Love, patience for garden reward couple

PLEASANT GROVE — Gardening is never an exact science.

For example, temperatures the past few weeks have fluctuated wildly — from below freezing to record heat. While the frustrations of not being able to control the weather might bring your blood to near-boiling, don't give up. Success in the garden requires a generous portion of patience.

One couple who are now reaping the rewards of their patience is Bill and Deana Spence. Their Pleasant Grove garden is just one of 12 featured on the Hidden Garden Tour, taking place tonight until 8 p.m. and tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Utah County. Proceeds from this year's tour will benefit the Pediatric Rehabilitation Cervices near Orem Community Hospital.

The Spences' garden is a delight because of its many different aspects. Several outdoor living areas with decks, arbors, benches and other touches give the garden a friendly, inviting feeling. The carefully screened vegetable garden has attractive boxes filled with newly planted crops laid out in precise planting patterns.

Several water features add sound and other interest to the garden.

Strategically placed trees offer protection from the burning sun and, the final touch is a half dozen chickens that have a quaint coop in one corner.

Although the garden looks great now, it has not come without effort.

The Spences work for the school district and spend their spare time in their garden. They came from different gardening backgrounds, but they attribute their interest in gardening to a neighbor who loved to garden and share that pastime with them.

Deana, who is a master gardener for Utah State University Extension Service, is a native of Oregon, where plants have an easier time than they do in Utah. She said her ancestors went to Oregon for the great soil and other conditions that made growing plants so easy. Bill grew up in Tooele, and is used to the heat, drought and difficult soil. Together, their talents have created a lovely, peaceful and functional garden that is used for weddings, tours and other functions.

Deana is a great advocate of using many plants in the garden, including several she rescued from neighbors who had planted them in the wrong place. She is also not afraid to move plants that are not well-adapted. She even has a protected area that she calls her "nursery" where plants can recuperate if they are not flourishing elsewhere in the garden.