Gary and Virginia Hutton's gardens are resurrection grounds.
Some might see discarded bricks from construction sites, a crib on the side of the road or mismatched paint as garbage, but the couple revamped the items to make brightly colored pink and purple gateways and a yellow brick road for granddaughter Samantha in their backyard.
An island of a vegetable garden, with a bamboo structure built by Mr. Hutton, also represents giving a new life to an old structure.
"This used to be my above-ground swimming pool," Mrs. Hutton said.
The old ladder for the pool is the climbing post for Lady Banks in the front yard.
Mrs. Hutton said she does the "piddling" in the garden and Mr. Hutton does the planting. They spend about 40 hours a week out in the yard.
"We spend too much time out here doing this," Mr. Hutton said.
One part of their garden is for rooting. It's worked really well with hydrangeas. They now have more than 200 of the showy flowers in several varieties.
Vegetables grown in their gardens include tomatoes, squash, beans and cucumbers. They also have fig and orange trees.
They started on the backyard of their Evans home 14 years ago, adding touches such as pig dÃcor, a pink bench, decorative birdhouses and food for Rufus, the resident crooked-tail squirrel.
"We just had a big open spot," Mr. Hutton said, "and started putting it in the ground," Mrs. Hutton said of the work they have done in their yards.
Mr. Hutton first got into gardening when working at a nursery when he was a teen. Gardening for Mrs. Hutton is a family tradition: she still has an angel hair fern she got from her father.
Reach Sarah Day Owen at (706) 823-3223 or sarah.owen@augustachronicle.com.
ECLECTIC GARDENING
Originality and insight are the two main ingredients in Gary and Virginia Hutton's garden.
Here are some tips to start or keep up a unique garden:
HOW TO ROOT HYDRANGEAS: Cut the clipping at a 45-degree angle, then split where it's cut. Dip it in root toner and remove all but two leaves, then plant. You have about a 50-50 chance of success, according to Mr. Hutton.
HOW TO PRODUCE A FRUITFUL FIG TREE: A common mistake is to fertilize a fig tree -- don't, Mr. Hutton says. The fruit is a nodule and won't produce if fertilized.
BUTTERFLY BAN: This is the time of year to start spraying for butterflies so they don't lay eggs from which harmful caterpillars will develop.
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