Welcome to our Garden

Everyone is multidimensional, and my hobby passion is my garden. Its my escape from life, and I share it here to hopefully inspire you to try to plant some flowers and brighten your soul!

Garden Passion

The Big Move

We moved from our farm of 25 years in late 2018 with a trailer full of daylilies dug from our old garden and a big dream.

The city had slowly crept up on us, until one day we woke up to find a large developer had purchased the property behind our old farm, and we were about to be dealing with a very large neighborhood.

We immediately began looking for a new place we could land and grow. God always has a plan and when we crested the hill to see our new farm for the first time, our hearts skipped a beat. We knew immediately we were home.

The 30 acre property had been for sale for 10 months and was extremely overgrown, Johnson grass and weeds taller than our heads everywhere. Despite the overgrown condition, and black water in the pool, we saw amazing potential for our horses, dogs and flowers. We couldn’t wait to spread out and breathe again.

We spent days digging up as many of my favorite plants as possible to bring with us. My day lily collection was a top priority. Every pot and bucket we had was filled with as many plants as it could hold and loaded into our large 6 horse trailer to make the move. My excitement to develop the blank slate of a backyard was palpable.

The old owners were not gardeners, really they didn’t seem to be outdoors people, and the only remaining flowers left from their predecessors were a few large camellias and a slew of overgrown knockout roses.

I was excited to get out and make some new beds. At the old farm I had made manure piles from cleaning stalls, waited a season for them to rot and cool, then planted with great success. The old farm was full of lush plants and flowers, and I was confident I could do it again.

What I didn’t take into consideration was the brick hard red clay soil. I had no experience planting in red clay, how hard could it be?

Almost immediately I found myself beating my head against a brick wall. Even Tommy’s father’s big tiller just bounced across the ground. With the garage area and sidewalks filled with buckets and pots brimming with plants needing a new home, I became very concerned, had I made a huge mistake thinking this new place could be the dream I had hoped? So far the outdoor garden area was just a nightmare.

Time was ticking for my plants I had ripped out of their happy home. I needed to figure out a plan fast before they withered and died in their cans.

Step One - Find Temporary Homes for as many plants as possible

When I realized the garden beds were going to be more difficult to create than expected, I decided I needed to find as many temporary homes for my plants as possible. This way they could hopefully survive until we could get new flower beds built.

Next to our garage were a couple empty spots that proved to be a good home for many of my daylilies, hostas and elephant ears while they waited for a new permanent home.

We didn’t ever expect that to last over a year, but we were incredibly grateful that most of them survived.

The Beginning

Cresting the hill seeing our new farm for the first time. We just knew it was the perfect place.

We were thrilled to see big fields for our horses.

We loved the large yard around the house for the dogs and their puppies to run.

We loved the porch that wrapped around three sides of the house.

The farm layout when we arrived. We couldn’t wait to add fencing for horses and yards for the dogs.

The pool looking out toward the barn from the ad.

Our Old Farm

Our old farm was a pure labor of love. Nearly all the beds were filled with plants that had come from friends and family. We had cared for propagated them into quite a lush colorful landscape.

These were the visions from which I pulled my new dream when we moved. Little did I know how challenging the reality would be to create.

Old Farm Garden Highlights

Where We Began - Sept 2018 - Winter 2018/2019

It was truly a blank slate….

When we arrived with a trailer full of daylilies and plants we had brought with us to our new farm, I expected creating new beds and homes for everything would be easy. Boy was I wrong.

The red clay was rock hard, and even Tommy’s father and his tiller couldn’t crack it. Only a few plants were here, and they had been left to survive the brutal soil with no assistance at all.

I expected to create flower beds out of manure piles, like we had at our old farm. Tommy and I started pushing it up from the barn each day. I was determined to get some beds cooking, so that we could plant them in the Spring 2019.

