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Diane displays a gigantic hosta plant in her “Wine
Garden”. "This is unusual for this area," she says. |
Diane Stafford enjoys the tranquility of summer
evenings spent relaxing with friends and family in the oak
rockers that stretch across one side of her brick-floored
front porch, while five ceilings fans chase the worst of
the heat away.
Near the front door, a well-worn straw hat draped over the
back of an old cane-bottomed chair, along with a
hand-stenciled sign proclaiming "I'm in the garden" gives
real reason to the need for respite from a long day's
work. An adjacent pot full of ivy and pink and green
caladium reveals the green-thumb and decorative flair of
the lady of the house.
Best of all is sweet grace and genuine southern gentility
Diane displays along with a zest for living that radiates
through her conversation.
"When we're sitting out on the front porch, every once in
awhile we'll hear a car start to slow down. I like to
believe they're enjoying the scenery - we enjoy the
scenery ourselves - but it really makes you feel good when
you feel someone else is appreciating it, too," she says
softly.
The 70-acre Stafford farm is accented by their beautiful
home situated on five acres of yard behind the ponds best
known, perhaps, as "Presson's Slough", located a few miles
down Shiloh Road. It's no wonder passers-by slow down to
take a longer look: what once was a snaky-looking
overgrowth of lily pads and rotting trees in an ominous
pool of murky water is now pristine. Nestled in the hill
behind the waters, like a Bob Ross painting, is a small
cabin and boathouse that hints at another of Diane's
passions - fishing.
"I love fishing," she says, gratefully acknowledging that
her husband, Nicky Joe, commissioned the projects that
were completed by Frankie Brockman. "I don't know what I
would do without Nicky Joe; he has pampered and spoiled me
over the years," she confesses.
It was Nicky Joe's vision that prompted the Staffords to
buy the formerly nature-ravaged property ten years ago.
"When Nicky Joe was interested in buying this farm there
were saplings all through here," says Diane, standing
between the house and ponds. "We could only pull in a
short distance, then we had to troop through muck just
like a swamp. We walked on up here to the top of the hill
and Nicky Joe said, 'This is where I want to build our
next house.'"
"I thought he'd lost his mind," she says incredulously,
but I said, 'Whatever!' Now I love it out here. He has a
vision of places for people to build that not everyone
has," she continues softly concerning her real-estate
broker husband's topographical insight.
The year the house was built, professionals from Greenway
Nursery in Medina sculpted the basic landscaping around
the house. Since then, Diane has studied gardening on her
own, attending lawn and garden shows in Jackson and
Nashville each year as well as gleaning ideas from
magazines and partaking of garden tours in west and middle
Tennessee.
"March is a busy month for me," she says, "I go to lawn
and garden shows, home tours, garden tours, and pond
tours. Pond tours are really water-garden tours," she
explains, "You get to see a variety of water gardens and
get great ideas at all of those shows." One of the things
she learned from her studies is to have "a surprise around
every corner", a task made more interesting by her wooded
surroundings.
She uses the spacious grounds and natural spaces of the
farm as the fertile beneficiary of her successful efforts.
Already delighted by the roadside view of the ponds and
cabins, visitors are treated to a never-ending display of
natural beauty, with Mother Nature taking over where Diane
leaves off, splashing brightly colored wildflowers,
honeysuckle, sumac and dogwoods amid lush woods and
pond-side water plants.
 The
road leading up to the house is lined on the left by the
sparkling clear water of one of the area's plentiful
springs, its bed lined with sand and rocks above which is
draped a carpet of Blue Pacific juniper. To the right, one
spies the first of many gardens gracing the property, this
one a delightful mixture of wild and tamed botanicals.
Mingled with a red-berried sumac bush ("I was tickled with
it being here," Diane shares.) are hosta, day lilies,
chrysanthemums, and variegated monkey grass. Accenting the
small entry garden is a sandstone plaque, hand-carved by a
friend, that proclaims, 'The Staffords'.
Up a little farther is a rusted, wrought iron section of
fence along which a clamatis vine twines. The fence is one
of Diane's lawn and garden show finds. "When I come back
my car is piled with plants and yard art," she says,
waving her arm expansively. "There's so much offered to go
to, free of cost, to learn. Lectures at Jackson's lawn and
garden shows have master gardeners who give the lectures
and they're very informative. The Nashville fairgrounds
has a really huge lawn and garden show - they even build a
20' waterfall and it is so spectacular - you get so many
wonderful ideas and so many unique products offered
there." Closer to home, Diane frequents the flea market in
Huntingdon on Tuesdays and the first weekend of the month
in Jackson. She also makes great finds at Fred's, Rural
King, and Wal-Mart. "I just keep my eyes open," she says,
"I'm looking for more unique type of plants now."
