Photos by Tilley Photography
Growing up in Columbus, Mississippi, Judy Abide watched with admiration as her grandmother lovingly tended to her flowers, herbs and kitchen vegetables.
“When I was a child trying to help her, I remember her saying, ‘Don’t water in the hot sunshine because the flowers will faint’; I certainly didn’t want that,” recalls the Realtor with The O’Keefe Real Estate Group. “It was good advice then, and it stands as good advice today.”
Now a grandmother herself, Abide has cultivated an impressive garden of her own at her home on Jordan Drive in West Biloxi. Running north and south in a long narrow space adjacent to the house, the plot gets the morning sun and full shade in the late afternoon.
When Abide and her family moved to the property 20 years ago, after previously living in a home that was damaged in Hurricane Katrina, she knew she wanted the garden to be something special. She hired a landscape architect to execute her vision, who drew up the plans and made Abide’s dreams come true.
“I asked for a formal garden that I could fill in over time, and yes, it did take years,” she says. “I had many friends help me along the way, including master gardeners, garden club ladies and anyone who would tote pine straw or mulch.”
The garden took shape using materials like pea gravel, bricks, limestone and especially grasses. Abide envisioned a haven replete with blue, purple and pink flowers, and today, she savors the quiet moments spent among her azaleas, camellias, mondo grass, lemon and satsuma trees, magnolias and other annuals, perennials and herbs.
“Any time in the garden is a good time: but especially in the morning with the birds singing and the sweet smells of the blooms,” Abide says. “It gives an emotional response to slow down and to see God’s beauty.”
Over the years, the lovely spot has been the setting for cocktail parties, barbecues, family dinners and even a small wedding.
“It is now a place for the grandchildren and dogs to play,” Abide says, “and a place of faith, prayer and peace.”