Sallie Dubay and her husband, Steve, had no plans to move from their Savannah Barony home a year ago.
Then she pulled up to Carl and Polly Schutte's house on Holiday Drive.
She found it while learning her way around North Augusta and studying the real estate market in 2005.
An avid gardener, Dubay was so impressed by the evidence of their green thumbs that she often took friends by to show the yard to them.
Then Dubay was hired to find the Schuttes a smaller house, and to help them sell their old one.
"When I drove up, my jaw just dropped," she said.
The yard is filled with hydrangea bushes, which bloom in various hues from blue to purple.
Dubay said she's enjoyed discovering the surprises her new yard holds for her.
Azalea bushes bloom in the spring, hydrangeas in the summer and camellias in the winter.
"I've got year-round interest," Dubay said.
She's got a few other surprises, as well, in the form of plants that are not supposed to thrive in warm weather.
In the side yard she has a blue spruce tree, small but doing very well despite the South Carolina heat.
Dubay also has a few peonies, which she planted high so they can get as much cold air as possible in winter. She said they like to freeze.
To make the yard her own, she incorporated a variety of plants she brought from her former home.
She added a black baccarat, her favorite flower, to a spot near the trellis in the back yard. She filled in areas around the footpaths with a variety of perennials for color.
She also added a vegetable garden in the back yard and to the side yard.
"I like eating fresh vegetables," she said. "I always have something to go out and get (for dinner)."
Making the yard hers is still a work in progress, Dubay said.
"I've taken out some things I didn't like," she said. "It takes two or three years to get something in shape the way you want it."
Reach Lisa Kaylor at lisa.kaylor@northaugustatoday.com.
