Text by Holly Seng
While gardening may have started out as a childhood chore for Pinkie Chace, over time, it’s blossomed into a beloved hobby and talent that’s identifiable to anyone who sets foot in her picturesque garden.
“My father worked for the [Florida] Department of Agriculture, and my mom and dad spent most weekends out in the yard, and I was recruited to clip hedges, edge flower beds, and rake,” Pinkie recalls.
Following a few dormant years while she was away at college studying art, Pinkie’s interest in gardening reawakened when she and her husband bought their first home. Early on, Pinkie learned mostly through trial and error in the time she spent tending their yard. “I’d see something that was pretty, and I’d plant it not really understanding that you need to plant it in a productive environment,” she says.
Her desire to increase her horticultural skills continued to grow, and she even used her vacation days from her job as an art director for an ad agency to complete the American Horticultural Society’s master gardener program. Upon retiring from the advertising industry, Pinkie worked for 14 years at Oak Street Garden Shop in the Crestline Village area of Birmingham, Alabama.
Five years ago, the Chaces, desiring to downsize, relocated to their current property and have since worked to cultivate a captivating garden. “It really looked nothing like it does now,” says Pinkie. “They just kind of graded it down a slope, and it was solid grass—which the dog loved. She could run up and down it, but it was like walking up a ski slope for my husband and me.”
The couple called upon Gary A. Webb, a licensed horticulturalist specializing in landscape design, to install stone steps flanked by tiered beds that would give Pinkie level areas for planting. The process didn’t come without challenges. Built on the back of a mountain, the home was surrounded by a landscape consisting of mostly rock. With determination and a pickax in hand, Pinkie was able to dig up rocks and amend the soil.
While she brought some plants from her previous home, she was more specific in what she wanted to plant in her new garden. For those flowers that hold sentimental value or that she simply cherishes looking at—from climbing roses to Siberian blue irises and Japanese anemones—Pinkie creates focal points with the blooms as opposed to larger swaths of beds.
“I just like to get out and walk around—deadhead and pinch things back, peek under the leaves and see what’s going on and if something new is coming up,” Pinkie says. “Just walking around and experiencing it and really looking at and studying it.” When it comes to what she enjoys most about gardening, the answer is simple: “The satisfaction of keeping something alive and seeing it flourish and reach its full potential.”
