WHEN LINDA Pettie retired in 2014 and moved to Lincoln County, her property held the seeds of a lifelong dream. The vision had been with her since childhood, fertilized by a mother’s green thumb and a love for nature’s colors. With one acre set aside as her canvas, Pettie began painting with plants.
“It has become not only a passion, but some say an obsession. If I see a plant I don’t have, it will usually end up in my garden,” she shared.
Pettie’s job gives her an abundance of blooms — not just for her garden, but for others’ gardens, too. If you’re strolling the aisles of the garden center at our local Marvin’s Supply and hear the “beep beep beep” of a forklift, there’s a good chance you’ll find Pettie behind the wheel. It’s her second gardening plot, a place where she shares her passion for all growing things with the community.
“Shopping at Marvin’s was the beginning of my own gardens and led to part-time work in 2017,” she said. “Having the opportunity to care for, learn about, and assist customers gives me joy and a sense of being a part of my community while seeing others get involved with and excited about improving their own properties.”
Fittingly, her work at Marvin’s, where she’s now full time, led to a third way for Pettie to share her ever-growing horticultural savvy.
“One of those customers, Vickie Small, told me about the Stone Bridge Garden Club,” Pettie recalled. “Once I attended that first meeting in 2018, I felt I could become an even greater part of service to a community I now called home.”
As the landscape committee chairman for the past four seasons, Pettie oversees the club’s efforts to maintain plots at the Fayetteville-Lincoln County Museum, the public library, and Stone Bridge Park’s welcome center. She shared the committee’s goals of providing color and beauty while working to minimize watering and maintenance, making them all more environmentally friendly.
“Pollinators, native plants, and perennials are important in reaching our goal. Each of the past seasons, the club has focused on one of the plots. The 2021 focus was on the welcome center,” Pettie explained, noting that the beds in front of the park’s log house were reworked to add new soil, edging, and replanting. The library was 2022’s project, and in 2023, the group took on the museum’s courtyard.
She added, “The feedback from the community has been very positive.”
Feedback affirms the harvest of Pettie’s hard work.
“The customers at Marvin’s give me such joy and pleasure as they shop for their own gardens and landscapes. To hear a customer tell me, ‘My friend or a family member told me to come see you,’ tells me I’m doing something right.”
Today, at 77, Pettie’s still cultivating tomorrow’s gardens.
“My days are driven by staying busy and what I can accomplish. As for my energy, I’m staying healthy at 77 to be around as long as I can to enjoy my 21 great-grandchildren,” she reflected.
All those great-grandchildren are even more blooms in the gardens of Pettie’s beautiful life. GN
