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Judy and Randy Messer have dreamt up and carefully designed a treasure trove of landscapes across their 30-acre property in Central, Louisiana. From the butterfly garden to the fruit orchard, and from the cypress cove to the “secret garden,” the natural marvels throughout their expansive home will have you believing in fairy tales once more.
The Messer gardens are arranged like a revolving set of rooms. Around every bend and through every jasmine-covered archway, there’s a unique wonderland awaiting.
One of the couple’s main focuses is their butterfly garden. There, they grow milkweed, coreopsis, partridge pea, lespedeza, zinnia, and passionflower vine, which attract a host of butterfly visitors. The Louisiana state butterfly—the Gulf Fritillary—likes to lay its eggs on the passionflower vine, and once hatched, the caterpillars enjoy the leafy meal it provides.
“Then there’s the ‘Island Room’, where we have an island garden bed. In the springtime, we have pink phlox, rudbeckia, and all kinds of flowers in that area,” said Randy Messer. “When our grandkids were young, we made little stones with their footprints and embedded toys in each of them.”
A small goldfish pond and several bird feeders occupy another area called the “Checkerboard Garden”, named for its checkerboard design. Behind the gardens, there is an area that used to be a parish drainage ditch. When the parish abandoned efforts to upkeep the ditch, it was handed over to the care of the Messer family. They planted cypress trees and transformed the ditch into a makeshift swamp—complete with a raised clubhouse and boat.
For Randy Messer, the inspiration to garden came early. He grew up on the land where the couple currently lives, and during his childhood his father kept a plant nursery where he raised and sold camellias, sasanquas, and azaleas. It was known as Camellia Gardens.
Shrouded in greenery and winding with steppingstones, the same area that once housed the plant nursery in the 1940s became a place of adventure and childhood fantasy for the Messers’ two boys.
“The kids used to love to run through there, because it gets dark under the heavy foliage,” said Judy Messer. “I find their toys out there still—little airplanes and trucks—and I keep them and put them where you can see them.”
After developing her passion for gardening during her husband’s working years at ExxonMobil, Judy Messer decided to take the East Baton Rouge Master Gardener course at the turn of the millennium. She also joined the Central Bloomers Garden Club in 2000, and she delights in exchanging plants and ideas with friends and fellow club members.
“Everything multiplies, so I just tell everyone, ‘Anything you like, I’ll give you—just come on by,’” said Judy Messer.
The couple shares an affinity for planting native species that thrive within the Louisiana ecosystem. Their property has also earned the Gold Certification from the Louisiana Certified Habitat Program.
How do you decide what you want to plant?
We are inspired by perennials—plants that come up every year and multiply. We love everything, though. We do plant some annuals—zinnias and cosmos.
We also raise vegetables from seeds, and we use raised beds for that. Yesterday we picked some watermelon radishes—they look like watermelons when you cut them open. We made some homemade hummus and used the radishes as chips. We raise just enough vegetables for us to eat and give away some.
Outside our front door we have herbs that we use for our tea—tarragon and pineapple sage. We even grow a stevia plant as sweetener.
What are some challenges you have come across?
The southern blizzard that blew through this January killed our citrus trees. It was seven degrees outside the day after the storm. We had grapefruit, orange, and lemon trees, and we enjoyed their fruit for many years. Another challenge as we get older is bringing plants that can’t handle the cold into the greenhouse or onto the patio.
Keeping up with the weather is always a challenge. We installed a microirrigation system for all the garden areas. Being retired, we don’t stay home a lot. We are here, there, and everywhere.
We also have an orchard in the back where we have apples, pears, chestnuts, grapes, plums, and even a pawpaw tree. We just bought a Barbados cherry tree, too. Keeping the pests off the trees is tough because the insects and the critters around here love the fruit trees.
Any advice?
Figure out what you like. Begin with that and then experiment. Just start off slow and do it little by little. The thing about gardening is that you can get to the point where you really enjoy working in the dirt, planting, and taking care of things.
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