Adapts Keyhole Garden concept – easy on plants AND on your back

By Jeannie Mallick, President Cypress Creek Daylily Club

Cypress Creek Daylily Club members Mary and Eddie Gage, previous owners of the commercially successful Spring Creek Daylily Garden, had to relocate in May of 2016. It was difficult for them to move so many of their favorite plants, but they took all they could. They built a “Smart Garden” at their new home, a practical well-designed raised flower bed, perfect for showcasing their gorgeous daylilies. They borrowed part of the design from the concept of a keyhole garden. This is a raised bed with a notch or “keyhole” so one may reach in to easily weed, groom, and tend the plants. Doing less bending and kneeling saves knees and backs.

Diagram of a “Keyhole Garden” from G. Elaine Acker, Feb. 2012 issue of Texas Co-Op Power Online Community, Drawing by Aletha St. Romain. (Lazy Gardener & Friends Houston Garden Newsletter – Feb. 15, 2019 )

It was a long wait over the winter months, but last June Mary and Eddie invited us out to their new place to see the garden. The daylilies had grown tall and beautiful as their roots took hold of all that fresh fluffy new soil. Their Spring Creek Daylily Garden lives again!