My Neighbor’s Garden – by Kay Faught, Blue Door Garden Store
Peggy Peffley has a “bionic garden”…always exploding and taking over! After 36 years in Santa Barbara, California, Peggy and Mac Peffley moved Jacksonville to be closer to family. They’ve lived in their Singler Lane home for eleven years, now. She immediately joined the garden club, then started working on her “subdivision landscape” home with a goal of creating four season color and “planting things she couldn’t before!” Peggy’s garden is amazing…in the size of a city lot she has her own composting section, veggie beds, voracious perennial beds, beds of brilliant dahlias, pots of peppers, a full ecosystem pond, and beautiful hanging baskets!
As I walked up Peggy’s front walk to their home, big boxwoods lined the path, inter-planted with cheery yellow pansies! The front yard shelters plants needing protection from afternoon heat. Welcoming ivy topiaries at the front door are flanked by deep orange weeping begonias cascading from an old chair seat. I’m happy already!
Peggy “lives” her garden and she exudes joy as she talks about it and how fun each section is. The backyard has cement edging to trim the grass area, preventing the beds from taking over with abundance in a hodgepodge of perennials…. love-in-a-mist, asters, black eyed Susan’s, phlox, evening primrose, and a myriad of garden favorites fill and spill. The two corners are anchored by birch trees carpeted beneath with snow-in-summer and lemon balm… tall pink anemones surprise you as sentries to the side garden. Raised beds of winter veggies and pole beans provide a hiding place for bright dahlias! Habaneros tuck in and out with impatiens at their feet! Along the back of the home by the patios, tansies repel flies, roses lay over deep burgundy mums and a dinner plate white dahlias smiles at the sun!
As if all of these garden beds aren’t enough adventure, in the middle of it all is a pond and waterfall offering serene sound and planting options for Peggy. A large Japanese maple anchors the scene. Beneath it, interplaying with rocks and water reeds, hibiscus, red penstemons and volunteer ferns await. It was mesmerizing trying to see what was there…all in its own world.
Peggy has no regrets in her gardening journey and gave one very strong bit of advice: “Start with good soil… it is the foundation… I do all my own composting and have dug up each bit of soil as I planted, replacing it with good soil.” Obviously it works—Peggy and her plants are happy!
It is obvious she loves to garden but I asked Peggy why she gardens. “It is my passion, a place where I can express my artistic side… I also use it every day as my time with God.” Then she laughed and added, “In fact, God and I garden together!” Every day at dusk, she walks every inch of her garden. “I love the indescribable color and finding a new flower or bloom every day that wasn’t there the day before.”
From all I could see, that would truly be a great way to end each day. Thanks for sharing your garden with me, Peggy!
Kay Faught of Blue Door Garden Store
Kay is the owner of Blue Door Garden Store, located at 155 N Third St. Specializing in paraphernalia for the home gardener, she carries garden gifts, decor, and a wide variety of pots, tools, gloves, and organic product. Join Kay for her 5th Annual “Holiday in the Garden” throughout November. See ad below.
Posted November 6, 2013
Kay is the owner of Blue Door Garden Store, located at 155 N. 3rd, behind a big blue door. Specializing in garden gifts and décor, she also carries a wide variety of tools, gloves, and organic product. Visit Blue Door Garden Store online at
Good article. Thank you! I like Peggy, love to be outdoors in my vegetable garden as well as wiring in my flower beds. It relaxes me, as like Peggy, I too garden with God! Helping things grow is very rewarding. Thank you again!