- [Announcer] On this "Volunteer Gardener," we are treated to tours of two awe-inspiring home gardens.

Rita Venable visits a couple who've designed and installed this long flowing border bed that takes advantage of the grand view just beyond.

These colorful perennials attract lots of pollinators.

And Sheri Gramer strolls the backyard garden spaces of another couple who have created a unique setting where every plant is in its own container.

This translates to endless and easy versatility to change the landscape.

Join us!

(bright melodic music) First, a knack for putting the right plant in the right spot and a design plan that works.

- Did you ever think how cool it would be to live in a garden in the sky?

I think it would be amazing.

We're in Sewanee, Tennessee, right on the western edge of the Cumberland Plateau.

It's about 1,900 feet here in elevation and things look a little bit different from a mountaintop.

We're at the home of Deb and Rick Dreves in Sewanee, Tennessee, and I absolutely love this border garden.

- Thank you.

- This is fantastic!

Starting with your cat mint, right here, and blanket flower.

- [Deb] Yes, Ma'am.

You got it.

- [Rita] To attract bees and butterflies.

- [Deb] Yes, and good for memories.

- [Rita] Tell me about these fantastic lilies.

- [Deb] So these, I wish I could tell you the specific name.

I've checked, I can't identify it.

But it started out as a small plant a year ago, and this is the second year, and this is what I've got.

It just, it blew me away.

I'm really surprised.

- [Rita] It frames the beautiful view too out there because you put some more further on.

It's fantastic.

- [Deb] We try to kind of balance things without being too rigid about it.

- Sedum, which will come on in the fall.

- Yes!

- And attract pollinators.

This grass!

What is this grass?

- [Deb] It's a blue.

Rick is the grass fan and said we had to have some grass.

There are actually a couple varieties in here of blue grasses.

And they're now, I guess you would call them, blooming with their pretty stalks.

- [Rita] Rick, how wide and long do you think this bed is?

And I absolutely love the shape, that you've curved it around instead of just straight.

- Well, it's about, you know, 100 feet long, give or take.

And the reason that we curved it the way we did is we're sitting on top of a sandstone bedrock that's actually no more than six or eight inches below us.

And so we were looking for places with deeper soil and that's where the bed is bigger, where we have a little more soil.

And where the rock is really close to the surface, we made it narrow 'cause not as many things were gonna grow there.

Ironically, it all seems to do okay, but it's all sitting on no more than six or eight inches of soil above the bedrock.

- [Rita] Which is pretty acidic too for up here.

- [Rick] Yeah!

Yeah.

- [Rita] So amazing.

And I love, Deb, the way you have repeated the plants too.

You don't just have one specimen plant.

- [Deb] Right!

- [Rita] You've repeated this over here and this one over here.

That's cool.

- [Deb] I like a little bit of order, but I don't wanna be too tied to it.

But I do like the balance, so I think that works well.

And as I've gotten older in my gardening, I've decided I like massing a little bit more.

Not just one, but have a lot of something.

- And you mentioned that these are all perennials.

- [Deb] Right!

Right.

- You don't have to have annuals to make the color spots.

- Exactly.

Yeah!

And that really surprised me 'cause I always thought of the perennials as just sort of being there in the background.

And now it's like, "Wow!"

You know?

With exception of one or two.

- [Rick] This is pretty much guaranteed garden.

It will come back like this every year, barring, you know, bugs or a freeze or something.

- [Deb] A bad winter.

- [Rita] You have foxglove?

- [Deb] I do!

- [Rita] And how do you keep the deer away from this fantastic area?

- [Deb] We have tried because we do have deer.

We have tried several things.

Putting clothes that I've worn on the ground.

(Rita laughs) - [Rita] Did that work?

- You know, I think everything works for a little and then they get used to it.

So I think that's the thing.

Change it up!

We've put cat hair, we've put our hair.

I think one time I poured beer out here.

