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♪
Well, hello. Welcome to Making
It Grow. We're so glad
that you can join us. We are
going to do something
that really is fun.
We're going to visit
people's gardens. So that
you get to enjoy all the
hard work they've done and
just take in the beauty
from the comfort of your
own living room.
The first place we're
going to go is to the
top of Paris Mountain
outside Greenville. Davis
Sanders took us up there and
introduced us to this
lovely couple the Bradshaws.
You know some husbands
and wives can't
garden together because
sometimes one person has
a strong idea or the other
person doesn't agree.
This couple seems to have a
wonderful relationship
and the transformations
they take into this tip top
garden are absolutely
phenomenal.
We are at the top of
Paris Mountain near
Greenville, South Carolina
in a garden that
appropriately is called
Stoney Waters. And this is
the garden of Dee
and Bill Bradshaw.
Bill this is a wonderful garden
and
y'all knew
a little bit about gardening
in this kind
of zone or environment because
of being from Arkansas.
But you didn't know
what was going to
happen when you tried
to put a shovel
in the ground.
Right. This soil is
very much like Crush and
Run except it's red.
So what we did was build
terrace walls and then dig
out the more native soil
and sift it to get the
gravel, the larger pieces
of gravel. And then we
brought in about
120 cubic yards of
good soil to mix in with
the native soil. But you
had a beautiful bedroom.
You have a post-and-beam
house and you wanted a
view from your bedroom.
And I think that started it.
Yeah, actually I decided
to build the house so that
every room has a window
that looks out on what
would eventually become a
garden. And so over the
seven years that we built
the gardens around the
house, we would add to the
garden for each of the
windows. And the first one
was the triangle the first
one was the triangle
garden, which is what we
could see from the master
bedroom. And let's talk a
little bit about that one.
Well the most prominent
feature that it has is
a hibiscus that is
red and about the size of my
hand
and we have some images
with about 40 flowers on
that hardy hibiscus but
you also everywhere we look
have lots of
hydrangeas, the white woody
hydrangeas. Some being the
native oak leaves and
some being the
paniculatas yes. And
they are a feature that we
see repeated throughout
the garden and we see a
lot of them there too and
everywhere we look we see
plants for pollinators
the echinacea and
Rudbeckia is just evident
when they talk about
repetition how wonderful
that you're using
something and so
valuable to the
native- We have a lot of
native pollinators.
And they're so many
different kinds too. And
then we go from the
triangle. You finally
decided that you would
since we were on top of a
mountain that maybe you should
use some curves to what I
think is a crescent garden
Yeah, virtually all the
rest of the garden are curves.
We tend to like
curves more than straight
lines. When you sent me the
original pictures of the
garden I thought it was
acres and acres and
actually. It's about an
acre. Yeah but
you feel like you've gone
around the world
and so I go to the Crescent
Garden and that's kind
of out there more open and a
very sunny spot.
It's a good bit. Just a nice
variety of things.
And you said that's kind of
typical of y'all.
That's not a master
plan behind it.
No we just did each section.
We'd finish a
section like in the Fall.
And then we do another
one in the Spring and then
during the summer we just
coast through and
try and keep everything alive.
No wonder. Because you don't
have you irrigation.
No. We do not
we water everything by
hand or with over
sprinklers.
As we move on around we get
to a little
Charleston garden which is very
sweet and has a little fountain.
Then we come to what I
think is not as showy
but I think very
beautiful and that's that
hillside shade garden. Right.
And that's the
termination point of one
of our streams.
And it's a shade garden that's
built into a rocky hillside.
Everywhere I look is rocky.
And I know you
brought a lot of
amendments up here,
but the one amendment
you did not
have to bring was rocks.
Most of the rocks
in fact all of the
rocks that are
in the upper garden
are what
we call the mountain garden
where we're sitting now
have come out of these
beds. They've been dug to
about 18 inches in depth
and you find a tremendous
number of red native
rocks when you start
digging in these hills. And
then as we move on around,
I don't know why
Dee thought that she was
going to sit and enjoy
breakfast and a second cup
of coffee at all. But she
did. And so she planned I
think that was the
first water feature
perhaps. Yes.
So tell us about
that water feature.
Well, in Little Rock
when we lived
there for seven years, we
did have a small very
small pond right outside
of our breakfast area.
When we decided to move
here, she said
she wanted to duplicate that.
So we did it on a grander scale
But it is one that you
can look down from the
breakfast area into the
pond and then we have two
waterfalls that go into
the pond.
And moving uphill from that
we have kind of a grand pool.
That's the 3000
gallon pond. And
it is primarily useful to us in
terms of
water lilies. And we
have pictures with 18, 20
water lilies blooming
at one time in that pond.
So you really haven't
limited yourself to one
particular type of plant
material.
You have a lot of flowering
perennials that come back
you have
a lot of shade
loving perennials you
have woody plant material
and then one of the things
that I think is a cohesive
force and really makes it all
fit together on this
mountainside is your use of
conifers. We enjoy the full
year view that they provide us.