Some of her floral attractions began, she admits, as "a
hard place to mow."
"Every time I find a hard place to mow, I plant around
it," she laughs.
Nearing the "Cypress Garden", Diane points out round,
open-topped cages at the water's edge that protect the new
shoots of former cypress trees felled by rogue beavers. In
the shallows beyond which the new sprouts struggle to
survive, Diane plans to position a three-piece concrete
alligator. "You have to have some humor in your every-day
living," she advises with a smile.
Up a bit higher, near the curve of the drive and to the
right, is the Cypress Garden, aptly named for the stately
cypress growing alongside a curved path of stepping-stones
around which, soon, gravel will form a fuller walkway. To
the left of the walkway runs a creek, and, further along a
pea-graveled walking trail, the pond lies beyond. A
profusion of God-placed wild flower bushes provide a
backdrop of bright orange while a bench welcomes those
eager to rest in the natural beauty. A stone bunny adds
quaint appeal.
Diane's practiced eye doesn't miss a thing, noting that in
the wild area in front of the pond, a hawthorn bush is
covered with red berries. "It's a little haven for the
birds out here," she says. She oohs and ahhs over
periwinkles that grow in full sunlight and dogwoods,
hostas, and crepe myrtles that thrive in the shade.
Oak leaf hydrangeas, whose white blossoms have given way
to approaching fall, bring memories of summer's earlier
extravagance. "This redbud was planted last year," she
says, "It loves where it lives."
 Bradford
pear trees line the left side of the drive, leading around
the bend to the lovely "Saint Francis Garden" named for
the statue of Saint Frances Diane added since the Gleason
Nursery set in the basic garden several years ago. Also
added are a rustic church birdhouse and two moss-covered
benches. A stone wall that provides a facing for the
garden was built by Nicky Joe and Diane's brother, Bill
Stoner, in years past.
"If it was not for our family, friends and extended
family, I don't know what we would do," says Diane, who
has nevertheless begun hiring help for some of the upkeep
of the gardens since another favorite pastime -
grandchildren - occupies much of her time.
"For some reason I enjoy spending time with them," she
gushes, "We love our children dearly but something
happened when our grandchildren came along. Nicky Joe
tells people, 'We barely say hi to the kids but we grab
the grandchildren out of their arms.'"
The couple has two children, Micky and Sandi, both of whom
live close at hand with their respective families in a
Stafford Real Estate development on Carroll Lake Road.
Micky and wife Julie are the parents of all-boy, two-year
old Hunter as well as teens Tish and Heather. Sandi and
her husband Spiros Roditis are the parents of
four-year-old Ellie. "They're all so sweet, they're just
the sweetest," coos Diane. "Our little sweetie family.
We're spoiled rotten because we have them all close at
hand."
 Ellie
and Hunter enjoy feeding the fish in the pond adjacent to
Diane's favorite garden, the "Wine Garden". Formerly known
as the "Garden Room" with its stone flooring and facing
benches amid florals, greenery and well-placed garden art,
the hide-away became a favorite place for Diane and
friends to share a glass of wine before dinner. The garden
was renamed by one of their husbands, who declared, "I
don't know why you call this a garden room; it needs to be
called a wine garden."
At the entry to the garden grows burgundy laced Japanese
painted fern, coleus, variegated lantana with yellow
marbled foliage, and evergreen mahonia, accented by a huge
stone beneath whose shade grows bright yellow mushrooms in
compost (purchased at Rural King) formulated to produce
the fungi.
The stone is one of many on the property, brought there by
chance as Diane and her friend, Brenda Smith, were
returning home from the flea market in Jackson. "We were
talking about how we just loved big rocks for landscaping
when we got on the four-lane between Huntingdon and
McKenzie and there was a flat-bed trailer that had a pile
of rocks on it." Diane relates. "Brenda rolled down her
window and asked, 'Are those for sale?'"
They were, and the ladies escorted the truck not only back
to the Stafford farm but also up and down the
neighborhood, where they sold several rocks for the
dealer. The encounter became a basis for future business
with the gentleman, Coy Ricketts, and his wife Brenda of
Sandstone Designs in Arrington, who sponsor a display each
year.
