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IN Temple Texas, Mary Lew and David Quesinberry want a garden, not a lawn. They didn't want
seed all at once flat demention either. We moved here in 1998 it was a long flat narrow
lot with cedar elms and probably about three live oaks. This wasn't their first garden
but when they fell in love with this property they realized the plants they'd grown wern't
going to work. We moved here and we saw these beautiful deer peaking out from the woods
and they just had these huge racks and we were so excited and we had a herd of 27 deer
when we moved here. Rather then fence out the deer, they planted plants that usually
are safe from nibbling. We hate fences so we wanted a living fence or a screen and so
that's what we did all around the property was-we'd have little seedlings come up and
we'd just plant around them. Orchid trees come up and we just dig them up and plant
them in various places. Rather than be mad at the deer we wanted the deer to be welcomed
in the garden. In back the dementional view for watching wild life starts neer the house.
It's panorama enterance from the patio indoors refreshes even when it's hot. Seasonal changes
join perpetual structure Musicians tune up in the shady cove. When mary Lew and David
saw this group of trees for the first time they knew at once that it was the perfect
spot for a picnic table. A near by shed harbors the tools that are in their hands every spare
minute. A decomposed granite pathway seperates the cove from sunnier gardens that frame the
garden with evergreen distiguous trees and shrubs. They frame textures and colors with
wildlife attraction all year. Perenials join self seeding annuals. Moving around the bend,
they change perspective with the first burn they built. That garden evolved because there's
no water back tehre. And the land back there was just flat. We don't like just flat land.
A dry streen diflects crazy rain but mainly it simply adds to the charm. They got help
with the largest boulders but mostly they haulded them all themselves. The family calls
it Grandpa's Garden. But they didn't stop there. We were just gunna have one back there
and we said well your not supposed to have just this one thing back there lets do three.
Have three burms. We did it one rock at a time. One plant at a time. We had no plan.
We just, it was like playing. It was like lets pretend like when you're a kid. Let's
pretend lets do this this way then the other one will go yeah, well what if we do this.
and we just kind of knocked ideas off of eachother and basically around one plant. What if we
buy this plant, what are we going to do with it? We bought plants and didn't know what
to do with them after we got home. That was all mowed. We took hours and hours to mow
it. This is so silly. Along with habitat and food for wildlife, they make sure there is
water too. Their plants dont need much, but their creatures do. People ask well what do
you do about pest control? You don't need any pest control. If you have water, you have
the birds. The birds take care of everything. I came out here one night, we have a bird
bath there in the back. And there was a screech owl in there taking a bath at night time.
We got a picture of him too! He was so cute. He just kinda turned around to look at me
and he went back to taking his bath. Your wasps and bees and spiders and everything
now have a purpose so we don't try to kill anything except fire ants. Their newest project
in spare time is a pond and waterfall as much for the wildlife as for them. We've extended
the patio so that a lot of that soil rather than have them carry it off we just had them
stack it back there. We thought oh we'll make a waterfall. A lot of the inspiration we get
from in the house looking out at the windows and we go that seems like the perfect spot
to put it. Cuz we'll enjoy it when we're in the house too. And certainly, its all a wonderland
for kids. My grand children love it here. They just wanna come outside all the time.
They just love playing out here. My grandson has a little electric car and he just drives
all over the roads. He's so cute. And I think my little granddaughter is going to be a gardener.
She just loves it. She loves raking she just loves working in the garden. When they get
a little older we're going to put them to work. In front, they changed the formerly
dull demention with multiple hardscapes destinations and plants formal and casual. they didn't
banish all the lawn but they did exchange buffalo grass for water wides,pallacades.
Origionally we had buffallo out there. But when they put the grass in there with little
sprigs of bermuda in the dirt and I mentioned that to them and they didn't seem to mind
the bermuda just kinda overtook the buffalo. In an outcove, they didnt swamp it with shrubs
when they replaced the grass, instead they made it a cozy view point. When we virst moved
here, we had grass from the house to the street. And we built beds all around taht area to
get rid of the grass and we just thought it looked prettier. It's just boring just to
have grass from the house to the street. We just have those little islands of grass. You
have to have the grass to let your eye rest. If it's too wild, you get tired. Antique horse
hitches that they rescued in Temple mark the entrance from the side walk to the front door.
David and Mary Lew have always gardened but she took the step to become a Bell county
master gardener with encouragement from collegues at Scott and White Hostpital. It's wonderful
to be around people that are just so excited about nature and plants. are Mary Lew and
David finished? Oh, probably not. It's just like a painting. You just wanna keep making
it pretty.