But when we had a landscaper come to look at what we had, we learned the devastating news about our precious manure pile beds, they were now poison to nearly all garden plants.

Hay farmers now had access to a new weed spay called Graze On for their fields. The chemical that killed broadleaf plants doesnt break down with time or when animals consume the grass or hay. It comes out through the manure full force. Only monocot plants (grasses, corn, daylilies) can live through it. We had no idea it existed.

We had already dumped quite a bit of manure in our backyard, and just hoped this wasn’t true. Unfortunately we found out it was real as plant after plant failed to grow. We knew we needed some serious hel

2019 - From Small Beginnings

Frustration sets in and we get some help.…

By Spring 2019 we knew we were in trouble and needed some help getting our flower beds into the backyard. The weeds in the grass were taking over every attempt to plant anything, and my precious babies were struggling in their temporary homes.

I drew a sketch of what I hoped to achieve in the backyard and went hunting for a landscape company that could help us set the vision in motion. We were blessed to find Paradise Gardens, who came in and put my dreams into a buildable plan.

We loved their ideas so much, we asked them if they could install the beds and a few key large plants. They agreed, but were so busy that they couldn’t get here until mid August.

After there initial removal of the old, and installation of the beds, edging, new grass and key plants, the garden looked really barren. I started the process of planting my daylilies and other plants, but I saw we had a long way to go before it looked like a real garden.

2020 - A Garden Is Born

A Garden Comes Alive -2024 Update

Plants Have Really Grown!

Experts say “the first year plants sleep, the second year they creep, and the third year they leap.”
This is a very true statement! I would say everything has leaped! It’s crazy to look back at the pictures of where we started, bc I can’t believe we have come so far!

Added Pergola

Plants Have Really Grown!

As awesome as it was to sit down by the pool, there was no real shade structure. We had tried umbrellas, and I even looked on Pinterest and created some posts in pots to hold up a shade cloth, but it just wasnt woraking. We broke down in 2023 and had a pergola built on the pool deck. It was a total game changer! With seating for 6, it has become the most popular spot to sit outside. It has a back planter I filled with hosts, ferns and coleus. There are two permanent planters around the posts that are filled with beautiful blooming wisteria. The opportunity to hang my beloved Scott Reid windows and create a screen with potted plants was irresistible, and I embraced it fully! The area at the bottom of the steps next to the pergola has become my favorite spot to putter and play with my containers! It is a winning addition!

Added New Beds

Plants Have Really Grown!

Dayliles Gone Wild

Anyone that knows me knows my mind is always expanding, and gardening on 30 acres gives me loads of great opportunities to do just that! So far we have added new beds at the entrance to the farm which includes the cart I won 2 World Championships in driving my sweet boy Skip. That bed features daylilies from my childhood best friend Susan Yeaman Deal, Iris from our childhood trainer Rosemary Thomas and a red rose that used to be in front of the house that my Dad loved so much. The stones that make up the walls to the bed even came from our good friend Becky Olsen.

We also added a bed in the corner of our parking lot area with daylilies, butterfly bushes, a red maple for fall interest and more! An extension down the fence was added to display 5 pink rose bushes given to me (after I dug them up from around her deck) from our dear friend Robin Brumfield.

We completely redid the bed next to the house with the raised beds. We added the Love Shack, a kennel full of fantasy suites for dogs looking to connect to have some privacy. We moved the umbrella and table, and put in a huge water trough given to me by one of my closest friends Laura Pettler. I filled that trough with a Carolina Sweetheart Redbud tree and 4 Encore Azaleas. It’s been amazing, with the exception that the tree had needed staking. In front of the kennel by the front door, we added to old black water troughs filled with blooming patio peach trees and various flowers. We placed a heart shaped bench I built in front flanked by two pots with gifted roses in them The original raised beds my late friend Tony Hubbuck helped me build survived one more summer filled with Dalia’s and zinnias. It has made a wonderful area!

