“The butterflies love those two,” Codron said. Purple cleomes add a dash of color nearby.
“They come up wild,” Greer said. “They make great groundcover.”
There is a lot of renewal in the garden.
“I don’t throw away anything,” Codron said. “I never put out a bag of leaves. Everything goes back into the garden.”
Brigitte Codron propagates a bush in her front yard in West Ashley by cutting the top foliage at the stem on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023. Laura Bilson/Staff
By Laura Bilson/lbilson@postandcourier.com
A lot of plants are in pots, and many that began as cuttings become cuttings themselves once they are big enough for the gardeners to share. Take the euphorbia, with its delicate orange flowers and spiked stems, which sit in pots around a much taller specimen planted next to the path.
“The nickname is crown of thorns,” said their friend, Tricia Melton, who is admiring their handiwork.
“You cut it, you stick it in the ground, and in a few years, you get this,” Codron said, gesturing to the mother plant.
Many of the plants in her garden came from next door.
“This all comes from Monica,” Codron said, sweeping her arm over the expanse.
As they cross over to Greer’s yard, they pass a bay laurel tree with dark green culinary leaves.
“I come here whenever I cook,” Codron said.
“I never thought it would get that tall,” Greer said, despite the constant plucking. Greer’s yard extends back even farther under live oaks, with clumps and bunches of plants spread throughout.
“She hides little flowers everywhere,” Codron said. There are surprises around every bend of the path.
“That dwarf crepe myrtle is beautiful,” Melton said. Plants aren’t the only things that have grown in her landscape.
“I used to be a very impatient person,” Greer said. “Gardening changed me.”
Brigitte Codron and Monica Greer walk through Codron’s front yard in West Ashley on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023. Laura Bilson/Staff
By Laura Bilson/lbilson@postandcourier.com
As she rounds a corner and looks toward the marsh behind them, Greer bemoans the once-lush jasmine vine that covered a large wooden screen, which is just now recovering from the harsh cold snap last winter. But there are green and purple sweet potato vines wrapping around the edges and flourishing underneath and trailing across the edges of a back patio.
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