Yes. They also make
a nice transition
because your property
very fortunately abuts
a park. Right! Paris Mountain
State Park is one of our
neighbors, the neighbor to
the east. So the Sun rises
over Paris Mountain State
Park into our bedroom.
Then when you thought
you could
rest on your laurels
a piece of property
up mountainside came available.
Right! Where we're sitting right
now is a piece of property
that we bought the lower
half of. It's roughly 200
feet by 70 feet from our
driveway and we've spent
the last six years
developing gardens in this
space. And I think
one of the most beautiful
aspects of this garden is
the sunset garden, which
is right behind us.
And this is the time to see
it with the day lilies
blooming although we do
try and have it also
continue through the
summer with coleus. But the
day lilies are the
showiest part of
the sunset garden. And we got
that idea out of a book
I read that Monet had both
a sunrise and a sunset
garden where the plant
material gave the colors
of the two times of day,
so we decided to focus on
the sunset. Bill, there are very
few times when you were
sitting and getting to
enjoy the fruits of these
labors. I think you told
me that y'all spend in a
thousand hours. Well
between the two of us,
we're spending about 700
hours each in gardening
activities. Now that
includes going to buy
plants as well as
planting and watering and
going to dump with the
plant material that's
being trimmed and thrown
away. But this is a garden
that looks like it would
be a garden at an estate
where there were full-time
gardeners and yet I think
it's remarkable that you
and your wife have
put your passion for
nature and
your love for the
outdoors and in
creating this and in sharing it
with people.
I know that you have
fundraisers here
and it helps
support a garden in
downtown Greenville. And
and we want to appreciate
your opening the garden
to Making It Grow today.
Well, we're happy to
have you visit.
Thank you.
When I first heard
about this garden I thought it
was several acres, because
it's so many complex
different features. There
are some that reflect
Asian influence. They're very
interested in that. And
then there are others
that have a French
influence which has
particularly been
accomplished through using color
I think they call that
the Monet garden.
And then water is such an
important aspect. They
have lots of different
filtration systems. It was
quite an education for us
to go there. They have
waterfalls. They designed the
garden so that as you
move throughout the
property, not only do you
have all these different
themes, but also as you sit
at the breakfast table,
look out from the
windows upstairs, you see
different parts of the
garden that been enhanced
and really have different
thematic situations that
they've managed to
accomplish. Bob Smith
lives not too far away
the Paris Mountain. He's in
downtown Greenville, right
outside of Greenville. And
he is interested in Koi.
Of course Koi have been
the rage for a while.
They're such beautiful
fish and many people
simply just have a
Koi pond. Not Bob Smith.
He's turned his entire
backyard into an area
that reflects the Asian
influence of this fish
and uses water in many
different aspects.
Of course, he has the pond
that has the fish in it,
but then he has water
tumbling over. He takes
advantage of the natural
elevation of his property
to have waterfalls and
then twisting areas.
He brings in plants that
reflect the Asian
influence of the Koi. It
really was a wonderful
journey and we want to
thank Danny Howard, a
friend of ours who
introduced us to Mr. Smith.
♪
We are in Greenville, South
Carolina
in the Japanese themed garden of
Bob Smith. Bob, when you
came here, this was I
think one of those yards
that gets yard of the month
for overall neatness and
tidiness because it was
nothing but turf grass and
trees. No, it was a
blank canvas is what
it was. And is that what
you wanted? That's what I
wanted,
So I could create my own garden
which is what I have done.
Greenville and the upstate
are notorious for infertile, not
infertile but hard to
deal with clay soil.
Did you feel like you needed
to transform the soil?
I brought in about 20 truck
loads of soil,
topsoil and river sand and I
mixed it together
and formed berms around the
entire yard, which
I use for plantings for the
larger trees,
which gives
us total privacy.
One of the ways you also
created the privacy here
is through your use of sound,
natural sound, the way
you allow nature to
provide music for you.
Let's talk about
how that operates. Sure.
The number one thing for
me is the waterfalls
I have surrounding me.
And then, two, we have a lot
of large chimes
throughout the yard to
take advantage of the wind and
I have made a 2000-year-old
concept called Mohican wind
harp,
when the wind goes prevailing
wind goes through
strands of nylon it
creates a very low harmonious
sound going through the yard.
Kind of a [humming sound]
Exactly. Sets you in a
meditative mood after
you've been working all
day and need to cool off.
And sleep. So I always go down
and my wife calls a hermit
shed but I call
it my teahouse.
So I go down there.
Imagine if you were down
there and she needs you to
take care of a very
important honeydew
she can take that little
mallet and strike that bell?
Now that my hearing gets
very poor when I get down there.
[laughter] let's talk
about the beautiful bell.
Thank you. The bell was
originated
back in 140 years ago 30
miles south of Beijing, China.
It was at the front
of a monastery.
A lot of times these
older artifacts are
taken to the market to be
sold and I had
a friend of mine in town that
had a business
who would go to China twice
a year and shop for
those types of things.
Everything I had my yard
is at least
100 years old. It's usually
hand-carved, granite
or stone or like this
bronze bell which
I have and we had it
now for about a year.
We came up here today because
we did not know about the
beauty of the landscape.
