Last week the garden of Edward and Tonya Reynolds was featured in an article about the Samaritan Counseling Center’s Spring Garden Tour. It will be held on Saturday, May 5 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., when two of Bainbridge’s outstanding gardens will open for viewing. This week, information on the garden of Glenn and Lee Ann Heard is provided.

Lee Ann claims to be a self-taught gardener who knew nothing of gardening skills, but experimented with growing flowers she liked.

She was fortunate to be able to consult advice from experts around her. “When one of my plants died I would take it to Jimmy Crum at Crum’s Garden Center and ask him, ‘What did I do wrong?’ And he would tell me. I learned so much from him during my first 20 years of gardening.”

The Heards built a new home in a subdivision carved out of land from the family farm, and moved in 2000. At that point Lee Ann hired a consultant from Tallahassee Nurseries to draw up a garden plan that focused on year-round color. They also began moving trees from the Spring Creek property where the couple had begun married life. She continued experimenting with annuals and perennials with lots of colors.

Then Lee Ann discovered daylilies. With more than 35,000 varieties to choose from and colors in every shade except blue, she had found the perfect plant for her gardens. Thanks to the number of varieties in her garden, she now has blossoms non-stop from early April through mid-September. She is now planning to experiment with hybridizing and cross-pollinating different varieties of daylilies to create her own cultivars.

She does still continue to put out some annuals and other perennials, but daylilies are her first and best love.

Her nearly 40-year love affair with gardening has sparked a lifetime of learning and enabled Lee Ann to create a lively, colorful garden that not only brings joy to herself, but also makes the world a little happier for everyone who steps through her garden gates.

In addition to the two garden tours, there is an added attraction of guest speaker, James Farmer, noted author of the Wall Street Journal’s best-selling garden book, A Time to Plant, as well as other books on gardening, floral and interior designing. He will speak at the Firehouse Gallery from 1 to 2 p.m. before holding a book signing at Bainbridge Pharmacy from 2 to 3 p.m.

Tickets are available at Bainbridge Pharmacy and from the Samaritan Counseling Center. Tickets for the tours only are $30, and for the tours plus the Farmer presentation are $50.

Purchase of a ticket for this year’s fundraiser will benefit many individuals and families who may not be able to take advantage of the quality, professional counseling services offered by the Samaritan Counseling Center, due to an inability to pay. It is extremely important that the Samaritan Counseling Center of Southwest Georgia is able to continue offering these services. The proceeds from the tour will help assist those services.