Resting under a giant umbrella with nothing but the sound of trickling water in the distance and birds singing is what Pat McCann gets to come home to each day at her home off Walnut Lane.
It has taken her three years to develop her natural paradise since moving to North Augusta from Chicago.
Originally, her backyard was nothing but sand, oak and pine trees, she said. Now, it has a rock path and individual water stations under each plant and flower beds along the edges of the yard.
"My sort of vision was a little surprise here, there or whatever, with interesting things to look at with leaf color or bloom color to take you from spring to late fall," McCann said.
Plants in her yard include maple, weeping pussy willow, mimosa, chaste, river birch and sassafras trees. McCann said she loves flowers and trees, and most of her shrubs are flowering perennials.
"I tried to almost achieve an oriental feeling -- restful, relaxing," she said.
A garden is never finished, she said.
"If something doesn't thrive here, it's an opportunity to put something in its place," she said. "We're all addicted to plants. I keep finding places to tuck them in no matter what."
McCann compared her love for gardening to women and shoes, or men and tools.
"Gardeners always want to have more plants," she said.
Reach Crystal Garcia at crystal.garcia@northaugustatoday.com.
MCCANN'S GARDENING TIP
"Dig a $10 hole for a $1 plant." Make sure to enrich the soil around your plant and dig a deep and wide enough hole so that the plant can prosper.
