Summer Oasis

pearl street garden

| HOME & GARDEN

Summer Oasis COTTAGE GARDEN ADDS PLENTY OF CURB APPEAL TO HATTIESBURG HOME

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TEXT AND PHOTOS BY CHARLOTTE BLOM If you’ve ever driven on Pearl Street in Hattiesburg, then you’re probably familiar with this lush cottage-style garden that takes up an entire lot, filling the space where a house would ordinarily sit. In her living room, lit by natural light through a bay window that offers a view of the yard, Sue Sharp tells the story of the garden’s evolution. She and her husband, Merv, have labored and crafted it for years. Sue’s warnings about the garden not being up to par this summer, due to the drought and heat wave Hattiesburg experienced for more than a month, are waylaid by her enthusiasm for the story. Her large, beautiful, tiger-striped cat saunters in and out of the room, furtively assessing things as Sue talks. A professor of fashion merchandising at the University of Southern Mississippi for 35 years, Sue retired in 2003. Though she’d always had some kind of garden, her passion for planting and growing really blossomed after stepping down from teaching. Then, on Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused major wreckage to the Sharps’ property and home. Their corner lot lost most of its more than 20 pine trees. Ten landed on the house. Although a few pines and one hefty oak withstood the storm, Katrina had uprooted most of the Sharps’ trees, as well as the Sharps themselves. Luckily, they were able to communicate with their neighbors, who were out of town, who said they could stay at their house, enabling the Sharps to relocate right next door. A year later, they purchased the house and began creating a garden for it, where, according to Sue, there was nothing before. But they decided to keep their old garden as well, making the clean-up around their old home a carefully approached task with preservation in mind. Sue would not allow the house to be plowed, even

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though it was unsalvageable, because it would have destroyed the garden. Amidst the beds and flowers, there is now a pergola with wisteria vines, jasmine and other climbing flowers. The gazebo in the center of the garden is reconstructed from the front porch of the old house, adding charm and a haven from the sun with two wooden rocking chairs from which to enjoy the greenery. Despite the harsh weather conditions this summer, Sue has already experienced a special surprise, the blooming of white climbing hydrangeas. Her garden tour, along a quaint winding path created by salvaged brick from the Sharps’ former house, is full of names of the flowers, trees and plants, including a tea tree, a tung oil tree, a bottlebrush tree, coneflowers, Mexican petunias, Texas lilac vitex, yuccas, clematis, roses, Texas Star hibiscus, morning glories, oleanders and batwinged pansies. Everything is so meticulously cared for; even the weeds growing in the cracks of the Sharps’ old driveway aren’t actually weeds. And even when Sue does refer to weeds or unwanted plants, it’s with a hint of affection that she’ll refer to them as “thugs.” Without rain, Sue faithfully waters the garden from daylight to at least 10:30 a.m. most mornings in order to save the garden. But one might imagine she is out there much of the time even in wetter weather, just out of sheer devotion and because of the joy and vitality gardening gives her.