Odessa – The Odessa family is looking for ways to preserve their mother’s legacy. She had spent decades in her backyard garden, but after her death, the garden’s future was in the balance.
“My friends called it a jungle, ‘Man, you live in the jungle, and it’s only about twice as thick,” said Stephen Hart.
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Stephen has fond memories of his childhood in Odessa. His mother, Elaine Hart, started adding new plants in 1975 and has not stopped. More than 1,000 species are now scattered on two acres[2 ha]of property.
Stephanie: “I could walk with my mom and say, ‘That’s that, that blossom, that purple thing.’
Aileen was well known in the Tampa Bay Garden community. She is a member of more than a dozen botanical associations and a 1981 graduate of the first class of Hillsboro County Master Gardeners.
“I think it takes more than 20,000 hours of volunteer work just to go and teach other people how to grow plants,” says Stephen.
Stephen Hart
Last June, Elin suddenly died of a heart attack. Her husband, Robert, said he felt her presence every time he went into the property.
“Just think of it,” says Robert, “going through the door every minute.” She created us to live in Eden.
However, Robert is now in his 80s, and his children have all grown up and gone abroad, focusing on how to keep Eileen’s legacy alive.
Stephen said: “We cannot lose this beautiful garden; There are 46 or more years of love and respect in this garden. ”
So if the family is just a place for professional research, field trips or planting, he hopes to collaborate with the community, they want the garden to grow, but they need help.
If you have a really good artist and they pass or go, you can take the art and put it in a museum, what you can’t do is take this art and put it in a museum, the museum is here. Said Stephen.
“I feel that her spirit is here, that she is happy with what we are doing, and that is important,” said Robert.
For more information on how to help the Hart family, you can contact Stephen directly at stephan@simplynativeplants.org. The family has also set up a GoFundMe page: Just look at the Elin Hart Horticulture Garden.
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