We came to talk about the
Koi ponds and you said it
wasn't so much the fish
but the water associated
with it that brought
it all together.
Let's talk about this
beautiful Koi pond.
Sure. If you study the Japanese
garden you know
it has to have a Koi
pond in it right?
I started with a waterfall
concept and I had to decide
how big I wanted the Koi pond to
be which is measured
in gallons of water.
The one behind us
is 3500 gallons.
Right now, it has too
many Koi because
of the reproductive habits.
So, I will be giving some of
those away to
the Clemson University
for Dr. Beecher.
He's coming next
week. I'll give
him a lot of Koi from
my lower pond
which is twice the
size of this one
and also hopefully
he'll take some
of my gold fish which
are getting big also.
So, they are small but
they grow very quickly.
They do.
We are about 20 pounds and
28 inches on
some of the Koi down
here in three years.
They started like that.
There's a technique that
you need to use
when you're
establishing a Koi pond.
Quickly explain to the
viewers how you go about that.
What you do, basically,
decide what shape you want the
Koi pond to be and
how large it needs to be.
Then you want to plan the
specific like waterfall
steps coming into the pond.
This only has two.
That one has five because
it's about a 60 foot
long waterfall stream.
So, what that does is create
a variation in the pond.
You want that and you
need aeration, if you have
a lot of fish. So, that's
important.
I have five aeration devices
in the lower pond and
three in this one for that
purpose.
And I really I enjoyed seeing
the different
types of stones within the pond.
The stones are round.
And then on top
they seem to be more angular.
Is there a reason for that?
The reason is you have
Koi when they are spawning.
the female Koi are
bigger than the male Koi.
They move around slower.
What they do is
they'll move around
the edge of the
pond and you will see
them get chased by
two or three male Koi
around the edge of
the pond and they'll
hit the female on
the side like this
You can hear
them, slapping.
And causes the egg
to be released
and the males fertilize it
and it comes out
in a very sticky ribbon and
attaches itself to the
walls of the pond.
These walls are made from
river rock,
which is rounded going
down by water.
That prevents the
female from getting hurt
against angular rocks.
So she's pushed against the
wall and she won't be injured.
But then above that you
have a different type.
Tennessee field stone
and it's flatter and
sharper
and easier to stack.
As we look up here
on the upper pond,
there is what looks
like a precariously balanced
structure of stone.
You said that has
an interesting story.
The karen was
originated in China.
Went to Japan and then came
to Ireland and Scotland.
This was 2000 years ago.
Why did they-
You said there were
-- trail markers
and signs of good luck.
So I have a karen here and one
down here in my sand area.
Again, I want to create as
much luck as possible.
You have a good bit of
bamboo here
and you said
you do keep after it.
You have to.
Even though, these are
theoretically noninvasive
bamboos. I have
black and yellow.
They are invasive
so you have to keep
your eye on them
because in a few days you see
strands growing from here
to 15 feet away.
They will grow up to 30
feet high within six weeks.
You have to be
careful with them.
The black bamboo is
very beautiful and use
that from a commercial
source in the creation
of your lovely teahouse.
I did.
I purchased it from a
group in California.
I picked black bamboo because
I like that color and
we stained it a similar color.
It's stranded together with
steel wire
so it comes in rolls.
It's easy.
You just have to cut it
which is not easy to do.
which is so hard but you
cut it to size you need
and put it up as a wall.
And then as we look around,
you have so much privacy
although you are in the
middle of the subdivision.
You've used many
Asian seeming plants.
Particularly the conifers
and the Japanese Maples.
Let's talk about
the conifers first.
Some of them have
such a variety of color.
These are all different shades
of green and pretty hardy.
That's why I like them.
And then of course,
since we do
have an Asian theme,
the Japanese
Maples are so beautiful.
Yes. I enjoy them.
That's my favorite tree.
The one that is beside you
stays burgundy all summer.
It is an old one. It's probably
12 - 15 years old.
I purchased it when it was not
too much smaller than this.
I have probably 25
different Japanese Maples
throughout the yard. They grow
pretty aggressively here.
Then, I just can't imagine
how many rocks you have
picked up and moved but
there's also a spring bed
because you have
a fairly steep slope here
and that area down there
could have been just a morass.
It was much like a bog
when I first got here.
Like you see that section,
the full riverbed,
So I put in, I dug
a slight hole, a ditch
that's about 115 feet long
into a drain but then
goes under my burn
and goes on out to the
national regular topography.
And so, then you put in weed
block, rubber liner and stone.
The water flows
down that slowly.
It filters out.
It'll also feed your
yard, but it won't sit there,
it keeps moving.
This has been like a
trip to Asia for me.
I love history and to
understand the reasons
behind architecture
and why certain things
are done in different ways
and how to interpret it.
It's connection with the
past is just fascinating.
I wonder if we could almost
consider this,
It's certainly for me
it's been an education
and maybe
we can signal the end of
class by going
down and striking
that 150 year old bell.
That would be fine. Okay.
Bob Smith, thank you for
sharing this beautiful creation.
Thank you very much.