(Rita laughs cheerfully) But what I usually go to is blood meal, which is a inexpensive product.

It's great for the plants.

It greens them up, but it is basically dried chicken blood as I understand it.

- [Rita] Very natural.

- [Deb] And the deer don't like the smell of it, so.

- [Rita] Okay!

- [Deb] It works well until you get a heavy rain.

- This is probably my favorite plant in your garden.

The evening primrose.

- The primrose!

That was a gift from a friend who was thinning out her garden.

And this is what it did.

- [Rita] What a nice friend.

(laughs) What's her name?

- [Deb] And I remember them all!

- [Rita] Can I have her email?

It's a wonderful plant.

The bees are all over it for pollen because you can hear them sonicating.

If you get really close to this plant, you can hear the zzz.

And they're not coming after you.

They're going for the pollen.

- [Deb] For the pollen.

- [Rita] When they buzz, it makes all the pollen fall and they gather it in their little legs.

- [Rick] It's the reason they're called busy bees, right?

- [Rita] That's right!

That's one reason, yes.

Busy buzzing bees.

Wow!

Day lilies in two colors.

- [Deb] Yes!

- [Rita] Fantastic.

And they haven't spread throughout the whole bed, so beautiful.

- [Deb] I just, I love 'em.

They're kind of a mainstay, but they are deer candy.

You will come out here sometimes and find all the blossoms just nibbled right off.

- [Rita] Oh, wow!

- [Deb] So we had to do some creative cages before you got here to keep them away.

- [Rita] To keep the flowers on.

- [Deb] Yeah.

- [Rita] Fortunately they do reproduce a lot.

- [Deb] Yes!

- [Rita] So that's a good thing.

- [Deb] Yes.

- [Rita] And we have bachelor buttons!

- [Deb] Yes.

- [Rita] Fantastic!

- [Deb] The blue.

You just can't- - [Rita] I love that deep blue with the yellow.

Fantastic.

Did you do that on purpose?

Did you go out and look for a where is a blue flower?

- [Deb] No, actually I did not.

No.

But I do love that shade.

It's just!

- [Rita] I do too.

And the bees like it too.

- [Deb] The bees love that.

And it reseeds so it's okay.

Even though it's technically not a perennial, it reseeds itself and it's coming back in other places now.

- [Rita] Mm-hmm!

Beautiful.

Even though it's almost gone, your Phlox pilosa?

- [Deb] Yes.

- [Rita] Is still gorgeous mainstay in the garden for pollinators.

That hollyhock is incredible.

I think of that as Grandma's garden.

- [Deb] Yes, I do too.

Right?

- [Rita] But I love it.

- [Deb] That and the foxgloves, it's that kind of old-fashioned.

- [Rita] Yes!

Old-fashioned.

And the bees are all over this.

They're all in there and you can hear them sonicating on that as well.

- [Deb] And it comes back stronger every year.

It's just great.

- And you mentioned you have, which aster is this?

- It is a purple aster.

It's a cultivar, I know that.

But I don't know.

- Blooms in fall, right?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

Native aster?

- [Deb] No, I think it's a cultivar.

- [Rita] Okay!

- [Deb] I think so.

- [Rita] Well, this is a good tip on asters.

It's called the Chelsea chop.

You go in in May or June and you cut it 1/3 to 1/2 off.

- [Deb] Right.

- [Rita] It delays the bloom time just a little bit, but it keeps it from flopping.

They keep that nice rounded shape, and yeah.

- [Deb] So not too late.

I can still do it.

- [Rita] Oh, you can still do it right now.

- [Deb] Good.

Good.

- [Rita] That's great.

- And I do that to the mums as well.

They've already been cut once.

I'll cut them again before 4th of July.

- Okay!

Okay.

- And they'll come back.

- Oh, yeah, you keep cutting them.

- Yeah!

- Okay.

This landscape area is beautiful.

It's got shape, form, function, everything that we want in a managed landscape.

