By Ed Simmons, Jr.
cpreporter@lcs.net
Quaint, pretty, newly-born, and on display May 14 and 15 for the Art and Garden Walk, Mary Frances Coleman's flower gardens at her 144 Milford Street home in Bowling Green were recently carpeted with thousands upon thousands of silver maple "helicopters." Spinning round and round, they'd fallen from two maples her father Fred planted when he and her mother Elizabeth moved there in 1939. Now they're enormous, with more clutches yet to spiral down.
"It took me two-and-a-half hours to pick them all out," said Mary Frances, grinning at the prank Mother Nature played on her prim new gardens that neighbors involved in the Art and Garden Walk, and working like genies, helped her plant. "I thought they were kidding when they asked if they could put my yard in the show," she said. But they assured her they would transform the place, which is exactly what they did, hauling in plants and mulch and working intensely for five straight days. "They worked like dogs," she said, amused and a little awed. "Especially Helen Butler and Mark Mallin. They worked their fingers to the bone. I had a bunch of other helpers too."
They included gardening enthusiasts Bill Butler, Lois Abernathy, Alana Mallin, Carolyn Roth, Amanda Young and Cheryl English. Like elves they toiled, delighting Mary Frances with their creation and beautifying the already-pretty Town of Bowling Green just in time for the Art and Garden Walk, as if in the twinkling of an eye. Also on the Art and Garden Walk tour are Ken and Mary Barnett's Victorian gardens across the street, Mount Pleasant just north of Bowling Green, the Young garden on Hoomes Circle, the gardens of Willow Oaks Farm on Farmers Lane and the gardens of Bowling Green Farm.
Twenty-four artists will be at work and there will be live music. Tickets are $10, available at the Bowling Green Visitors Center and on the days of the Walk at Mount Pleasant, Bowling Green Farm and on the lawn at the Courthouse. Proceeds benefit the Caroline Museum and the restoration of the Old Jail.
At Mary Frances' garden, be sure to look for a bunny named "Phlox". "I named him 'Phlox' because he ate my phlox!" said Mary Frances. "I bet he'll be in the honeysuckle lyin' low."