♪
(bell gongs)
One of the things we most
enjoyed about going to
Bob Smith's garden was that
as you went into the
backyard, you felt like
you've gotten off a plane
in a different country.
It really was that dramatic a
setting that he had
created very effectively
to give you the Asian
feel. Everything in it
was perfectly designed. He
even has made a
collection of Asian
objects that add to that
feeling and sense of being in a
whole nother country. But
it all took place right
outside of Greenville. And then
into my home community of
Calhoun County, There is a
garden that is perhaps
one of my very all time
favorites. I don't get to
travel very much. But
thanks to Erline Wiles,
who does travel, I get to
enjoy all the knowledge
that she's gained on her
European trips and has
brought home to a large
garden in Fort Motte.
Erline's husband, Kelly
Wiles was a famous farmer,
very accomplished and he
encouraged her in her
garden work and helped
her. Erline still is out
there at the crack of
dawn. She's a good farmer's
wife, working in her garden.
This is not a garden where
Erline says please do
this. Please do that. This
is a garden where Erline
herself does so much of
the work and it is her
creation. And she still
tends it very beautifully
to this day.
♪
We are visiting with my friend
Erline Wiles in
Fort Motte, South Carolina.
Fort Motte is a wonderful
farming community.
To which you are bought
as a young bride in 1949.
That's correct.
You grew up in a family
down in Barnwell
and y'all farmed. That's
correct.
You helped your mother some.
I did. I did. I guess.
I guess we are just born with
the instinct
of loving flowers and
working with flowers.
I think I have had
all my life.
When you came here
there was a neighbor
who encouraged you.
Who was that, Erline?
That was Ms Ethel Keith.
She was a hardworker
and such a nice lady.
She had beautiful flowers
and she helped me
so much getting started with my
yard.
She had access to a
place that we could buy
the azaleas very cheap.
She got me about 100.
They were not very big but
they grew to be very big.
That was quite
a gift I guess.
It was. That's right.
And from there I just
got it started doing
little beds and putting
things here and there.
I love the stories of how you
branched out into roses.
Would you like
me to tell you? I would.
One day the salesman
came by to talk
to my husband and
he was trying to sell him
some grain bins and Pauley
told him
I am not interested grain bins.
I really have enough right now.
He says, if I can't sell you
some, grain bins, how about you
let me
show you some rose bushes.
Of course, Pauley
being a farmer,
he was not in to flowers.
He said I am not interested
but go by the house
and my wife might
like to have some.
He came by the house
and talked to me.
Told me to come to Columbia
and he has at the co-op,
so I went to Columbia
and he helped me
pick out some.
And I planted a little
bed. And I fell in love
with them, no doubt about it.
And eventually that led to a
very formal part.
One of the first things
you have formalized.
Mr Prickett from town
came to help
you lay out the rose bed
which had a brick border.
And now it's
a feature as you drive in.
That's right. That's right.
Tell me how that evolved
into more
of the mixed aspect that the
rose garden has now, Erline.
Well, at one time I just
had roses and nothing else.
I had a trip to
England and I saw
how they had mixed the
perennials and things
with the roses and
how pretty it looked.
I got back home and I
started putting
perennials and I love
the perennial flocks.
I put a lot of those and
all kind of different
perennials and things in it.
People love it.
Although you don't like
invasive plants, there a couple
of things that you
make an exception for.
I think, the Larkspur and Queen
Anne's lace.
That's right.
That comes up from
seed every year.
I just leave a lot of it.
What I do is if I don't want
a lot of it, I take the
the bushes out
after they have seeded.
I just scatter a few of the
seed about and so I won't
have a tremendous amount of it
coming up in the bed
because I do love it.
It is so pretty in
flower arrangements. It is.
Although we might think
those sheep are out there
in lieu of lawnmowers, I
believe those sheep represent
some things you enjoy bringing
back from the trips to
England and Scotland,
is that correct?
That's correct.
When I went to England we saw
so many sheep.
And we are not used
to seeing pastures
of sheep everywhere like
you do in England.
It kind of impressed me.
When I got back I had a
catalog that I saw them
in and I ordered a pair.
And then I went to Ireland a
couple of years ago
and I saw so many
sheep and they had so many of
them that had the blackheads
and the blackfeet.
So, I had to get a set
of those too.
[laughter]
You brought a little of Great
Britain home with you.
That's right! Erline, you have
beautiful hydrangeas.
What an incredible
array of colors.
I think you rooted
a good many of them.
I do.
Hydrangeas are
very easy to root.
They grow pretty fast.
They have new ones now
that will bloom all summer.
A lot of them could take
more sun than the older variety.
One thing I love is the
way you have them tucked
under the pine trees.
It's hot in South
Carolina and you are not
somebody that thinks
it's got to be
a blazing meadow.
I think hydrangea is the back
of the house under the pines.
And you've unified
them with things
like high stone ferns. I have.
I even have azaleas with
camellias that bloom early.
Then the hydrangeas come in.
And, usually all along
And then, across the way,
after Hugo, when there was
all that destruction you
kind of opened up a new area.
Goodness.
I would've been so glad
to relax at that point.