Do you have a natural area too?

- Yeah, we do.

(group laughs) - You've got a lot of land.

- Yeah!

- Let's go see it!

- Yeah.

- [Rita] This is Deb and Rick's natural area and it's about 75 feet long by probably 30 deep.

You manage this differently than the other parts of your garden.

I know you told me.

So who put this in?

Who decided to do this and who takes care of it?

- I decided I didn't wanna cut all the lawn that was here.

So we said, "Okay, instead of lawn, let's create a more natural area."

And so, I mow it down every fall, but every spring it just comes up and does its thing again.

And it just, it's early.

But this will get better and better as we go further into the summer in terms of things blooming and attracting butterflies.

- [Rita] It will be a terrific migratory butterfly hotspot right here.

- [Deb] Usually you would do this by tilling everything under and killing everything that's there for, you know, a couple months and then seeding it with wild flower.

We were not patient enough for that.

So really most of this has either just grown up on its own or I've dug it up and brought it in and put it here.

It also serves as kind of a dumping ground for anything I've got too much of in the main garden.

- [Rita] So you did not till this or use roundup on it and kill everything?

- [Deb] No!

No, didn't.

- [Rita] Fantastic.

And it's still doing really well.

So Monarda.

- [Deb] Right!

- [Rita] You've got some golden, two species of golden?

- [Deb] Two species of goldenrod.

- [Rita] I think you told me.

What else is in there?

- [Deb] I think there's wild leek.

- [Rita] Okay!

- [Deb] Ironweed, that is in there.

There's some Coreopsis coming.

- [Rita] Mm-hmm.

Right here.

What else?

- [Deb] Oh!

Well, we've got the fire or the Indian pink.

Not the fire pink, the Indian pink.

And several of the milkweeds that come along as well.

- That's fantastic!

So every now and then you go in and you'll pull out some woodies.

- Yeah.

So I try to cut back on the trees.

We have a lot of locust trees that like to come in here, try to cut those out.

But pretty much I'd let it go.

Every now and then, the bergamot gets a little aggressive and I'll pull some of that down to give some other things room.

But other than that, I don't touch it often.

- [Rita] That's awesome.

It's beautiful and it's gonna be even more beautiful in September and October.

(laughs) - [Deb] Hope so.

- I don't believe I've ever seen so much bee activity.

(laughs) On this lavender, which is the cultivar phenomenal.

- [Deb] Right.

- [Rita] You've got Common Eastern bumblebees, you've got butterflies on this.

We saw a silver-spotted skipper, a pipe one.

What on earth?

This is fantastic!

When did you plant it?

- [Deb] So this particular one has been in two years.

After the hard freeze we got in that December.

- [Rita] Yeah.

- [Deb] Killed the lavender that was here, which was also phenomenal lavender.

So most of this is new from two years ago.

We've tried other things in this bed that started off as a vegetable bed, and it's gone through many, many variations.

But the lavender loves it here and it's fun to sit and watch the insects and listen to them.

- Oh, yeah.

Yeah!

It's just fantastic.

And the fact that you've put it in such a long swath I think brings in even more bees because they wanna be easy, easy pickins' here.

On the edge of the natural area that Deb and Rick have created, there is a fantastic pawpaw tree, which is the host plant for our state butterfly, the zebra swallowtail.

We're seeing evidence of the zebra swallowtail on this, already chewing.

There's some frass and there's some chewed edges along the edges of the leaves.

So we think it's here and fantastic job.

And it's already spreading out here.

This is a great plant.

You need a lot of room for this 'cause it colonizes.

- [Deb] Interesting flowers, the little black.

Not so pretty, but interesting flowers.

- [Rita] Right!

How'd you get the inspiration for this?

- [Deb] I ate a pawpaw at Warner Park.

(Rita laughs cheerfully) That was it.

She had a great one at Warner Park and I ate it.

And I thought, "I gotta have one of those."

