LISA STEELE

Sharing bountiful blooms

Story and Photos by Loretta Gillespie

Lisa Steele is a true renaissance woman. After retiring from the Lawrence County school system, she decided to return to school to pursue a degree as a nurse practitioner. Since graduating, she has been busy at work in a clinic, but somehow she still finds time to pursue another passion, gardening. 

Each spring finds her working diligently to make her corner lot a showplace. The lovely yellow two-story house is surrounded by blooming trees and shrubs that give it a picture-perfect Southern look. 

Lisa Steele’s prized ‘Limelight’ hydrangeas are much sought after for spring and summer weddings. These are always filled with blooms that supply events all over town.

Steele loves blooming things and fills her containers with lots of annuals and flowering perennials each spring. When they outgrow their pots, she moves the perennials into the garden. 

That garden is much bigger this year because the Steele’s had their swimming pool filled in last year. “I just wanted more room for gardening and for my dogs,” she explained. “We hardly used it any longer since our boys have left home.”  

Lisa Steele has become a community treasure, not only because of her work with the ASPCA, and other volunteer organizations, but for her lovely blooming offerings to the community.

In the front yard there are three huge Limelight hydrangeas (H. paniculata ‘Limelight’), which are a community treasure of sorts. The ‘Limelight’ blooms are prized by local decorators, florists, and wedding consultants for their durability and beauty. She loves sharing the blooms with friends and neighbors. “I wanted to have something to cut that would do well in arrangements,” she explained.

Making a lacey adornment along the top of a privacy fence, the evergreen Jackson vine (Smilax smallii) is another prized plant, especially during wedding season and holidays. It will hold up without water for hours, and in some weather, for days. Although a nuisance in some parts of the country, it is a highly sought-after plant in this Zone 7 location, where you can find it – especially in historic districts and neighborhoods – under the eaves of porches, on arbors, and adorning trellises. Some gardeners, like Lisa, actually have a waiting list each spring, filled with the names of brides who have requested this hardy vine for their big day.  

Lisa Steele has become a community treasure, not only because of her work with the ASPCA, and other volunteer organizations, but for her lovely blooming offerings to the community.

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