There is a big beautiful new
garden over there and you have a
lot of large shade
trees there, Erline.
I do. They grow really fast.
You got some that are unusual.
You got a wing nut.
Yeah! And I love that tree.
It's beautiful.
You want to know
where it came from?
It came from the
zoo in Columbia.
They used to have a plant sale
in the spring
and in the fall.
One year I was there
and they had this
tree for sale
and I bought it.
Everyone loves that tree.
It is so pretty.
And a willow tree that seems to
have almost a twisted leaf.
A weeping willow.
It's weeping willow.
But a different one.
It's nice for flower
arrangements too.
Also, you have a
lot of structure
that comes from some viburnum.
You believe in structure.
Why be been attracted
to the viburnum's?
Because of the blooms
and the foliage.
It is very attractive.
It's very easy to grow.
The cold does not hurt them.
It is a nice plant to have.
It has been so much fun
to look at the plants today.
and see the insects on them
and the flower
just seems to be a magnet.
I walked out there this morning
kind of early
and I've never seen so many
butterflies on
those cone flowers
and things out there.
They were just fantastic.
you said you don't take the
heads off -
you leave them for
the birds? For the birds.
They love the seeds.
If you want some to plant
yourself,
you have to get them
and scatter them or whatever.
The birds will eat
every one of them.
Of course we are here in
the glory of the garden.
You just had your 90th
and a half birthday.
I'm afraid so. A great party to
celebrate the garden.
You have made sure things
all throughout the year
by trees and other shrubs.
How about crepe myrtle and
Japanese maples and things?
Oh yes! I love those too.
There's not many flowers
I don't love.
And they have unusual colors
in the Fall and Spring.
The Fall and Spring, that's
right.
And you have conifers and
different things for the plant
materials and the
leaves this color.
I like the contrast in the
flowers and the
conifers and different
leaves on the plants.
I think they complement each
other.
Your husband, Pauley
Wiles was a premier farmer
in South Carolina.
Although he did not come out
and pull weeds with you,
you credit Pauley with
supporting
you in your gardening.
I certainly do.
He was not good
with a hoe and a rake
but any time any of
my equipment was,
he provided me with good
equipment to work with.
Sprayers and hoses and rakes
and he
made a wonderful box
like trash pickup for me.
We can just go
to the pile of trash
and put that
trash in there
and it picks up to take it off.
He was good at inventing
those kinds of things.
Anytime a sprayer or lawnmower
or anything broke down,
he would fix it for me.
He was a big part
of this garden.
Erline, for this
birthday party,
you realized something you
wanted to do for
many years as if you
didn't have enough gardens,
there's a new garden.
Let's end our conversation
by discussing the new garden.
I have had this
in my mind for years.
I had just not got
to implement it.
So when we were going to have
this party,
I decided I would do
something in special
in remembrance of it.
I had in my mind
what I wanted to do and
I happen to be at a very
nice nursery in Columbia
and I saw the two pots that I
had envisioned for years.
(laughs)
They were on sale.
So, it may be that much
more anxious
to get
them and start my bed.
I had a wonderful man that
helped me do the work.
I designed it.
I think it turned out
really pretty and
I've had a lot of
compliments on it.
And we enjoyed doing it.
Erline, when I come back
for the next
birthday party I want to
see that native honeysuckle
all the way.
I hope you will.
I hope you will.
Erline, one thing about
this garden is
that you haven't been
in a hurry and it shows many
years of devotion and care.
Thank you for
sharing it with us.
It's been my pleasure.
It really has.
You have a very nice show.
I enjoy it and I'm sure
a lot of other people do.
Thank you for
your kind words.
All right.
♪
For a garden that started
with a traveling salesman
and a few roses, there has
certainly been a
transformation in the
acreage that Erline has
created and still tends
to this day. And one of
the things that I think I
enjoyed most about that
garden is that she
unifies it through the
use of large trees. It is
a large space. And so she
uses the natural trees
that were there, plus
trees that she's added,
kind of as a cohesive
force. Her backyard is
very intimate as you saw
and then as you move on
out from the house, there's an
expansive garden.
Erline keeps up with all the new
plants. She doesn't just
rely on the old standards.
There's always something
new that's happening out in
Fort Motte with Erline Wiles.
Bill Lyddan is in downtown
Charleston from lots of acreage
to a postage stamp garden, but
one that is equally well
thought out and planned.
His house there which is
of course is an
antebellum home and
reflects that classical
architecture is very
symmetrical. And he has
taken that as the
influence for his small
but complex, and well
thought out, mostly white
and green garden. And
even when he was able to
make some major changes
including a fountain and the
stairs, he looked to
antique and classical
influences as his design.
♪
I'm in Charleston South
Carolina visiting with Bill
Lyddan and his beautiful house
in Downtown Charleston.
Bill it's a treat to be with
you. Thank you.
Thank you very much. It's
wonderful having you here.
You've had an interesting
career and lived a lot
of places. So give us a little
background about your life
before you came here. Yeah,
I've lived all over the place
So, a long time in New York,
and Los Angeles,
Chicago, Minneapolis in the
advertising business.
I came here in 1977.