But it's never fruited for us.

- [Rita] Okay.

Well it may still.

- [Deb] May still.

- There's hope, but it, yeah, it does have that edible fruit that lots of mammals love and it's a great host plant.

So good job.

Underneath this fantastic chestnut oak, which I love, you have planted a shade garden.

Tell me about it.

- This actually started life as a wildflower garden.

Has lots of ephemerals in it, which you're not seeing too much of now.

Great in spring, but then this time of year, of course you still wanna keep it full.

So I tried to find things that naturalized well, that would blend well, but not create too much, crowd out those ephemerals so that they could come back in spring.

- [Rita] So this is a great mix of non-invasive plants and some native plants too.

- [Deb] Yes!

Yes.

- [Rita] And some cultivars.

- [Deb] Yes!

- [Rita] And a little bit of everything.

- [Deb] A little bit of everything.

- [Rita] Okay.

That's great.

And to give a little structure to your fabulous shade garden, you have put in a spicebush.

Deb, an amazing thing.

You see this little tent right here?

- [Deb] I do.

- [Rita] On your spicebush?

This is evidence of the spicebush swallowtail caterpillar feeding.

And look at that little guy.

- [Deb] Oh, my golly!

- [Rita] You've got one right there.

- [Deb] Look at that.

Wow!

- [Rita] You've seen it here first.

- [Deb] Very tiny.

(both laugh) - [Rita] It is very tiny.

- [Deb] Wow!

- [Rita] As it grows, it will make new little flaps all over and you'll continue to see them unless a predator gets them.

But that is how they hide from predators.

It's nature's way.

- [Deb] This is damaged?

- [Rita] This may be where they've chewed.

Yeah.

- [Deb] Oh, wow!

- [Rita] And then he went right in there and he's hiding himself until it seems safe, so.

- Boy, he's tiny!

- Yeah.

There he is!

- I just like the smell of the bush itself.

- Yes.

And it's actually, the berries are edible.

People put them in salads.

I'm not a fan, but some people will.

- [Deb] Wow!

I did not know that.

- [Rita] And it smells great.

So when you crush the leaves.

It's a wonderful native shrub.

Good job.

- [Deb] Thank you!

(both laugh cheerfully) - Rick, I love this area.

The stone here is just such a, makes such a beautiful border.

You've got not only the cultivar Solomon seal with the variegated leaf, but also the straight up native over there.

You've even got two types of hydrangea here.

The popular garden variety.

There's either pink or blue depending on where you put it.

And another native hydrangea too.

It's just in the white and it all blends together so well.

- [Rick] None of this was here when we bought the house and we found these stones along the driveway.

I think they were trying to edge the driveway with them, but they were half buried in the ground.

And we started finding more and more and I said, "Hey, wait a minute!

I can do something with this."

And so it's just a dry stack stone thing.

And which is, you know, there's no cement or anything, which is why you have the Solomon Seal poking out from in between the rocks, which is kind of cool.

- [Rita] Yeah, there's a little guy over here.

- [Rick] Yeah!

They're coming out everywhere.

But yeah, it's just a dry stack and we backfilled it with some soil.

And all these plants pretty much, except for the hydrangea, were rescued from somewhere else on the property.

And we brought them together.

Gave them a nice place to be here.

- That's beautiful.

Here in the front of your house, you've got a landmark Norway spruce that's incredible.

And coming on around, you've got astilbe.

You've got a fantastic ground cover.

- St. John's wort, the brigadoon.

- I love this front area.

And plus you've got some edible landscape here.

- [Deb] Right!

Right!

- [Rita] Which, tell us about everything.

- [Deb] So when I moved from Nashville, I brought my strawberries with me.

Needed a quick place to put them.

This was already on the house, so we stuck them here and they actually have worked really well.

People love to come up and pick them when they come to visit.

- [Rita] I bet.

- And the leaves?

You know, they do a pretty good job of staying green.

Even in winter!

