Nancy Caroline Smith Swell got serious about gardening in 1979, when, as she once told a Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist, "I got the dog out of the back yard and the kids married off."

She started by digging up her backyard in Henrico County and planted what grew to be 700 azaleas on less than an acre, many started from cuttings given her by a friend from Azalea Society meetings and others grown from seeds.

Mrs. Swell, whose yard grew into a destination for busloads of gardeners, died Monday in a Henrico hospital at age 80 after a period of failing health and dementia.

A celebration of her life will be held Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m. at her home and garden, 505 Baldwin Road.

Mrs. Swell, who often used the pronouns "he" and "she" when speaking of her plants, exuberantly added to her grow-list. She was credited with discovering the Pocono Pink azalea, which she registered.

She also became an expert on ferns and was credited with developing the Ghost Fern. "She collected spores from all over the world. She used to have spores growing all over the dining room table forever," said a daughter, Laura Wright of Montpelier.

With permission, Mrs. Swell cleared out poison ivy on part of an adjoining neighbor's property and grew hundreds of Lenten roses, cyclamen, ferns and other treasures.

She and her husband eventually ran a business called Swell Azaleas for 23 years.

She came by her passion for plants naturally; both parents were gardeners. She remembered her father paying $25 for a red "Indian Chief" iris in the middle of the Depression. She had her own pansy patch in her native Salem, W.Va., to keep her out of her parents' flowers.

Mrs. Swell earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from West Virginia Wesleyan College in 1949 and a master's degree in bacteriology from George Washington University in 1950.

After working at the Martinsburg (W.Va.) Veterans Hospital, she brought her love of the mountains and native plants with her in 1964 to Richmond, where she worked in a Medical College of Virginia laboratory and later taught nursing students at Virginia Commonwealth University.

A voracious reader who could consume a book in a day, "she loved to learn to do everything, whether it was knitting or painting or pottery. She always was taking classes. She had a very inquisitive mind. She was a very strong woman," Wright said.

Mrs. Swell had worked with the Friends of Bryan Park, helping to identify by name the old varieties growing in the park's 60-70 azalea beds. She also had been involved with garden clubs, botanical gardens and plant societies here and in England.

"Her belief was that plants are to be shared," Wright said. "Everyone who came here has a piece of her in their yard."

Survivors, besides her daughter, include her husband of 57 years, Dr. Leon Swell; two more daughters, Janet Swell of Travelers Rest, S.C., and Barbara Swell of Asheville, N.C.; and eight grandchildren.