Gardening enthusiasts lead an effort to bring magic and make-believe to an overgrown yard.
By CARLOS BRICENO
Published November 8, 2003
[Times photos:Jim Damaske]
Devesh Patel, a seventh-grader at Country Day Montessori School, pots a marigold at Mable Wilcox’s house. The Garden Fairies, a group of garden enthusiasts, enlisted the help of students from the school to restore Wilcox’s yard.
Mable Wilcox, 78, uses a walking stick to negotiate her yard, which she prefers to keep as “a tame jungle.”
Students from the Country Day Montessori School in Largo paint butterfly wings made from aluminum cans for a butterfly garden.
Don't tell Mable Wilcox that fairy tales don't come true. She'll disagree and offer her garden as proof.
Several months ago, Wilcox's back yard resembled a tropical wilderness. Deluges had caused an explosion of growth. Weeds were choking her paths and flower beds. Philodendron vines were climbing the sides of her house, snaking through her garden and causing her to trip. And limbs from a live oak tree were stretching over her roof, touching it at places.
In years past, the 78-year-old widow had been able to maintain the garden. But during the summer, severe back pain from acute osteoporosis, along with sciatica and a broken pelvis, made it impossible for her to pull weeds, snip branches, dig and rake.
Calling a lawn service was out of the question. She did that once, and it was expensive. Worse, for her, the service had wanted to turn her back yard into a typical suburban lawn. She prefers "a tame jungle."
Wilcox was so embarrassed by how run down her yard looked, she contemplated moving from her Largo home, where she has lived since 1969.
Then the fairy tale began. A friend of Wilcox, Kyle Pierson, is a member of a gardening cooperative called the Garden Fairies. The group consists mainly of women who like to dig, have fun, be creative and help others, said Siobhan Nehin, one of the founding members and known as the queen fairy.
The 6-year-old group has planted sea oats at Fred Howard Park in Tarpon Springs and redesigned members' gardens. The members thought it was time to help others in the community.
Nehin met Wilcox and told her she was impressed with her lush garden. Wilcox felt a kinship because Nehin, 47, suffers from osteoporosis and, more important, believes in make-believe. Years ago, Wilcox and her granddaughter, Kerry, wrote stories about fairies living in a back yard.
But transforming Wilcox's garden needed more than volunteers. It also needed donations. Nehin got in touch with Barri and Mike Van Coulter, the owners of Earthscapes Landscaping Inc. and Earthscapes Garden Room in Palm Harbor.
It turned out that the Van Coulters were looking for a community project. They drew up plans for the redesign of the garden and donated plants. They also paid several workers to trim Wilcox's trees, and pull the weeds out of the paths and add pine straw to them. Several employees from Fred Howard Park also helped trim trees, and they took down a dilapidated wood lattice fence. Florida Fence Outlet donated a chain-link fence as a replacement.
Nehin also enlisted the help of middle school students from the Country Day Montessori School in Largo. They painted butterfly wings made from aluminum cans for a butterfly garden. They also helped pull roots and weeds from Wilcox's front lawn.
About 45 fairies and several wizards (men) gathered over several weekends to rake, snip branches, plant flowers, attach a fence made of reeds to the chain-link fence, laugh and talk.
Shannon O'Leary-Beck, a tromp l'oeil artist, painted a mural on one side of Wilcox's house; it included a fairy holding a cardinal.
As a surprise, the Garden Fairies presented Wilcox with several gifts. One included a butterfly-shaped mosaic with the names of the club members on the back. Another included a mosaic of 15 stepping stones, which they placed in the butterfly garden, along with a donated statue of a fairy. After receiving the gifts, Wilcox cried.
"It's so much more than I expected," she said. "It's one of the nicest things that's ever happened to me. The one reason that it means so much is because my granddaughter and I have written so many stories about fairies living in the back yard."
- Carlos Briceno is a writer living in Seminole.
To learn more
For information about the Garden Fairies, call Siobhan Nehin at 727 452-5107. For more pictures of the restoration of Mable Wilcox's garden, go to the Garden Fairies' Web site at www.wedigdoinit.com
The Garden Fairies/Earthscapes Gift of a Garden Program wants to provide garden and lawn help to seniors and people with physical limitations. Individuals can request help by writing to the group. Include information about your garden (its condition and what you want done) and yourself (why you think you are a good candidate for assistance). Also, try to include pictures of your garden, including the areas you need help with.
Send requests to Garden Fairies/Earthscapes Gift of a Garden Program, P.O. Box 645, Crystal Beach, FL 34681.