Absolutely loved it. No real
jobs in advertising here.
But we came back in 2010
and we love it.
It's a wonderful
wonderful place.
I think that you really are a
general contractor at heart.
Tell our viewers how many
homes you have redone. We have
done in Los Angeles,
Connecticut, here eighteen
houses.
And in Charleston itself? Four.
This is number four.
We've been here just about ten
years.
Do you know where your
toothbrush is at night now?
I hope I do. I know it's we
love the old. We love old
houses, old things, antiques
and this is, We got a lot of
them. Well you have a what I
think is a manageable garden.
But when you came here there
was no way to get up to the
main floor of the house.
So let's talk about the stairs
and why they are so different
looking from what would have
been the stairs here. Exactly!
When we bought the house we were
told that
this house probably had a set of
stairs to the main floor.
Because when we bought the
house you enter through a small
entrance with two small
bedrooms. We realized there
probably were stairs. Now there
was a huge earthquake here in
eighteen eighty six.
The entire front of
the building was lost. And
this is all new piazza.
You can tell that because it's
a Victorian style. So we were
able to go to the board of
Architectural Review and they
were very nice about it.
And they said yes you could
you can put in a new stairs,
which we did. And that kind of
dictated the entire garden.
Because everything came off
the stairs. And I was telling
you earlier Chicora wood
which is a beautiful plantation
up near Myrtle Beach was kind of
our inspiration for the style of
it. And it all worked
out very well. Interesting that
you said although you think
everything would have to be just
correct and relate to the
period. That's not the current
style. So let's talk about why
these stairs are not exactly
copies of what would have been
there. Exactly the current
thinking and preservation and
this is throughout the country
is that you don't want to
recreate something that was
there if it wasn't. If it wasn't
there originally it has to be
look like frankly, it's new and
added on. So and this is the
case. Now the style of it comes
from a Chicora wood which is
very traditional. But it's in
cement as opposed to wood.
They don't want to kind of
fool the eye and add a
reproduction elements on
to the old houses.
So that's how we
approached it. It's still we
think very pretty and it's
still graceful. But it is
technically new in style. It's
also not attached to the house.
Technically it's not attached to
the house although it looks
like it is. But it's a
traditional house
with a traditional style
staircase.
But actually it almost serves
as a statue or a piece of art.
Exactly. And that's the
way the B.A.R felt about this.
You know this is going to be a
major major element in your
garden which it is.
So it kind of dictated all
the geometry of the garden
itself and
we created what's
basically
we call a French style partir
garden with gravel walkways.
But it all comes off the stairs
so you can you know gracefully
go up to the main floor of the
house and still enjoy the garden
at the same time.
Reveal conceal is a little bit I
believe the way the fountain is
located. Yes. You know the
Japanese theory of gardening is
that you don't want to see
everything in one view. You want
to be surprised and be able to
discover various parts of
the garden as you walk around
it. And that's the case. We
wanted to have a fountain. We
wanted the noise of a fountain.
The sound of it is so wonderful
but we didn't necessarily want
to have a major thing in the
middle of everything. So we
wound up putting it next to
the staircase and you can even
hear it but not necessarily see
it. And it really blends
beautifully with the somewhat
contemporary aspect of the
stairs. It's a very particular
thing. It is. You know
we found it on the Internet.
And it's made in Pennsylvania.
It's absolutely perfect. We had
a spot for it. Did a lot of
research. And I said that's it
you know. We bought it.
Had it brought in.
It's extremely heavy.
Put in place and looked
like it's always been here.
And you are actually
interested in
timepieces I understand. You
actually have a watch on.
Yes. That's a digital watch.
And you have a timepiece in the
garden? Well we have...Yes we
do. It's called an analemmary,
which is a fancy name for a
sundial. And again we found that
on the Internet and it. You'll
see them in the pictures.
That it is a nice
complement to the stairs.
It gives you a little bit of
elevation. And it seems very
authentic very kind of
Charlestonian in nature.
And you said also the wall at
the very end was not what you
wanted to be the closure
of your view. I think.
Does the analemmary serve
as a place
for your eye to rest?
Exactly! You know everything is
a matter of perspective in
gardening.
And you want,
normally you want symmetry.
You want the
eye to be calm. And you want
your view to go somewhere. And
ultimately we thought the view
could stop at the analemmary
and I think it does.
And interesting plant material.
You were fortunate
in that you have some marvelous
shade trees. Absolutely! We have
some beautiful Live Oaks
just classic Low Country. Messy!
(laughter) But Yeah!
They lose leaves constantly
but we have seven
very very nice olive trees. And
also you'll see four beautiful
beautiful pretty rare tree
formed Azaleas,
which you know add a whole
different dimension to a garden
quite a different look for an
Azalea.
And you were able actually
through
the help of a very accomplished
horticulturist/gardener to save
some of the original plant
material although
this design is completely
different and your design
because you like to garden and
do things yourself. Yeah we love
design. We love art. And so on.
Robert O'Dell is
our landscaper did a marvelous
job of saving the box woods.
Cause when we bought this house
there were thirty-three
beautiful box woods in
the ground and normally when you
transplant you always...
