It is ironic to say the least that my garden was featured in the March/April 2026 HGTV Magazine. When I was young, I had zero interest in “yardwork,” and with 3 brothers, I brokered a deal to bake chocolate chip cookies for them, doing all the yardwork.
While I have always loved flowers, I never imagined that I would become an avid gardener. This all changed when I married and got my first house. I became obsessed with making our yard beautiful with flowers. Anything that I planted had to have flowers. I was especially fascinated with roses.
The problem was that I had no knowledge, experience, or understanding of horticulture. I was very fortunate to have a loving, supportive husband who allowed me to experiment with all types of plants and discard the ones that didn’t thrive, which were numerous. But I knew that I had to increase my horticulture knowledge.
So, when some colleagues encouraged me to take the UT Master Gardening class, I signed up. It is through this course in 2000 that I began my long journey to learning about landscaping, trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, and all things horticultural. Along the way, I met the most amazing experts, home gardeners, retailers, wholesalers, and anyone who had any interest and/or knowledge in plants. It opened up a whole new world where everyone loved sharing not only their knowledge but also their plants.
In 1994, we moved into our second house in the Midtown corridor, where we still reside. We live in the Evergreen Historical District with a very active association that promotes community, diversity, and beautification in our neighborhood. In May 2012, we were visited by a member of the Evergreen Garden Club who announced that we had been awarded Yard of the Month. We were ecstatic, and of course, I immediately joined the EGC and became a member of the Yard of the Month Committee. It is so fun to drive the neighborhood each month and nominate a new yard for this award. Through EGC, I have again met the most amazing gardeners who just love sharing!
As the years rolled by, I volunteered throughout our community and continued to hone my gardening knowledge. My garden was even featured in the Memphis Area Master Gardener’s Through Our Garden Gates, which we found to be quite an honor.
Then, lo and behold, upon returning from a trip to Europe in April 2022, we found an invitation on our front door to have our house featured in the Curb Appeal Feature of HGTV Magazine. Their scout was in Memphis and had scouted 30 homes. They wanted to know if selected, would we be interested in a photo shoot. Since we had spent years working to improve the curb appeal of our house to provide a warm welcome for our guests, we agreed to do it.
This agreement began a rather lengthy process where we provided the types of flowers and greenery in the yard, the peak time for the flowers, and snapshots of our landscaping. In addition, we agreed to be interviewed, quoted, and named in the feature.
A photo shoot was scheduled for the end of June. In the meantime, they sent us a few guidelines and requirements. We didn’t have to be home for the shoot, but we were asked that all blinds be opened, signs be removed from the yard, and there were no cars to be parked in front of our house or in the driveway. In addition, all interior and exterior lights (including porch lights) were to be turned off, and wreaths/holiday décor were to be removed. They also requested some plant specific colored flowers in our flower beds or planters. Finally, they reserved the right to send a few items for the shoot, such as a doormat, planters, etc. In our case, no additional materials were sent.
By October, we were notified that they were changing the design of their story a little bit and would now be including portraits of homeowners and fun tidbits about the house you want to share in the story. It was a really fun new addition and allowed readers to get a better sense of why you love your home. So, we were asked for a few recent portrait photos and additional statements. They did provide an example of a story from a recent issue so that we could see how they use the homeowner portraits in the story.
We were told that they didn’t know when our home would be featured, and we would be told as soon as they knew. In the meantime, they wanted to know what year our home was built, what year we bought our home, what its square footage was, what style our house was, what our exterior paint colors were, etc. In addition, we had to identify each plant with its specific name/species. We answered all questions and signed the release form.
We were anticipating a publication date of July/August 2023. However, upon further notification, it was revealed that they often just save photo shoots and information for future publication. We basically said, okay, we got our yard looking awesome for the season, and HGTV told us they were not going to publish it.
Fast forward to November 2025, and HGTV reached out to us again. They said.. If you can believe it… we are finally going to be featuring your home! It’s going to be in our March/April 2026 issue, which will be on newsstands in March. We really appreciate your patience. So, we are like… Wow what a wonderful surprise! We submitted answers to more questions and finally the March/April issue of HGTV Magazine hit the stands and we are in it. They did send us a complimentary copy!
So, look for us in the March/April issue of HGTV magazine. We hope that we and the other Memphis houses featured in the magazine managed to give a glimpse of the beauty that surrounds us in this area, and all of the hardworking gardeners who make it happen!
This article was contributed by Elisa C. Marus.
