Dwelling Bringing the Ground to Your Garden Art of Nature I
T WAS A WARM WEDNESDAY MORNING when Christian Teague of HLG Growers showed me a place where plants grow in abun- dance, ready to transform someone’s garden space.
“I’m a plant farmer at heart; that’s what
I do,” said Teague. “I like to take a blank piece of ground and be creative with it. I’ve been infatuated with flowers since I was
BY DENISE K. JAMES
small. My grandmothers were avid gardeners; I grew up on a farm in the North Carolina mountains, and we always had plants.” Teague’s ground-to-design busi- ness got its start at his first nursery location in Boone, North Carolina. “I began doing this in 2002,” he said. “I wanted to create a company that is unique and all-inclusive by pro- ducing my own plants to work with.” Raw materials for Teague’s most elaborate landscaping creations can be found on Johns Island, South Caro- lina, where he grows a wide variety of shrubs, flowers, trees and other plants specifically for Lowcountry homes. “Tere is no one else like me in this state,” Teague remarked. “Tat is, a landscape designer who happens to grow his own stock. Typically, designers get their plant stock from elsewhere. But I grow my own in this nursery. We grow flowers for people we haven’t even met yet.” Growing the plants is just a small part of Teague’s
Island, where he recently created the entire outdoor ap- pearance of the client’s home. “For this yard I established a theme of earth, water
and fire,” he said with a smile. “I got an outdoor fireplace that actually grows plants in its cracks. Eventually, all the rock work will be covered in flowers.” Teague prides himself on knowing just how far to
push the growth envelope – and which flowers can thrive in the most amazing spots. “Tere are special plants, known as succulents, which
will grow between the rocks,” he explained. “Tey are green roof technology plants, meaning that people can put them on roofs to deflect the sunlight. In fact, I have a garden that I planted on top of an old 1978 van, and that van has traveled over 2,000 miles with those plants on top.” Another feature of the Daniel
Above: Teague tends to a budding plant in the Johns Island nursery. Below: Flower pots and pondless water feature grace the home in Daniel Island.
Island yard is what Teague calls a “pondless water feature,” mean- ing the waterfall and stream aren’t cluttered by tree foliage – they’re protected with easy-to-clean rocks. Teague emphasizes the options available in the Low- country’s fertile soil. “One of the reasons I migrated here from the mountains is for the longer growth period in a single year, thanks to the weather,” he said. “Te succulents make great plants down here. Tey thrive on the humidity and rain. And the opportunity to grow hundreds of varieties
creative process. His company can essentially create the yard of your most vivid dreams, including rock and con- crete finishing, water feature installations and more. One example of Teague’s finest work can be found on Daniel
of exotic perennials year-round is a unique perk to the Lowcountry.”
To learn more, visit
www.hlggrowers.com or call Teague at (828) 964-6905.
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