Flower Gardeners

This story appears in today's Appalachian News-Express...

Andersons take pleasure in gardening NANCY M. GOSS EVERYDAY LIVING EDITOR Jimmies Creek — Becky and Charlie Anderson have a beautiful yard with five or six different garden spots. “He started out planting,” Becky says, “and then it got out of control and he got me into it. We started out with a little island and slowly we got more plants and expanded out.” From the front of the house to the upper end, you’ll see creeping Jenny, jessamine, double orange poppy, red, pink and fushia cheddar pinks, dianthus, cheddar pink, viburnum  “snowball”, lady’s mantle, purple iris, allium, hostas, day lilies, and dwarf coreopsis.  Pointing to a small plot of turned soil with several green plants, Charlie said, “This is my baby. This is a bog garden ... something new I’ve started. There are two carnivorous plants here — the Venus fly trap and the pitcher plant.” At the upper end of the yard is a contoured plot of garden space the Andersons have named the Plant Cemetery.  “If we had a plant we didn’t want or didn’t have room for, we’d set it up here,” Charlie explained. “We don’t throw plants away.” Growing beautifully in the cemetery are a cypress tree, snowball bush, lady’s mantle, azaleas, hostas, day lilies and others. Beyond this plot, nestled along the hillside, is a wooden porch swing where Becky and Charlie enjoy the peace and quiet of a spring evening or rest when they’ve been working hard in the yard. The Andersons married in 1974 and have two children, Rebecca Gray and Chuck Anderson, and three grandchildren. Charlie was born and raised on Jimmies Creek and the house where he and Becky live stands on the spot where the old homeplace once sat. He went to first grade at Harless Creek Elementary, then attended Elkhorn City Elementary, Elkhorn City High School, and graduated from Eastern Kentucky University. He is retired from Arison Insurance of Pikeville. Becky grew up in Strawberry Plains, Tenn., and graduated from Rush Strong High School. She joined the U.S. Army after high school, serving from 1966 to 1969, and is an active member of Johns Creek DAV Chapter #166. She worked several years at Wal-Mart and Family Drug. Continuing the garden tour ... the couple’s Wild Flower Garden is located behind the house, edging up the mountainside. Here, there are wild azaleas, trillium, dainty lilies of the valley, wild geraniums, a lentin rose that begins blooming in February, a Japanese painted fern, Euphorbia, and maiden hair fern. Becky says she doesn’t even try to weed this part of the yard for fear she’ll pull up the flowers. “Sometimes you gotta’ know what’s a weed and what’s not,” Charlie added. The Andersons have been gardening for over 20 years and are very knowledgeable about the varieties of plants and flowers in their yard. And though not as often as in the past, they are still adding new plants.  “Every now and then we’ll see something we don’t have and we’ll buy it,” Becky said. They also give cuttings away. For the first time, they attended the Masters Gardeners Plant Swap earlier in May at the Pike County Extension Office, where they gave away some wild geraniums, cone flowers, tall grasses and cacti. (They also brought home a few plants.) A stand-alone wooden deck behind the Andersons’ house is built into the hill, outlined by a picturesque stone wall that Becky built from stones gathered from the property. A brick patio is also attributed to Becky’s vision and hard work.  Alongside the deck grow six 15-foot-high holly bushes that were planted 20 years ago. A frog pond is also a part of the landscape. “It’s full of frogs!” Becky said. The Lower Garden is the oldest on the property. Ajuga, with its purple spikes, covers much of the ground, along with white and pink bleeding hearts, lilies of the valley, day lilies, butterfly bushes, azaleas, Shasta daisies, astilbe and lamium. Towering trees reach toward the sky — a roof of sorts — giving rise to a feeling of reverence and awe, somewhat akin to entering a cathedral. Becky says it would be a nice spot for a wedding. The Andersons say they don’t have to work in the yard everyday ... but they do. And you can tell it. Just take a look around.

 

Many of you will remember Charlie and Becky. Charlie is an old friend of mine.

No, that's not right...he WAS an old friend of mine. After Jennie sees this I will probably have to spend the next five years on my hands and knees digging holes in our yard. I may never speak to Charlie again.