“You have to come out every day, but I can’t,” she said of tending to the garden, adding that she works in the garden about two or three times per week. “We have a big yard.”

In the front of her home on Piper Road, DeWyre has ornamental kale, hostas, a variety of shrubs and pink and purple flowers.

She said the ornamental kale, which looks somewhat like cabbage and was green at the end of July, will turn purple in the fall.

“I was so happy when I saw them, because it’s not every year you can find them,” she said. “I had to buy those.”

Above is an orange and black tiger lily, one of the many varieties of flowers in Linda DeWyre’s garden.

Her garden is a combination of annuals and perennials, which come back every year. Some have really grown big, like her large-leaf hostas, which she has split and replanted around the front and side yard. Another thing about hostas is keeping the slugs from eating holes in the leaves. DeWyre knows a couple of tricks to keep that from happening.

“Slugs really like hostas,” so she usually puts slug food down so they don’t go for her plants, she said. “I’ve been pretty lucky — knock on wood — that they don’t have any holes in the leaves right now.”

She sprinkles the slug food on the ground around the plant.

“Slugs live over the winter, too, I’ve read that,” she said. “So, you have to do it early in the spring when they start popping up.”

There are other ways to control slugs, she said. More unconventional ways.

Here is a ceramic turtle her mother made for her.

“I’ve heard this, too, and it works because I’ve tried it,” she said. “Tuna fish cans. Put beer in it, and then set that down in the ground. And they go for that, and then they drown.”

On the tour down the side of the house, visitors are greeted with more lush greenery and flowers of pink, purple and yellow shades. Some of the plants and flowers on the side of the house are mums (chrysanthemums), astilbe (also known as “false goat’s beard”), snow-in-summer (a silvery plant with white flowers), fothergilla (pronounced “father gee-ya”), tall garden phlox, ruby campion, rock cress, holly, cinnamon fern, hardy geraniums, hens and chicks and more.

A glorious display of bright zinnias in almost every color of the rainbow welcomes you to the serene backyard, featuring more and more varieties, from orange spotted tiger lilies to morning glory in a shade of dark fuchsia, large red hibiscus, delicate pink coral bells, begonias, clematis, climbing hydrangea, purple cone flowers, yellow black-eyed Susans, red trumpet vines, purple blazing star and more.

“With that warm, warm weather, things really got big this year,” DeWyre said.

Throughout her garden, she has placed smooth rocks she painted a raspberry shade as an added splash of color. The berry complements the green of the leaves on her many varieties of plants.

A raspberry rock peaks out from under some greenery in Linda DeWyre's garden.

A decoration she cherishes is a cute turtle hiding out among the greenery along the side of her house. It has special sentimental meaning to her.

“My mom made that for me in ceramics,” she said. “And she’s been gone quite a few years, since 2006.”

DeWyre and her husband Jim are a great team when it comes to keeping the yard looking handsome, and the flowers gorgeous.

“My husband loves his grass,” she said. “He really takes care of it.”

Her husband has helped her with many projects in her garden, including building a pergola with a trellis for her climbing plants, with a lovely sitting area under it, where some of her shade plants live. They also have two apple trees in the backyard, as well as raspberry and blueberry bushes.

“We’ve been in our house 51 years,” she said. “We started young. And we both like to be outside … It gets overwhelming, this big, and we’re not getting any younger,” she added with a chuckle. “But oh well.”

When asked how many different varieties of plants are in her garden, she said, simply, “lots. We’ve got lots.” Then, later in the interview, she added, “just a little bit of everything. Maybe I do have 100 different plants.”

Linda DeWyre worked in the laboratory at the hospital for 36 years before retiring in 2003. She belongs to the Alpena Garden Club and her garden was featured in the Garden Walk in 2005. The walk was canceled this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said one of the best ways she has learned to garden is reading books specific to the Northern Michigan climate.

“A lot of stuff I’ve learned from reading, too,” she said, in addition to practice and experience. “I’ve got a couple really good books … ‘Perennials in Michigan,’ ‘Annuals in Michigan,’ and my brother got me a Better Homes and Gardens book … There’s a lot of good information in there.”

DeWyre encourages new gardeners to educate themselves and ask for help when they are not sure what to do. Try some things and find out what works. Be patient. And most of all, have fun caring for your garden.

She enjoys gardening “because you don’t think of anything else while you’re doing it, and I just enjoy being outside. And when I get started, sometimes I forget to go in. In the house. I just love it.”