Past, present and future mingle in Aimee Maschhoff’s Ooltewah garden.

From the past came surprise lilies (golden spider lily, red spider lily, hardy amaryllis or resurrection lily), passed along from her father-in-law’s mother’s garden.

In the present, she has added native evening primrose Siskiyou Pink, a classic flower of prairies and the rocky slopes of East Tennessee.

And in “Meredith’s Garden,” her 18-month-old daughter learns to dig the earth and tend the toughest plants available.

“We created an area where she can dig so the whole garden isn’t a big ‘No.’ She’s very interested in digging and picking. We are teaching her to smell instead,” said Mrs. Maschhoff, a former physical therapist and now a full-time homemaker.

When the family moved in four years ago, the home’s previous owners granted them an existing garden of orange daylilies, with paths and many shrubs.

From that base, the couple extended the design, adding bearded iris from Mrs. Maschhoff’s great-grandmother, evening primrose, more herbs, crape myrtles, birdhouses, calla lilies and a vegetable and fruit garden.

The yard’s full sun exposure is both helpful and a challenge.

“There’s definitely a greater range of plants available for sun, but even full sun plants have a hard time in so much sun,” Mrs. Maschhoff said.

A bigger challenge, though, comes on four legs.

“We’re constantly working on keeping the deer from our plants,” Mrs. Maschoff said.

Q&A

Q: Do you fertilize or water often?

A: Luckily the previous owner amended the soil. We continue to add a little bit of compost, but we don’t tend to fertilize except when we first plant things. We do water — that area gets full sun that’s kind of hard on the plants.

Q: What’s worked well?

A: I’ve had success with the Siskiyou pink (evening primrose), traditional lilies, a pink tea rose.

Q: Deer have been a challenge. How do you repel them?

A: The most successful method is that when we see them out there, we chase them off. But I’m also conscious when I buy plants to make sure they’re deer-resistant. I’ve tried various sprays. One that’s worked is a cayenne and egg mixture. We let it sit in the sun for two days so it gets good and ripe, and we sprinkle it on. It doesn’t smell too much to us, but apparently it’s too much for the deer.

We fenced in our vegetable garden (with 5-foot-high hardware cloth) because of deer because they ate every one of our raspberries last year. This year we’re eating them.

Q: What are your favorite plants?

A: I have purple and white bearded iris from my great-grandmother, and pink surprise lilies from my father-in-law’s mother. In spring, their foliage comes up and dies back down. In late summer, a stalk comes up with a circle of pink flowers. It really is a surprise. And the previous owner told me these daylilies come from this property. The subdivision used to be a farm, and she went down to the creek and got a few and multiplied them.

Q: It sounds like you like plants with a past.

A: Yes. I think it is neat to get things that our grandparents have given us, things we know are old, and they come from someone who cares about you. It makes you feel connected to this area and this land.

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