Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 62
G Mountain Homeplace
text and photos by elizabeth hunter
Mountain
garden
Over 20 years, Mary Patrick has cOllected seeds, cuttings and
PassalOng Plants tO create “a Place that’s gOOd fOr the sPirit.”
A reservoir overflow forms a series of tiny pools (left) in the woods beside Mary Patrick’s retreat and homeplace (right).
“Women in the mountains loved
– and were starved for – beauty,”
Mary Patrick says. “They managed to
have a little flower garden somewhere, even if only to grow gladiolas
and dahlias for decoration day. My
mother covered the red clay banks
here with honeysuckle and rambling
roses.”
We are sitting on the porch of the
house that Patrick moved to at age
four, when it was brand new. Her
father and neighbor Cleve Silver built
it in 1939, on six acres her dad
bought from his father for $75/acre.
Her brother inherited the place but
didn’t want it. To keep it in the family, she bought it from him in 1993,
62 | BlueRidgeCountry.com
although she was living in Waco,
Texas, where she’d graduated from
Baylor University and taught English,
at the university and the local high
school, for nearly 30 years. Since
then she’s divided her time between
Waco and the Bandana community
she’s native to, and where I live.
Her front yard here – an expanse
of lawn bordered by flower gardens
– was “tiny, and had a ditch running
through it” in 1993. After her
brother “put tiling in and moved the
boxwoods,” she indulged her passion for gardening and, bit by bit,
utterly transformed the place. She
has been battling the highly invasive
honeysuckle her mother introduced,
but allows a little of it to survive
amid the rambling roses she’s trained
up and partly over the old two-story
woodshed. In mid-June, the roses
are in riotous bloom. Since retiring
she has compiled a 600-page family
history and genealogy of her Howell,
Buchanan and McNeill forebears. But
the genealogies of her garden plants
(“the daylilies are from Vaughtie
Burleson; the wisteria came from my
grandmother’s old place”) are in her
head.
Except for the front yard grass,
everything is gardens, mostly flowers
and shrubs, though there’s a small
vegetable patch immediately behind
the house, which is tucked into a
http://BlueRidgeCountry.com
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013
Cover
Contents
Letters
Digital Help Guide
From the Editor
From the Farm
Our Readers Know
The Hike
Mountain Report
Creature Feature
Events & Festivals
Great Buys
Country Roads
Worth a Click
Leaves, Laughs and Luxury: 25 Great Excursions for Fall
DIGITAL EXCLUSIVE: Ballooning in the Blue Ridge
Fall Photoessay: The Greatest Hits Collection
Trout’s Eye View: Photo
Horse-Powered Logging: A Once and Future Past
Tracking Down the Family Past in the Great Smoky Mountains
Bridge of Beauty
The Last Mountain Man?
Flavors
Cabin in the Woods: Living Like a Wrangler at Clear Creek Ranch
Mountain Garden
Guest Column
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - Intro
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - Cover
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - Cover2
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - Contents
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 4
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 5
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - Letters
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - Digital Help Guide
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - From the Editor
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 9
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - From the Farm
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 11
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - Our Readers Know
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 13
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - The Hike
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 15
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - Mountain Report
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - Creature Feature
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - Events & Festivals
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 19
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - Great Buys
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - Country Roads
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - Worth a Click
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 23
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 24
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - Leaves, Laughs and Luxury: 25 Great Excursions for Fall
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 26
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 27
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 28
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 29
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 30
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 31
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 32
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 33
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - DIGITAL EXCLUSIVE: Ballooning in the Blue Ridge
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - DE2
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - DE3
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - DE4
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - DE5
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - DE6
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - DE7
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - DE8
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - DE9
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - DE10
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - DE11
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - DE12
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - DE13
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - DE14
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - Fall Photoessay: The Greatest Hits Collection
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 35
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 36
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 37
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - Trout’s Eye View: Photo
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 39
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - Horse-Powered Logging: A Once and Future Past
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 41
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 42
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 43
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 44
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 45
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - Tracking Down the Family Past in the Great Smoky Mountains
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 47
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 48
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 49
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - Bridge of Beauty
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 51
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - The Last Mountain Man?
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 53
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 54
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 55
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 56
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - Flavors
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 58
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - Cabin in the Woods: Living Like a Wrangler at Clear Creek Ranch
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 60
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 61
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - Mountain Garden
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 63
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 64
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - 65
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - Guest Column
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - Cover3
Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2013 - Cover4
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