Home grown
With patience and determination, a Tennessee couple work from the ground up to turn their acreage into a gardener's paradise.
There's nothing like living in the country to bring out the do-it-yourself attitude in homeowners. That's what Jim and Ilona Wooten discovered when they moved to their 6-acre home in Signal Mountain, Tennessee. "My husband just fell in love with it," Ilona says. "The first time he saw it, he said, ' I want a house right here.' "
Jim says he was struck by the lay of the land and the high-quality soil. That sudden inspiration led him to design and build a 3,000-square-foot retirement home made from prehewn logs. Gardening, however, is the couple's true passion, and the acreage provides a huge canvas for planting.
The Wootens had grown vegetables and flowers at their previous home, but that land didn't come close to what their acreage offers. The couple's gardens and landscaping now cover 4 1/2 acres.
Jim, a master gardener, creates all of the landscaping designs. His method is different from the approach many gardeners use. Instead of sketching out his designs, he makes them in his head as he walks around his acreage. "I'm a gardener who doesn't do what he is supposed to do," he says. "I walk through a piece of property, and I can see exactly what I want to do with it."
The Wootens' acreage is a mix of tailored plant beds and natural areas that blend into the beauty of the wooded landscape. Wildflowers grow freely in those natural areas. Despite nature's contributions, most of the land's beauty comes with a lot of hard work. Because the Wootens maintain their gardens themselves, Jim usually works outdoors five days a week for several hours each day.
The couple's efforts have paid off with vegetable patches, fruit trees and bushes, and an extensive selection of hostas and rhododendrons.
"We never intended to be plant collectors, but it looks like that's what we've become," Ilona says.
Their collection includes more than 100 varieties of hostas and 150 varieties of rhododendrons. Jim grows about 50 types of deciduous azaleas, and Ilona tends ferns and a large herb garden.
Five water features accent the Wootens' gardens, including a rock waterfall near a collection of egret statues. Three benches are arranged around one of the water features, and Ilona says it's her favorite spot on the acreage.
"That's a wonderful place," she says. "It's very calming and relaxing." Nature provides another water feature - a seasonal stream that runs through the natural part of their land.
The Wootens may put hard work into their acreage, but they like to share the rewards with other gardening enthusiasts. Jim and Ilona are active in garden societies and often fulfill requests to tour their land.
People don't have to visit the acreage to see some of the beautiful flowers it produces, however. Jim maintains a cutting garden where Ilona picks flowers to use in floral arrangements for church luncheons and other events. She has taken some classes on arranging flowers and gets additional advice from club meetings.
Ilona likes to cook with produce they grow. She is known for her blueberry crisp, which she makes from blueberries picked directly from the garden. "Any time I have to provide something, that's always the requested dish," she says.
The acres of gardens also give the couple personal joy. Unexpected surprises are the best part of living among sprawling gardens, Ilona says. She sees something different each time she goes out to check on her wildflowers.
"It's always exciting to walk around and see what's blooming and what's new," she says.
As long as there is space that needs landscaping and gardens that need tending, the Wootens have no intention of slowing down. They own 6 acres, and Jim already has plans for the land he has not yet planted.
"I still have an acre and a half to go, and I'll keep going," he says.
