Reaping the Rewards of His Work

In his heart, Brent is a gardener; he just masquerades as an attorney during the week because the pay is a smidgen better. But on the weekends, you will find him in our yard from sun up to sun down improving our home's curb appeal. And it has been an amazingly beautiful transformation. Our neighbors are just a tad bit green. And I can brag because the yard is totally his domain...I have a brown thumb, but I do make a pretty good supervisor, make many wonderful suggestions, and provide lots of stimulating conversation. (cough, cough) Yeah, let's just pretend that y'all didn't see Brent rolling his eyes like there's no tomorrow.

We have 2 camellias at the front of our house that were loaded, loaded, loaded with blooms this year.


On the side of our house, we had a bush/shrub that didn't survive the drought. Brent gave it the summer to try to redeem itself, but it didn't, so he dug it up this fall. And replaced it with another camellia....a different variety from the 2 up front (one of my suggestions!). It looks so much better by the garage door than the (dead) bush ever did and is so nice to see when I pull up to the house.


Three years ago, Brent and I spent a weekend at Reynold's Plantation on Lake Oconee. I had never seen a Star Magnolia Tree before but they were everywhere and so delicate looking. I love that the thin naked branches hold these large white and blush pink blooms. So we planted one when we got home. And the first two seasons, there were no blooms. I was beginning to wonder if we planted the right tree. But then I remembered the advice from our neighbor 3 doors down who is a very talented gardener herself. When we first moved in and Brent was getting alot of our perennials established, she said a plant has 3 stages: the first season, it 'sleeps'; the second year, it 'creeps'; and the third year it 'leaps'. And sure enough, this year the tulip tree (as I affectionately call it) leaped! It was full of blooms, some of which were lost to a late freeze, but those that appeared later were lovely and definitely worth the 3 year wait.


Brent's parents went to the Netherlands 2 years ago and had tulips actually from Holland sent to us! How cool is that! Tulips are one of my favorite flowers and these do not disappoint =). Don't you just love the 'curliness' (I am sure that is a word!) of the leaves?!?!


And I don't know what kind of tree this is...didn't we establish that I am not the gardener in this family!...but isn't it beautiful!


And that concludes the Spring Tour of Brent's Gardens. Stay tuned for the Summer Tour. It, too, is quite a show. Brent takes his gardening very seriously!