- [Rita] They do!

They look like a little ground cover right there, so it's fantastic.

And the St. John's wort.

- [Deb] St. John's wort.

We love this.

It did get blasted two winters ago, but it's coming back.

And I love this chartreuse color.

- [Rita] I do too!

I love this.

Real popular right now.

And what was the cultivar on that?

- [Deb] I thought it was brigadoon.

- [Rita] Brigadoon?

- [Deb] I think it was, yeah.

- [Rita] Okay.

And the astilbe, you've got several different colors.

- [Deb] Yeah!

- [Rita] That blend beautifully together, so.

- [Deb] And we leave those heads on through fall.

'Cause they add a little bit of interest even once they're not blooming.

- [Rick] So, yeah.

And the interesting thing about St. John's wort is, you know, it blooms around this time of year and the blooms are typically one day blooms.

But you'll of course get more the next day and so on.

But they're really delicate, interesting blooms.

- This is a home where this couple has worked the plan and here is the plan which Rick put on Adobe?

- Illustrator!

- Illustrator!

And we've got every single bed area.

So it's really cool.

- And I pencil them in and then I can take them off next year.

- Yes!

- When it changes.

- Notice pencil not ink.

Right?

- Pencil.

(group laughs) - Can move them around.

- This is what they do in the winter time.

So they do their garden plans.

But thank you so much for letting us come today.

- [Rick] Pleasure!

- [Rita] It has truly been a pleasure to see all this mix of beautiful flowers and your gorgeous view and your garden in the sky.

It truly is.

- [Deb] We learned so much.

Thank you.

- [Rita] Thank you.

- [Rick] Thanks.

(bright music) - Gardens are as unique as the gardeners and we're visiting Hendersonville, Tennessee today.

The homeowners have decided to do all of their gardening in pots.

It's wonderful.

It's a little bit easier or is it harder?

We'll find out.

We're at the home of Bob and Kat Garza, and I need to know your take on gardening containers.

How did you get this started?

- Well, I saw something not too long ago online and it's just a small garden, and I thought, "You know, this would be a lot easier on me.

Instead of having to dig up and transplant, I could just move containers around."

So that's what got us started.

- And so you plant perennials as well as annuals?

- Yes!

- You were telling me.

Let's talk about these containers right here.

Love the lamb's ear.

One of my favorite things.

- [Kat] I do too!

- [Sheri] And then what do you have going on back here?

Coleus?

- [Kat] We have coleus and... - [Sheri] Foxtail fern.

- [Kat] Yeah, the foxtail fern.

Of course it will go in this fall.

It doesn't do well in our climate here.

- [Sheri] And then you have?

- [Kat] Bleeding heart!

- [Sheri] Looks like it's spent.

- And it was beautiful this spring, but of course everything has its season, so.

- And I noticed that you have ground cover dispersed underneath a lot of these containers.

- [Kat] Yes!

- [Sheri] That keeps your weeding down, obviously.

- [Kat] Keeps the weeding down!

And it makes it, it hides the pots just a little bit.

I've also noticed it's increased our lizard population, which is great for insects.

Because of the ground cover, I have very little weeding to do so that's another reason I've liked the container gardening.

We just don't have that many weeds.

- [Sheri] That's smart.

And how many pots or containers do you have?

- [Kat] We have 542.

- [Sheri] Good Lord!

- [Kat] Yeah.

- [Sheri] I noticed that you had some lilies that were in pots or containers as well.

Some of them are blooming, some of them are about to bloom.

I love those.

- [Kat] I do too.

- [Sheri] Think it looks wonderful.

- [Kat] They are beautiful.

- And so, I wanna note the different levels that you have going on here, keeps your eye flowing upward towards the back.

And I'm sure that was intentional.

Whoa!

What is that?

A fork?

- [Kat] Well, I have a squirrel problem.

- Oh, okay!

- And that seems to keep them out from digging in the dirt.