The Wine Garden is a cornucopia of gardening delights,
with trees like the red twig dogwood that adds color to
winter days, and the crumbly bark sycamore that is a treat
in any setting. Thick Boston ferns hang from trees around
the garden while other ferns grow close to the soil. "I
just started collecting ferns this year; I didn't realize
the varieties," Diane says, showing the colors that range
between brown, green and burgundy with textures from
smooth to lacy.
Azaleas, coral bells, lace-cap hydrangea, Veronica astilbe,
and begonias are just a few of the florals nestled among
hosta and other greenery.
"I read that if you want a relaxing atmosphere to use
subtle colors," says Diane, who chose varieties of blues,
pinks, and purples for the garden, "and I like to relax
out here in my garden."
A huge hosta plant shows the plant's real potential. "This
is not normal in this area," Diane explains. "We tend to
divide hostas before they're supposed to be, I've learned.
This is how they're supposed to look, so I'm trying not to
divide them as often."
The six-year old plant, dug up and transplanted for Diane
by Sandi and Spiros, was a gift from Lois Pugh, "a sweet
lady from our church," says First United Methodist member
Diane, "She is the most precious lady." Other varieties of
hosta grow within the garden in smaller diameters.
The Wine Garden also features a waterfall using water
pumped from the ponds that returns there after cascading
over jutting, flat brown stones similar to those that form
the floor of the "room". A curious looking stone frog that
"is so ugly he's beautiful" peers from his position on the
stone floor along with other subtly-placed garden figures
like dragon flies and bees that surprise visitors trying
to drink in all the garden has to offer.
Birdhouses built by family friend Jerry Drewry as well as
a butterfly box add purpose beyond beauty to the garden's
design. Some of the other florals in the garden include
elephant ears, columbine, rhododendrons, azaleas,
impatience, sedum, a variety of day lilies, irises, and
amethyst mist coral bells.
"One of my new discoveries is the oak-leaf hydrangea,"
says Diane, "They get very large, they're just
magnificent." Other impressive selections on the farm
include the burning bush (euonymus) and a mock orange
bush.
Driftwood brought from Kentucky by Brenda and her husband
had more spice to the mix. "We're big garden buddies, she,
Judy Butler, and I," says Diane, who then indicates an
elongated pot full of fern, caladium, impatience, and
variegated ivy that Diane modeled after a photograph Judy
supplied from Southern Living magazine.
"Mother Nature is fantastic isn't she?" says Diane,
energized by the excursion among the gardens. Winding in
and out around her legs is "Clack", one of the Stafford's
two calico cats, "Click and Clack" named by Nicky Joe from
National Public Radio's Car Talk hosts. They have one
little feist dog named Law, who was once part of a duo,
"Law and Order", before Order came up missing.
 Like
the gardens, even the buildings are named. Diane explains
it is easier to explain where things are if the places
where they are found have names. For instance, the red
barn to the side and back of the house is called the "Law
Office". It got its name after a trail ride netted the
find of an old law office sign among a pile of trash, that
was later rescued and given a place of prominence above
the doorway of the barn. Another outbuilding located next
to the beagle kennels is the "Police Station". Its sign
was given to Nicky Joe after city hall moved years ago,
and its weathered appearance gives ample testimony to its
age.
Another prized item on the Stafford farm is the outhouse
Diane gave Nicky Joe for his 60th birthday last February.
With about 75 people assembled "on the hill" for a
birthday barbecue, Diane rode inside the outhouse as its
creator, Frankie Brockman, transported the privy up the
long driveway to the house. When he stopped, Diane opened
the door, calling, "Surprise!" Today the outhouse is a
working privy, complete with Sears catalog and corncobs
stashed inside an old porcelain pot. "He has always
thought outhouses were so neat and he did have to use them
when he was a kid," Diane says, explaining her choice of
gifts.
"God has definitely blessed me with a wonderful life, a
wonderful husband, family, precious children, friends and
extended family, and I can't say too much about Nicky Joe
having patience with me with all my yard projects and
funds and equipment," Diane says gratefully. Nicky Joe's
latest contribution to Diane's gardening pursuits was the
installation of water and electric lines in order that
lights can be placed within the gardens. Next week,
re-blacktopping will cover the cuts made through the
pavement to install the lines.
Diane's talents have taken her beyond home and hearth to
chair the United Methodist Women's Bazaar for the past two
years, with another bazaar planned for November. "That
could not be done without the wonderful men and women of
the church helping us out; there's lots of teamwork in
that," she says. She also volunteers on the Methodist
Hospital's annual golf tournament fundraiser, a project
that helps promote community services such as the
beautiful walking trail located beside the hospital.
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