Edgewood botanical garden is a community affair

A botanical garden occupies six lots just a few blocks from Edgewood’s shops. It looks like an ordinary house and yard from the street except for a sign that bears its name, but the Sims Garden is a botanical oasis of native grasses, heirloom roses and serene spaces. The garden’s new caretakers want more people in Homewood to come out to 908 Highland Road to discover it.

“It’s intrinsically beautiful and not like other places around here,” said Mike Loop, who lives on the property and cares for the garden along with Celine Currier.

Currier agreed. “Hopefully when people bring kids here, they experience something they won’t in any other areas,” she said.

Loop and Currier originally met at Eckerd College, where they both worked in a community garden, and moved to the Sims property in January. Loop, a Birmingham native who now works as a scholar-in-residence at The Altamont School, was drawn to the property once he saw it back in 2010, and he and Currier want to continue its legacy and work with the community on developing a vision for its future.

Catherine Sims, the “Plant Lady of Homewood,” gardened on her home’s property for decades and left it to the city in her will. But there was a catch — the city had to utilize the property as a botanical garden. City leaders weren’t initially excited about the gift because they weren’t sure how to manage and maintain it, so the property fell into disrepair from 2006 when she passed away until 2012, although her fig trees and rose bushes survived. 

At that time, the city partnered with Birmingham-Southern College’s Southern Environmental Center (SEC), and the property became one of several “EcoScapes” the SEC manages in the area. The garden is also distinctly Homewood; limestone salvaged from the old Homewood City Hall lines its paths. The city paid to renovate the house, and now Roald Hazelhoff, SEC director, manages it and oversees caretakers for the property’s daily operations. 

Landscape contractor Arnold Rutkis, owner of Stoneshovel landscaping, lived on the property for several years before Currier and Loop and added hardscaping and stonework to the garden. 

Since moving in, Currier and Loop have been pruning trees and performing other detail work around the garden. Prior to this year, Loop spent two years working with local farmers to improve sustainability in West Africa while serving in the Peace Corps, and Currier has worked on farms and in landscaping throughout New England, including on the moss and vegetable farm in Connecticut where she grew up. 

Their primary purpose is not so much to serve as Sims’ gardeners but to oversee the community’s work in it and provide overall vision as the community determines its future. Both said they would love to see more kids and adults come to spend time there and take on gardening projects, much like people do in vegetable plots in community gardens such as the one at the former Homewood Middle School site.

“We want the neighborhood to take care of it enough that if the city ever tried to subdivide the property they would stand up for it,” Currier said.

Currently, neighbor George Stegall keeps some of his honeybee colonies that he harvests for Edgewood Bee Company on the property. The garden also bears colorful signs to mark its distinct areas thanks to a Girl Scout Gold project by Maizie Smalley, the daughter of Paula and Craig Smalley. Currier and Loop point to these projects as examples of how area residents can invest their time and skills in the garden. 

They also see the garden as a potential community meeting place for book clubs and other groups, as well as a classroom for experimenting with different plants and techniques. The garden has vermicomposting bins that can be used to teach neighbors about the composting technique that uses worm castings. A bioswale area of water-loving plants serves as an example of what to do with an area of a yard that has excessive water runoff. 

To get involved with the Sims Garden, contact Melanie Geer at mnmgeer@bellsouth.net. To learn more, visit facebook.com/SimsEcoscape. The garden is open to the public Friday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to dusk.