- Okay.

And then what else?

Hibiscus?

- [Kat] hibiscus here.

And what you mentioned about the height, that's another reason I love the containers.

Because if something gets taller than something that's behind it that's short, I can just- - [Sheri] Pick it up and swap it around.

- [Kat] Move them and dig them out.

Yeah.

- And you have some yarrow and daisies.

And what else do you have in this area?

- Of course, more lamb's ear that we split.

We split those every year because they just get so large.

But I love the Lenten rose.

We have Lenten rose up there.

And all the trailing plants that I'm enjoying.

- [Sheri] All right.

And then you have a path, several paths, so you can get in to maintain without stepping.

- [Kat] Yeah.

To maintain.

- [Sheri] Yeah.

And what is your favorite ground cover?

- [Kat] Well, I have several that I'm liking, but of course this one was just organic.

It came with the property and it's the creeping Charlie, and a lot of people don't like it but for me it's great because I can just...

It keeps the weeds down and, to me, it's a nice backdrop for the containers.

- [Sheri] I noticed you have uniformity in your containers.

I noticed most of them are gray or black.

Tell me about how that came about.

- [Kat] Well, we had started with different colors and when we stood back we noticed that the plants weren't the star.

We were seeing too much color.

So we have replaced them with gray, blacks or browns and we've spray painted pots that didn't fit that decor.

- [Sheri] And you have some terracotta in here as well?

- [Kat] Yes.

Those are our annuals.

And that way I can spot them and know that they need to go into the greenhouse this fall.

- Oh, that's smart.

I was noticing that most of your containers have one species or one plant in there.

Is that?

Do you do that on purpose so that it has room to grow and expand?

- Yes, I do.

There are a few that have multiples, but mostly it's just that one plant in each pot.

- I see you even have a nice pretty hydrangea in a pot.

- Yep!

- And a huge hosta.

And you were saying something was one of your favorites right here?

- [Kat] Well, I love the coral bells.

- [Sheri] Uh-huh.

They're gorgeous.

- [Kat] Yes!

- [Sheri] And these are your favorite?

- [Kat] I do.

I love the caladiums.

They're just beautiful.

- And so when you sit on your deck at night, do you in your mind visualize where you're gonna move the pots the next day?

- [Kat] Oh!

Oh, I do.

I look there and we say, "Okay, that one's too tall.

That one needs to be moved."

And of course I have to use my muscle man over there to move them because I can't always pick them up.

But some of them I can.

- [Sheri] What kind of fertilizer do you use in your containers?

- I use either Miracle Grow or, well, of course I love to use worm castings.

- [Sheri] Is there any special thing that you put in the bottom of the pots prior to planting in the pots?

- Yes!

I put a piece of screen and then some gravel just to give it more of a, you know?

- Drainage?

- Drainage, yeah.

- And then do you have a particular potting soil or mix?

Or do you mix your own?

Or do you like one?

- We buy an organic potting soil with some top soil, mix it with manure.

And of course the worm castings will go in there as well.

- [Sheri] And I love the textures and the colors.

The silver dispersed in between all of these makes everything just pop.

- [Kat] Yeah.

- [Sheri] And then you have... What's in the back in the big, tall?

- [Kat] That's a horsetail reed.

- [Sheri] Horsetail reed.

And does that get enough water there?

- [Kat] It does.

- [Sheri] Okay.

- [Kat] Well, we also, if you notice, we have some- - [Sheri] You have a banana trees there.

Yeah.

- [Kat] Yes, but we also have a garden watering system.

- [Sheri] Okay.

- [Kat] So we turn those on in the evening or morning.

- [Sheri] And so you have some lavender in the ground here?

- [Kat] Yes!

- [Sheri] And tell me about some of your other plantings that you like right here.

- [Kat] Well, I love that.

And is it the coral reef?

- [Sheri] Mm-hmm!

- [Kat] That's just beautiful to me.

