By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
There's a lot to look at in Charlene Price's big back yard eight years into her 10-year plan.
Price grew up on a farm, "doing vegetable gardens all my life. I figured this is about as close to the country as I'm ever going to get, so I made my own oasis. I've got one of those going over there. We just picked a bunch of green peppers."
A trumpet vine enveloped the remaining black walnut tree from nine, creating the effect of a geyser of flowers shooting into the air.
When it "looked kind of neat," she abandoned her original idea of hanging a swing.
Pulling walnut stumps left "big holes in the ground" to fill, said Price,
A footbridge framed in sage crosses a pond. "I love day lilies," she said. "I love reds, oranges and yellows, blues - bright colors. I put it here and there and if it doesn't look right, I move it."
Stone walkways converge on an elevated patio Town and Country Garden Club's Betty McWilliams refers to as the "sitting area" as she presented Charlene Tuesday with the $25 third prize in the 19th city beautification contest. Price won honorable mention in 2004.
The canopied table and chairs afford "something nice to sit under when you're sweating to death from pulling weeds."
Price and her daughters accumulated rocks for five years before she began building her backyard with them.
Farming friends dug up other stones. She paid as much as $25 each for larger boulders. "I'm moving rocks all the time. The ones along the edge I lift up in the spring where they settle, and I kind of lift them up when I'm cleaning."
Price and Vincent, her husband of almost 11 years, live at 312 Hamilton St., down a hill behind the Catholic cemetery that isn't even evident from the flat side facing W. Prairie Ronde.
Although two apartment complexes are across the street the other way, she said they never get trick-or-treaters at Halloween, but Price doesn't mind living by a graveyard and her quiet neighbors.
Price has lived in the home for 18 years. "This house had been condemned," she said. "My aunt and uncle bought it for back taxes and put just enough in it to bring it back" into compliance. "It was a mess. I bought it from them on a land contract, started inside and just kept going."
Upkeep would appear to be daunting - especially since Price works 12-hour shifts in a die-cast shop,
Her brother came to Michigan from Virginia and will complete the pond plumbing.
Squash, cucumbers and peppers are still flourishing, but "the flowers are kind of spiny and I've got beetles out early. Some things bloomed early because it was so warm so early. We've got a sprinkler system that helps keep it nice and green."