he had passed away at their home in Columbia. The last message we have from Wilson was, surprise, about herbs.

“I still grow and use herbs,” he wrote. “I dry a lot of them for winter dishes. I put them in paper bags and set them in the space behind my seat in my truck. Bottled up in dark hot cab, they dry quickly and completely. I roll fresh sweet basil twigs in a terry-cloth towel and keep them there for a day to absorb most of the moisture before putting them in a paper bag in the truck. The foliage takes on a nice gray-green color and doesn’t turn black. The flavor of the dried product is excellent. I understand that the trunk of a car works just as well as my rig, but we don’t have a sedan. I’ve been learning how to use summer savory in green beans and in edamame. I began growing edamame last year and love it. It should do well in Hilton Head.”

I recently learned that Wilson has been honored by having a sweet bay magnolia named after him, M. Virginiana “Moonglow Jim Wilson.” What a great tribute to a swell, great guy.