It's just very unique.

- [Sheri] And is that this first year or it looks like it's older than?

- [Kat] No, that was last year.

And actually, it got really tall and I cut it back and repotted it.

- [Sheri] Okay.

- [Kat] And the one behind it is hopefully gonna grow a new one.

- [Sheri] And this is a type of jade?

- [Kat] Yes.

- [Sheri] Okay.

And then obviously, 'cause it's in terracotta, goes in the wintertime.

- [Kat] Goes in.

Right.

- [Sheri] And how big has that one gotten in the past?

- [Kat] Quite a bit.

It was a tiny little thing when I first got it.

- [Sheri] And you have some cat mint?

- [Kat] Yeah.

That's a favorite of mine as well.

- [Sheri] Mine as well.

Yes, because it blooms for a good couple months.

- [Kat] Right.

- [Sheri] And then I see a scented geranium.

And do you do herbs as well?

- [Kat] I do herbs.

I have most of them on the other side of the garden.

Huge old-fashioned.

- [Sheri] What is that?

- Well, that's a Sedum that's in a large pot.

And it was over there, before that tree fell, and it dropped a piece that's now in the ground.

I just left it and it grew.

- I wanna talk about the five shrubs here.

- [Kat] Our skip laurels?

- [Sheri] Yes!

And how did those come to be in this spot?

Because I noticed you don't have a lot of shrubs in the other parts with your containers.

- [Kat] Well, we thought this was our fence line, so we put these in and wanted to get some privacy.

- [Sheri] But I kinda like how it- - [Kat] I do too.

- [Sheri] I like how it divides it up.

- [Kat] It's a nice frame!

- [Sheri] Yes.

Yes.

And I love your garden art.

There's a little bit of everything and there's a little bit for everyone here, from high-end art to fun art.

- [Kat] Bob and I have always loved art.

We love to go to art museums.

And so to me it just adds another funky color and some fun things and eye-catching things to look at.

- [Sheri] Well, dimensions pull your eye up.

- [Kat] They do.

- [Sheri] So you can enjoy the up views as well.

- [Kat] Right.

- I notice a little bit of artistic touches here and there in your saved stumps.

- Right.

- So you have this one pretty here.

And you said it was what kind of a tree?

- [Kat] A cherry tree!

- [Sheri] That's cool.

- [Kat] An old cherry tree.

- [Sheri] That's cool.

And then I saw someplace else you had another stump with some succulents planted in it.

- [Kat] Yes.

We picked those up.

They just washed ashore at the local park.

- [Sheri] Nice.

Nice.

And I see you've got some herbs in containers.

- [Kat] Yes!

- [Sheri] I see some bay laurel and I also see some fruit and some eucalyptus.

- [Kat] Yes.

- [Sheri] And what else do you have?

- Well, we have a lot of herbs and then we have chives and rosemary.

And of course over here, we call that our cage.

That's to keep the squirrels and varmints out of our tomatoes, peppers, and other herbs.

And we have our fig trees here.

But Bob and I are avid cooks, so we love to use our herbs.

- Nice!

Nice!

Nice!

People often ask me, "How do you garden without flowers?"

Well, you got some good examples here with all the different greens of shades, of hues of green, the chartreuse to the deep green.

You have a beautiful water feature for the sound effects.

You have a wonderful statue.

It's just breathtaking here.

- Thank you.

This is probably one of my favorite areas because it is just so cool and serene and quiet.

And I love the hostas.

- [Sheri] Well, I gotta say, when someone tells me they have over 500 containers, I wondered in my head like, "How in the world could that be?

How does that look?"

It looks wonderful!

It's actually breathtaking.

And whoever said you need to call and get us to come out, they were correct.

- [Kat] Well, thank you.

- [Sheri] I wanna tell you and Bob, thank you very much for sharing your yard with us and all your container gardening and your enthusiasm to share it with us.

Thank you.

- [Kat] Thank you for having.

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