By Steve Tomberlin

When I was a young boy in elementary school, I would oftentimes get notes written on my report card like, “Stevie is a smart, bright and capable student with lots of energy, but sometimes he likes to be the Clown of the Class”, or “sometimes he can be easily distracted”, or something along those lines. I guess today it would be referred to as ADHD.  (Keep in mind that I was only 5 or 6 years old at the time).  While I enjoyed some classes more than others, I have to admit that I could often become bored and would find myself staring out the classroom window longing to be outside or I would seek to attract attention away from the lesson at hand by trying to be “cute” or “funny”, much to the entertainment of my classmates but irritation and frustration to my teachers. 

Thank goodness as I grew older, I came to realize that it wasn’t necessary (and certainly not beneficial) for me to be the center of attention as I learned to practice the art of listening and waiting patiently (and politely) for my turn to speak or respond.  I read somewhere recently that someone so wisely stated; “It’s better to work for a cause, not for applause.  Live your life to express not to impress.  Don’t strive to make your presence noticed, just make your absence felt”.  While that is great advice, it’s often easier said than done.  I’m still working on adopting that kind of attitude.

My parents obviously put this “extra energy” to good use by having me do many “fun” chores around the house and yard.  Chores like mowing the lawn, trimming shrubs, raking leaves, cleaning out and planting flower beds, plowing the garden, and the like.  Being the youngest of three boys I didn’t always think it was fair as it often seemed that I was doing more than my share of the work.  However, over time I grew to really love getting my hands dirty and becoming one with nature.  I began to enjoy and take much pride in my work and always strived to have the most beautifully landscaped and manicured yard on our little street in Decatur, Georgia. This love of landscaping maintenance and gardening grew from a chore to a labor of love. 

A few years later as I met the love of my life, Billie; I learned among many other things we had in common, that she too had a love for flowers and gardening as well. She grew up in the beautiful small town of Summerville, South Carolina near the coast and just a few miles inland from Charleston.  Summerville is known as “The Flower Town in the Pines”.  There, she learned the love of nature through her beautiful surroundings and her parents who were avid flower and vegetable gardeners.  Her dad always had a bountiful vegetable garden plot overflowing with a vast array of vegetables. Her mom always had beautiful flowers growing and on display in various arrangements through the home year-round. Her mom later in life after raising her six children and enjoying the fruits of many grandchildren worked at Middleton Plantation. It is one of the most famous, beautiful, and historic plantations in Charleston. There she helped plant, cultivate, and display many flower arrangements in and around the mansion and grounds. 

As our family began to grow with three daughters and moved to Montgomery, Alabama in the early 1980’s we started experimenting with growing many different types of flowers, bulbs, shrubs and trees.  Mostly by trial and error or through the experiences we had growing up, we slowly learned what grows well in our area and what doesn’t or what and how things need “tweaking” to maximize their abundance and beauty.  In the late 1990’s as our children grew older, we moved to Pike Road, Alabama.  We were excited to be pursuing the rural country life on a 5-acre tract of land where we could realize building the home of our dreams and having plenty of space to enjoy the wonderful outdoors and surrounding natural beauty with our family and friends.

Now, after almost 25 years of living the dream of country life with both of us retired we are enjoying even more time gardening and landscaping own our little piece of “heaven on earth” we’re so blessed to call home. With hundreds of trees of many varieties, dozens of camellias, azaleas, tea olives, banana shrubs, roses, bulbs, vegetable garden, and numerous other plant types along with the maintenance that goes along with that we have plenty to keep us busy.  We are still experimenting and learning as we go.  Ever changing, transforming, and sometimes exhausting, but we often say it is still a work in progress; but we wouldn’t have it any other way if it wasn’t for the Love of the Land! 

Steve Tomberlin, an intern in the 2020 Master Gardener Class, lives in Pike Road, AL. For more information on becoming a master gardener, visit www.capcitymga.org or email capcitymga@gmail.com.