Lastly in the Fall of 2024 I decided I wanted to add a bed to the corner of our front yard using plants we already had.
Fredy arrived early one August Saturday to help me install it. I had all the plants laid out perfect

y ready for planting. Unfortunately the ground was so brick hard, even Fredy’s auger couldn’t make a dent in it. New dirt had to be ordered, and the day grew long. At the end we had a neat new bed that, despite putting in 17 shrubs, 16 daylilies and 8 Iris, still looked rather barren. A Spring 2025 update was in its future once we saw what survived the dogs and winter.

Up at the barn I started the first of the plantings by adding another leaking water trough filled with a crepe Myrtle and loads of annuals. It was a great hit and I look forward to expending up there in 2025.

Im thrilled with all the updates we have been able to get done! With every new bed and plant , the garden is refined and feels more and more like our dream space! There will always be more to come, but for now I’m thrilled with what we have gotten done!

Dayliles Gone Wild

An obsession with any flower has humble beginnings, and my love of daylilies started from digging some simple ditch lilies up and bringing them home years ago. They were so cheerful and reliable in the heat and humidity of the Carolina summers. Even though common orange single blooms made me smile.

When I spotted B&B Daylilies on my way to a show I knew I had to stop. Their beds overflowed with the most beautiful bursts of color I’d ever seen, I had to bring some home! But fancy daylilies command fancy prices, so I stuck to their bargain pots by the road.

Collecting them slowly, I embraced all the intricacies of each bloom. Hybrydizers seek not only fancy colors, but also fancy edges, double blooms and higher bud counts. Soon I was making deals to buy all the extra pots at the ends of the year, and my collection grew.

As time passed I would treat myself to ahandful or two of their fancy cultivars each year as money was available And we became friends. Their son in law started helping me with my landscaping and their daughter AJ helped me make the best choices.

When we decided to move in 2018, I panicked at the thought of leaving my precious plants , so Clint came to my rescue and we dug daylilies for days to take as many as possible with us to our new farm. We literally filled a 6 horse trailer with pots and buckets twice before we left the last time. I felt good about taking so many with me.

Optimism was short lived when we started trying to dig new beds. The ground was so hard even Tommy’s Dad’s large tiller just bounced across it. I freaked out bc we had my precious daylily collection in pots and buckets, a few were even living in the upside down top of an old doghouse, on our sidewalk. Every sidewalk was covered and I feared my babies and my dream were all dead.

Thank goodness they are such bulletproof plants bc they lived in those various and sundry containers nearly 2 years before we got a proper bed made for them. To my delight they took off and grew, blooming well as if to celebrate their rescue..

Since then Bob and Becky have retired and AJ and Clint have taken over and moved their best stock. I’ve selected some new ones I couldn’t sister, and they area huge part of our bed expansion. The daylilies need a place to live.

Imagine my concern when in the winter of 2024 AJ let’s me now she is taking a break and moving. Family commitments have dictated she sell her stock and step back for a while. Her parents still have some beds, but they have eliminated at least half their inventory . The new introductions developed since their retirement were about to be auctioned and lost forever. I reached out to AJ and and expressed my concern. I wanted to get the ones I loved that I didn’t have, but I also offered to keep any she wanted access to in the future.

AJ was very grateful and I soon picked up about 100 new plants. I see another new bed on the horizon!

Focus on Birds

Addition to our Team Fredy Briceno

Fredy Briceno was recommended by my friends at S&K Greenhouses in Shelby. He has been sent straight from God to help us! Fredy is an amazing family man and landscaper. He has transformed our landscape with his children working right beside him. Most recently Fredy has gone into business completely for himself, not only doing landscaping, but also building projects and home remodeling. He converted an open stall into a beautiful enclosed tack room for us already, and we are excited for our next project coming soon!

If you are looking for a trustworthy, hardworking, quality person to help you at your home, Fredy and his children are the best! Text or email me for his contact info.