Herb Garden Porch Articles & Resources

Which noted landscape architect designed the garden? If you're as creatively challenged as I am, you'll cringe at the answer. Peg and Truman leafed through some garden books, grabbed pencil and paper, and did the whole thing themselves.

Newcomers to the Lowcountry, the Moores moved from New York into their historic home (built in 1786) eight years ago. They chose Charleston, says Peg, because "we wanted to live in a sophisticated city, but a smaller city. And because we were very involved in historic preservation, we wanted to live in a place that values its history. Charleston does."

They also coveted a garden. "I wanted a place to garden year-round," she explains. "Our real estate broker understood this. I told her I didn't care about the kitchen or living room-the first thing I wanted to see was the garden."

Or rather, the potential area for a garden. "The yard was pretty much a blank slate," Peg recalls. "Nothing but fire ants and grass." But this did not bother the Moores, who preferred starting from scratch than tearing down an old garden. Truman, noting existing features, carefully measured every inch of the yard to create a base plan. He also studied the area's sun and shade patterns. Then Peg embarked on a series of roughly 30 everevolving design sketches. She based the earliest ones on the works of renowned landscape architect Loutrel Briggs, who designed many great gardens in Charleston.

"His gardens were symmetrical and formal," Peg notes. "But it's hard to have a symmetrical garden when one half is sunny and the other is shady, like our garden. Even if the same plants survive in both places, they don't grow to the same size. So I gave half the garden the Loutrel Briggs look-the formal lawn, the brick walks, the loquat hedge, the herb parterre-and then the other half, the sunnier part, I did in the looser cottage garden style."

The color scheme evolved as well. "Like many people, I started out with the whole pink-blue-and-white bit," Peg says. "But here in Charleston with our intense sunshine, that palette tends to be too pale. So I added a lot of reds and oranges." Indeed, at this moment in early May, the bright reds and oranges of verbena, petunias, geraniums, gerbera daisies, daylilies, and pot marigolds catch your eye and carry it throughout the garden.

Peg and Truman live in Charleston all year-they don't flee to cooler climes when the weather gets hot. So their garden, unlike many in the city, needs color beyond the spring. To accomplish this, they grow dozens of flowering plants in pots that Peg keeps along the brick terrace. Some bloom in spring, some in summer, and some in fall and winter. Whenever and wherever she needs color, she plugs them into the garden at an appropriate spot.

Such gardening can be exhausting, but the payback is worth it. "It's ajoy to have things growing and blooming year-round," Peg declares. "You don't have to endure nine months of nothing, like you do up North."

Rich, generous soil is key to a garden like this one. "Someone told us that during World War II, the owner here kept chickens," Peg says. "So actually, we started with pretty good soil." To make it even better, she and Truman hauled in many truckloads of compost in the garden's early stages. And they amend the soil with compost and manure every year.

Every successful gardening partnership demands that each partner accept a role. Here, Peg is the master gardener-the planner, the planter, the artist. As for Truman, he's the "under-gardener," a position he has held ever since he committed the cardinal sin of pruning the roses without asking Peg. Truman: "I thought we understood we were going to hard-- prune 'em." Peg: "He cut off 45 rosebuds that were just about to open. I couldn't believe it."

With Truman's duties now redefined, all is well at the couple's house. "I'm Doctor Death," he announces proudly. "I get rid of weeds and bugs. I'm good for fungus, Florida betony, dandelions, and stuff like that. If it needs to be killed, I'm the guy."

But that stuff will have to wait. Right now, the only liquidation Truman is contemplating is a glass of red wine with Peg.