Yard of the Month

After more than 40 years of gardening in the same yard, Hope Weidman qualifies as a pioneer landscaper in the Sunset Acres neighborhood, adjoining Broadway Street just east of Interstate 35. The Weidman home on Candlelight Lane between Broadway and Del Sol is Spring Lake Garden Club’s Yard of the Month for May 2022.

Older gardens often feature a great variety of plants, and Hope’s front yard includes plants and garden art from her aunts, her mother (two althea bushes by the mailbox), and even her grandmother (three amaryllis near the house). Daughter Michelle also contributed to the family plant legacy with pink-flowered angel wings in a front corner bed around a tree stump near the street, where a new mimosa tree now claims residence. Some plants came from friends and colleagues at CTMC, where Hope worked for 34 years, beginning when it was Hays Memorial Hospital and later moved to its present location in 1983, changing its ownership and name.

The front yard has developed into several “mini gardens” in separate planting beds surrounded by turf grass and partially shaded by two pecan trees planted when the family moved into their home in the 1970s. Two young pecan trees are already planted to take the place of these older trees nearing the end of their lifespan. The old trees shade a small metal table and chairs, which welcome garden visitors and where Hope can enjoy morning coffee. Near this outdoor seating, a metal-edged gravel path leads to a small covered structure housing an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, a gift from one of Hope’s brothers. At the end of the path, another mini garden includes red and white sages and potted cacti, and offers still another setting for garden ornaments.

Irises, blooming purple, yellow and white, make their home in most of the planting beds, with an unusual black/purple iris in a bed next to the house near the red amaryllis and a single lily plant. Roses in a variety of colors mix with the irises and other bedding plants in each mini garden. One mature bush next to the house is over 40 years old and still produces large pink blossoms. Other roses in the front yard are pale pink, vibrant yellow and red. Hope notes that the althea (Rose of Sharon) shrubs beside the mailbox offer two types of flowers: one a light pink double bloom, the other an almost transparent single lavender blossom.

Dedicated gardeners never really retire, and now Hope fills many hours caring for grandchildren after school — another type of dedication to cultivation. She enjoys the rest of her free time caring for her collection of plants and garden art collected over the years and expanded thanks to friends and family.