We had these four beautiful tree
formed Azaleas also in
the ground. He was able to save
them all and put them back in
the earth a year later. It's it
was good job on his part.
And although
color can be a lot of fun in
this garden in order. I think
partially perhaps because
of it's size and also your
inspiration this is mostly one
color as far as farm. That's
right we like green and
white. You know and I was saying
earlier. it's like a black dress
with white pearl. Its classic.
It always looks good and we
think it's the same thing
with a garden. It's calming
with many different shades of
green of course and many
different shades of white. But
the uniformity we think is
pleasing to the eye.
At least for us. I would think
that these box woods
and all that were so well
established
don't require as much irrigation
and you do not have a lawn. I
don't see a lawn at all.
We have no lawn. We didn't want
a lawn. We wanted it to be very
classic French with a
limestone walkways.
Simple and we hope
elegant. We have drip irrigation
which is great, It's a great way
to save water. And you'll
notice this huge big Podocarpus
hedge. That was created
with twenty two massive
Podocarpus from Florida.
Big big job to put those in.
They were all drip irrigated.
So it, you know, it conserves
water and they seem to be doing
fine. Well it was interesting
because when we first tried to
start filming there was a lot of
mowing, blowing noise coming.
Yes. And this
garden actually contributes to
the quiet, We hope so. ...of
the neighborhood. We hope so.
I think you know
it's nice to have a quiet
environment to read a book, just
to enjoy the other beautiful
nature here. Before we
close I want to ask you this
flag looks like it doesn't have
a lot of stars on it. Is there a
story behind that? There is
This house was built in 1835.
In 1835, the American flag was
24 stars. And that's what this.
A 24 star flag. And you can,
thanks to the Internet you
can find that out and you can go
buy it. Well Bill Lyddan, I am
happy that although you
have an appreciation
for history you also have
brought this wonderful house
into the more modern times in
such a graceful and beautiful
way. And my garden too. Big
credit to my wife Hildy.
It's fun we love it. We love
these old houses and you know
we're stewards of them and we
hope we can add something to
the beauty of Charleston.
Charleston is very fortunate
that you've made this
your home.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
We're happy to be here.
Our next stop is in
downtown Beaufort where
Linda Peters for many
many years had a
Montessori kindergarten
and she created a garden
that not only spoke to
children, but also was a
naturalized spot in the
heart of the city.
♪
I'm in Beaufort,
South Carolina in a downtown
tropical paradise.
I'm speaking with Linda
Peters. And we are in her
five acre garden, which
she and nature have made.
Linda, thank you for
letting us come. You grew
up with farmer's daughter, I
believe. I did and I
loved every second of it.
but it wasn't a place
where you go tropical no
it was a dairy farm we
had a hundred acre dairy
farm and we milk the cows
and corn and wheat
and that sort of thing.
You came to Beaufort and you
were educated as a
Montessori teacher. And so
I think this garden and
property serve two
purposes. It was your home,
your school and your
creation.
Home schooling what I
love to do. What age children
did you have? Three to
six year olds. And how many
did you have? 20 every year.
Well and we start right
here where we are, with
something that's very
child size. And lots of
people use them. And I
think it's like a little
fairy land. It's our
little fairy garden. Yes
the wagon my husband
found. It's an antique
wagon. When he brought it
home, he said
do something with it
Oh that'll make
a great little fairy garden.
So he fixed it and put soil in
and then the moss and stuff
and add the little
fairies and of course
the little miniature
turtles and lizards
and things and then we
made a beautiful fairy garden.
And for mothers and grandmothers
and fathers and grandfathers,
how does that help
children develop their
minds in a nontraditional
teaching and looking in a
book way? Well we have a
lot of vocabulary in
there, a lot of
colors and
different creatures and
moss. And we get
mushrooms in there. And
they love to walk around
because there are different
things on every side.
For them it's like the
perfect vantage point for
them because they can
just look in it's right
there at their eye level. It
was wonderful for them.
I'm sure it was. As we move
back into the woods
what's one of the first
fun little areas that we
encounter?
Well we have, the
first maybe fun
area is the
prehistoric lane, where
I have a lot of
dinosaurs hidden and
tropical like plants and
I have a dinosaur and
that I made out of
concrete. And we have a
pterodactyl that flies in
the sky and
the mother dinosaur,
she's a topiary,
with a big red bow and
the children love.
That might be their
favorite area
just because they love
dinosaurs. And of
course there again a
teaching spot because which
dinosaurs are meat eaters?
And what about their
body allows them to do
that? How can you tell
this is a prey animal? Yes.
All the names they love
the names of the dinosaurs.
Yeah, which is wonderful from
so many ways to learn to
pronounce things. That just
trains your tongue and helps
your memory as well.
So survived getting through
the dinosaurs.
(laughs)
And we now go on to
another section of the
garden. We pass through
the orchids and then we
went to the fish pond,
a Koi pond.
Which is pretty large and I have
some really large Koi in
there. And you said that
it's fun because we all
have different
topics to study. And so
we walked back there and
here are these enormous fish.
