A Garden of Love & Devotion

In the quiet suburbs of World Golf Village, just beyond the screened pool enclosure of a loving family’s home, this tropical garden was born of personal sacrifice, emotional alchemy, and a sacred kind of permission.

Stephanie — a woman known for her generosity, grace, and steadfast love for her family — wanted a lush, tropical garden as the backdrop to her favorite scene: watching her children splash in the pool while her husband grilled dinner nearby. Her only request? Include bird of paradise. Everything else, she entrusted to the hands of a stranger-turned-friend who had just unraveled his entire life to be closer to his daughter.

That friend was me.

I arrived in St. Augustine heartbroken and unsure — still mourning the loss of a marriage, and navigating the psychological ache of parental alienation. I had left behind everything I knew in Tallahassee so that my daughter would have a room ready at her father’s house when she relocated to St. John’s County. I was operating out of a red spray-painted Harbor Freight trailer hitched to a 2002 Jeep Wrangler, just trying to figure it out.

Stephanie gave me that chance. She gave me a blank canvas and a garden full of meaning to create — not for myself, but for someone else's love story.

I poured every ounce of intention into the process. Two giant white bird of paradise now anchor the rear of the garden — symbols of love and devotion. Layered around them are tropical foliage, rust-colored lava rock borders, brown pea gravel paths, purple salvia, soft ornamental grasses, ginger, and turmeric plants. Every placement, every rhythm of stone and shape, was orchestrated to reflect harmony, vitality, and peace. The result is a landscape that feels alive, centered, and quietly radiant — just like the family it was made for.

Stephanie’s joy when she saw the final garden changed me. She not only loved it — she shared it, celebrated it, and gave my fledgling business a sense of purpose and legitimacy when I needed it most. Her words helped awaken a more confident, more creatively empowered version of myself.

Though Stephanie's husband recently passed away, I will forever associate this garden with the quiet steadiness of his presence, the light in his smile, and the sanctuary he helped create for his family. This space is now a place of memory as much as it is a place of life — a sacred frame around love, around healing, around what matters most.

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