There was a time when Mike and Toni Stevens were both immersed in raising their children, enjoying extended family, working long hours and participating in the community activities of Port Sulphur. Their collective gardening interests extended no further than mowing the grass.
This month, Hammond Garden Club selected Mike and Toni Stevens on Naples in the Milan Subdivision as Garden of the Month. They have come a long way in their horticultural journey.
That journey began with the tragic loss of a child 30 years ago. Toni needed a new direction. Something therapeutic. Something soothing. A distraction. Something to help her deal with her grief. She turned her focus outdoors and planted a single flower bed. Then another and another.
Her new interest opened a whole new world for her. With experience came knowledge, and she found herself sharing plants and advice about their care with her friends and neighbors. Eventually, her fledgling garden grew into a small nursery.
Thanks in part to Toni’s buy one, get one free marketing incentive, the nursery thrived, and as the business grew there was the need for an actual storefront. She and Mike built what she calls a “little country store.” She filled it with plants, garden art and crafted items created by her husband and other local artists. Eventually, the store became a community gathering place where people came to talk about plants and life in general over a cup of freshly brewed coffee.
All this time, her own garden was becoming a botanical showplace. Since she had her own nursery to choose from, she was constantly adding plants to her personal landscape. As customers had questions about a specific plant, Toni simply took them over to her own yard and showed them how the plant would look as it grew, how it might or might not complement other plants, and how its care requirements compared to that of other plants. It was an ideal setup, but it was not to last.
When Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Louisiana coast 20 years ago, her home, nursery and country store were destroyed, along with much of Port Sulphur. Surrounded by disaster, the family made the decision to relocate to Gretna for Mike’s work, and Toni was quickly involved in developing another garden and finding another set of friends and neighbors who wanted guidance.
Four years ago, Mike and Tony made yet another move to be closer to family. The house they bought in Hammond featured a dismal, neglected yard that would allow Toni to transform a blank canvas into a lush, colorful masterpiece that showcases her talent for garden design.
Her face lights up when she talks of creating new garden beds using plants of different shapes, heights and colors while always taking their growth habits and care requirements into consideration. Some of Toni’s favorite plants in the Hammond Garden include Katrina roses, begonias, vincas, pentas, loropetalums, foxtails, Knock Out roses, drift roses, butterfly bush (milkweed) and azaleas.
Mike is very quick to give all gardening credit to Toni, but his embellishments can’t be overlooked. After long hours commuting from Hammond to the New Orleans area for work, he spends time in his workshop creating colorful, imaginative figures and birdhouses which add just the right touch of whimsy to their home’s landscape.
The garden wouldn’t be quite as wonderful as it is without Mike’s contributions, but he still insists on sharing even that credit with Toni. “She tells me what she wants,” he said, “and I build it.”
What a delightful team of gardeners. Their journey has been punctuated with tragedy, but it is replete with joy. Treat yourself to a feast of color. Drive by their home and enjoy the view.
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