And you feed them
probably more than you
feed yourself and your
husband. My husband
would say they
definitely get fed more
than he does.
(laughs)
And yes we do and
we so study fish
We go out and actually
one day it was sometime
in summer school and I said okay
children take off your
shoes and they said, 'Oh Oh!'
So they did and I
let them all sit on the edge
with their feet in the
water. One little girl
looked at me and said
This is the best day of
my life. Wonderful.
Yeah. It was beautiful. As we
move on and out,
what's the next area that
the children are gonna
be fascinated by? I've been
fascinated by every place
you took me today. After the
pond we went by the
peacocks and the chickens.
The children always love
to see the animals. They love
the animals. And you've got
chicken sitting by you
right now with you. Yes I do.
And also in that, with
the peacocks and chickens
you have somebody came
hear unexpectedly.
A Lillie Egypt goose. Lucy the
Loose.
And she just flew in. She looked
real happy this morning.
She's very happy. She has the
new flight feathers.
Well and surrounding
us now
you've got those
wonderful groves of
clumping bamboo and I can
hear a lot of happy birds
in those. Yes the
redwing blackbirds
especially right now. They
love that bamboo. And they
stay pretty good
for a long time actually.
You like to make things
in your spare time...
(laughs)
but, you're good at it.
You use these allocacia
colacacia leaves and cast them.
I do.
I have a table out of there
we passed by and I put
the sand on and the leaf
on upside down and then I
mix up the concrete and I found
the concrete on and then
leave it there for a few
days and tip it and
then it makes a beautiful
bird bath or whatever you
want. In the bog garden, I
guess do bullfrogs and
all use that for habitat?
Absolutely, we have
so many frogs and
bullfrogs and toads and
everything loves that
garden. But you even got roses.
I do. I have a rose garden.
Well, right now it's a
salvia garden because
a salvia always thinks over.
But I did grow amazing
roses. And of course,
salvia like many of the
plants you have, is
attracted to the pollinators
and insects. That's why
it's there. The
bees and hummingbirds,
they love it.
and butterflies. So that's
why they're there. As a
dairy farmer's daughter,
you have to have some
cows, but I think you've
got em little smaller. We
do, we have a
little miniature garden
with a miniature houses
and miniature animals and
miniature cows, miniature
pigs and little
paths and a little pond that
I made out of
concrete. So your students
probably know that milk
and eggs aren't manufactured
in the back of the store?
I imagine this was part of
their learning experience.
Definitely. When we
had all the citrus trees,
when the
oranges are ready
I say let's go harvesting.
We take the ladder
and the wagon. We
fill it up. We come and make
orange juice. Whatever
with our lemon,
we're going to make
a lemon pie. Whatever would
bloom that week,
we do it. You do have some
beautiful citrus. What are
some of the things that
you're going back there?
We have some calamondins
and comprods. And then we
have a few orange trees.
And we have that
lemon that you love,
that ponderosa lemon.
It's enormous. It
has to have its own
little table to hold it up.
I've actually had it
break that branches because
it's so large and
heavy. And then you've got
a swing tree. We have a
swinging tree with several
swings on it. There's
nothing more beautiful
than seeing a group of
children swinging on the
tree. And then I was
getting a little tired
and needed a place to sit
down and I found some
friends who looked like
they had been tired a
long time ago. They did.
It's Jack and Jill, the
skeletons.
They're waiting for
people to come by and
there sign said we've been
waiting a long time.
One of my favorite native
plants is sparkleberry
Nexium. And you have
sparkle berry lane and
it's even more sparkly
than normal. Yes we have
danglers that we
got out of an ad in the
newspaper and we hung all the
danglers
and the children
love it. And then we kind
of end up our wonderful
walk through the garden with a
festival coming back to
the house. Well those
magazines. I saw a Mardi
Gras tree in a magazines so
we gotta have a
Mardi Gras tree so we,
I chose the tree and then
we got a
ton of beads and
everybody that's been
here has thrown some
beads in to the tree.
It's great fun. And then
we're so now we're back
at what had been the
playground for the
children. And I imagine
that in the coming years
since the children will
be coming back to the visit of
course. They always come
back and visit but this
is now another space and
I imagine that things
will start happening here.
I may.
Linda Peters what a
wonderful opportunity
and head start to life
you gave children and to
have children who are
going to remember this
joyful experience of
nature. And I bet you've
made a contribution to
the environmental leaders
of the future.
I actually know I have.
A lot of them. Thank you
very much and my pleasure.
Thanks to Laura Lee Rose,
Linda taught both Laura Lee's
son Sam and also her
granddaughter Clara. And thank
you for being with us
tonight. We hope you
enjoyed going to visit gardens
across the state. And we'll do
more of this in the future,
because it is Making it Grow.
♪
Making It Grow is brought
to you in part by the
South Carolina Department
of Agriculture certified
South Carolina grown
helps consumers identify
find and buy South
Carolina products. McLeod
Farms in McBee
South Carolina. This
family farm offers
seasonal produce
including over twenty two
varieties of peaches.
Additional funding
provided by International
Paper and the South
Carolina Farm Bureau
Federation and Farm
Bureau Insurance.