This perennial garden took the top spot at the Dispatch Backyard Garden Awards
Thinking about the perennial garden at his home in Millersport, Ohio, Bruce Jones summed up the scene with one sentence.
"The whole place is one big smorgasbord of beauty," said Jones, 71.
But he was quick to give his wife, Carolyn Sue, all the credit for the colorful array of hydrangeas, coneflowers, river birches, viburnums and hostas.
"She's got an eye I can't match," Jones said. "So, if she says, 'Bring the wheelbarrow over,' that's what I do."
The couple's garden was awarded Best in Show at the Dispatch Backyard Garden Awards, which took place at the Central Ohio Fall Home Show this month. The prize was a $500 gift card to Oakland Nurseries, the presenter of the awards.
Carolyn Sue, 68, said people had encouraged her to enter the contest, but she never felt the garden was good enough until now.
"We've been working on (the garden) for probably 10 years," she said. "It's all organic. It's not like we had a plan."
A recently retired nurse, Carolyn Sue has been able to dedicate even more time to projects around the house, which she and Bruce have taken on since they met.
"We're both widowed, and we met on '11/11/11,'" she said. "And ever since then, we've done nothing but try to beautify our house. And without him, that would never have been the case."
Her husband couldn't resist making a good-natured joke.
"I've got a tractor. That's the only reason she married me."
The couple was one of approximately 340 entries into the Dispatch Backyard Garden Awards. Multiple winners in other categories also received Oakland Nursery gift cards. See who won below.
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Best Home Landscaping
First place: "At the Edge of the Woods" by Sharon Kelley, Marysville
Second place: "Serine Pond" by Amy Medders, Delaware
Best Vegetable Garden
First place: "Tanya's Plant Pot" by Tonya Dos Santos, Worthington
Second place: "The Nervous Gardener" by Courtney McGinty, Galloway
Best Container Garden
First place: "Love's Respite" by Jessica Love, Reynoldsburg
Second place: "Barn Trash, My Treasure" Carol Smith, Pickerington
Best Community Garden
First place: Stems For Seniors/LifeCare Alliance Flower Garden, on behalf of Todd Davis, Powell
Second place: Wagnalls Memorial Library, on behalf of Pamela Jarvis, Lithopolis
Best Native Plant Garden
First place: "Native Paradise" by Brenda Rushin, Grove City
Second place: Daniel Marcus, Columbus
Best Perennial Garden
First place: "Pollinators Paradise" by Van Thomas Staros-Malinowski, New Albany
Second place: "Morning in Our Garden" by Mary Ann & Ed Kitchen, Columbus
People's Choice
First place: Saint Andrew Christian Church's Joyful Garden, submitted by Katherine Hoagland, Dublin
Second place: The Chicken Shire by Philip Shimer, Columbus
@miss_ethompson
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Dispatch Backyard Garden Awards: See who won
