Lee and Bruce Spence tackle the responsibility of gardening together. (Josh Imhof/Gazette)

By Josh Imhof, Indiana Gazette

Each year, a symphony of the senses surrounds Lee and Bruce Spence’s one-story home. Vibrant pinks and purples crescendo and fade into subtle shades of green. The violently gentle hum of frantic honeybees drones through the air. Blooming flowers act as sweet ballads that fill the nostrils.

This carefully orchestrated scene earned the Spences the May Garden of the Month award, presented by the Indiana Garden Club.

The couple met in Korea in the 1970s when Bruce was stationed there during his time in the United States military and came back to settle in Warren, where they began gardening. In 2002, they moved to their current home in Indiana.

Since then, the team has tackled the responsibility of gardening together. Bruce does a majority of the physical labor for the garden due to Lee’s bee allergy, while she provides most of the direction for what should be planted.

“She tells me. I pretty much don’t touch it unless she says to,” Bruce said.

Despite the massive undertaking, Bruce enjoys the work.

“I like to stay busy. I’m not much for watching TV. I’m not much for reading books. I like doing stuff,” he said.

Numerous types of flowers, shrubbery and produce make up the intricately designed landscape, which wraps around the home. Lee utilizes some of this produce to tap into her Korean roots, often eating the leaves of her sesame plants and making kimchi with her fresh cabbage.

Rather than spending money on new plants each year, Lee and Bruce remain budget-conscious and use mostly perennial varieties, such as certain phlox, rhododendron and iris plants. Some of these, such as their multicolored rhododendron bushes, have been around since they first started their garden.

The couple’s suburban landscape also features a variety of trees that surround the perimeter of the house, creating a contrast of shady and sunlit patches.

Most of them were bought as saplings in 2003 when they originally started their garden, with Lee recalling some of the trees only costing $9.99 each at the time.

“We planted all the oak trees, pine trees and red maple trees. We did everything,” Lee said.

For more fragile flowers, such as cana, the two dig up the bulbs and store them in cardboard boxes for the colder months. This preserves them for the next year when they replant them.

“Today, flowers are so expensive that you have to decide what to plant every year,” Lee said.

The Spences also navigate these price increases by digging up flowers from other locations, which they will then bring back to their garden to replant. Recently, they lined a mulch bed in their front yard with some phlox plants from a cemetery where Bruce’s great-grandparents rest.

Sometimes, though, Mother Nature does this job for them.

The couple had previously grown poppy flowers, but over time they disappeared due to drainage issues and the natural expansion of their irises. To their surprise, the poppies’ bright red petals returned this year after their seeds spread to another area in their backyard.

“In springtime, I told my husband, ‘Don’t kill them, please.’ Last year, they didn’t have any flowers.” Lee said.

For as long as it has lasted, maintaining a garden like this does not come without its struggles. The Spences have to contend with changing weather patterns, dying plants and wildlife.

Deer have become a particular problem for them.

“Sometimes, they chew up hot pepper. They chew it and spit it all over. If they are hungry, they eat everything,” Lee said.

To prevent this, the couple has put up subtle, waist-high fencing to deter deer from eating these favorites. They never spray chemicals on their plants.

Much like the poppies, Lee instead lets the garden naturally flourish.

“I want a bunch of flowers, tall and short. When I came over, I wanted it to be pretty,” Lee said. “Everybody likes flowers.”

Josh Imhof is a student at Duquesne University and one of 10 Pittsburgh Media Partnership summer interns.