Terry Gordon Smith, Horticulturist
"One afternoon in 2004, my friend and real estate broker called me and advised me to drop whatever I was doing and hurry to look at a property that had just become available around the corner from my 12th Street garage apartment. A few short weeks later I bought it and moved into the first home of my own, a freestanding historic 1912 cottage --and began a gardening odyssey that would soon take on a life of its own. The southern exposure, shaded only by a single aged crepe myrtle, allowed me to achieve my objective--which was to remove the traditional landscape and simple plant as many flowering plants as possible from my long list, without any regard for a structured garden design. It didn't take me very long to realize there was no |
need at all for a lawn, thereby leaving more room to plant blooms.
I was amazed and excited when I turned the first shovel of soil to reveal the most beautiful sandy loam I’d ever seen in the Houston area--which is normally plagued with poorly-drained clay soils. Eventually ripping up the entire existing landscape and replacing it with flora was a singularly selfish act, and I sincerely had no idea it would draw any attention or give amusement to anyone but myself. A few months later several newspapers and magazines left their calling cards in my mailbox; people I didn’t know would wander among the blooms; and several left notes on my door. Mothers pushing baby strollers would tell me their kids were learning their colors in my garden, and the toddler next door loved coming over to hunt down a variety of creepy crawling insects or to borrow sticks, which he always politely returned. |
One beautiful Easter Sunday, I looked out to see a Catholic nun with a dozen or so followers in my front garden. Since then I have received countless more notes on my door and cards in the mail thanking me for planting the garden. One lady even told me she was not a gardener but that she often sits in her car across from my house to eat a sandwich on her lunch break.
To this day, I’m still amazed by the response from gardeners as well as people who never even thought about gardening themselves. If it is possible for a single selfish act to have unexpected consequences, this sure is a good example. Living in the most wonderful neighborhood in the city is its own reward, but if I can bring a unexpected smile to a passerby, it makes living here even more satisfying." (From Heights Pages Spring 2011, p. 78, See also Publications). |