Waves of color: Hennessey's garden sight to behold

By Linda Braden Albert
of The Daily Times Staff

If a thing of beauty truly is a joy forever, Drew Hennessey is the happiest man on earth.

Waves of color ripple through the landscape at his rural Blount County home, flowers in reds, pinks, purples, blues, whites, yellows -- of every hue. With the backdrop of his naturally fed, five-acre lake and the stacked stone walls that create terraces at several levels, the whole effect is similar to the biblical depiction of the Garden of Eden.

Poppies and primrose, irises and bachelor buttons, roses and a wildflower Hennessey has not yet identified grow in profusion together. The bright red of the poppies is the first thing to catch the eye, but closer inspection reveals the varied colors within that floral family. Hennessey pointed out a stand of poppies near his deck that are an unusual mauve, for example. The primrose, a delicate pink, grow in a bed below the poppies, and with them is the purplish-blue of the unidentified wildflower Hennessey has now deemed to be his favorite.

"The poppies and the primrose come back every year," Hennessey said, adding that the unknown flower is following the same pattern. "It just seems like every year there's that many more of them."

Bachelor buttons, in blues, purples and whites, are also very easy to grow, the gardener said. They add their own special splash of color to the beds.

Irises, in every color of the rainbow and then some, are well-represented, as well. They grow in clumps throughout the yard and are also seen in the midst of the poppies and bachelor buttons. One variety of iris is black, given to Hennessey by a friend.

"I've got the real, real purple ones, but this is true black," he said. "This is the closest you're going to get to a real black iris."

Later in the season, Hennessey's garden will include sunflowers, lilies, elephant ears, delphinium, cannas, gladioli, marigolds, clematis, poppies, foxglove and hosta. And he doesn't mind if the hardy plants decide to grow up through the seams of his stone walkways.

"They do such a good job coming right out of the rock," Hennessey said with a grin. "People want to pull them out like they're doing me some kind a favor, and I say leave 'em alone. The fact that I can have flowers poking out of the driveway and right out of the rock is just incredible."

Hennessey said he is spending more time this year on growing vegetables, which he is pleased to share with friends and neighbors. His neat vegetable garden includes tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers, banana peppers, yellow squash, zucchini, cabbage. "I still have lots of rows left to fill," he said.

At the moment, Hennessey is sidelined due to surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff, leaving him temporarily unable to take care of his animals -- turkeys, chickens, pigs and sheep -- or do all the work he is accustomed to doing in his flowers and vegetables. Friends and family are helping him out with that.

How did he damage his shoulder?

"I fell off my Harley," Hennessey said sheepishly, then added, "Golf cart, a three-wheeled golf cart. It made a right and I made a left."

Hennessey, 50, originally from Santa Monica, Calif., created his rural Blount County paradise with the help of several friends and his uncle, Pete Miceli. He attributes the profusion of blooms this season to an abundance of love in his life -- the birth of his first grandson, 5-month-old Gabriel, and the rekindling of a romance with a lady friend in California with whom he reconnected last fall after not seeing her for nearly 20 years.

This California transplant to Blount County soil is happy to be here, saying that the people he's met are hospitable and friendly. He acquired his property in 1993 and readily admits that he's a fortunate man to be able to live in this beautiful spot.

"What a joy it is to sit here and play in my dirt," Hennessey said.