Pace Gardens offers tranquil retreat in midst of Hemphill

Newsboy photo/ Charles Kerr THE BOG GARDEN is just one of many "habitats" in the winding trails throughout Pace Creek Gardens. Owner Mary Ann McDaniel has created many areas to sit awhile and enjoy the flowers, birds and butterflies. For a Saturday outing for Mom, the growing center also offers other shops and classes, and soon will have a masseuse.

In Hemphill, in an old gas station where Bonnie and Clyde once bought gas, now blooms a garden nursery with pebbled paths and a winding creek criss-crossed with bridges.

Owner Mary Ann McDaniel encourages people to "come and just wander," which they do. Some bring a snack and sit awhile on benches scattered throughout the one-block square property in the middle of Hemphill. Exotic bamboo walls, rose hedges, and a rock waterfall spilling into the bog garden shield the noise of Highway 87.

"I wanted it to be a tranquil place that people could come and enjoy," McDaniel said. "I think I achieved that."

Her signature postcard says, "Come into my garden, my flowers want to meet you."

Even though the grandopening was just last weekend, the Pace Creek Gardens has been a 15-year labor of love for the Hemphill native.

"We opened on a wing and a prayer," McDaniel said. "We could only afford a kerosene heater, no heating or air conditioning."

Besides the old gas station, the property had several other buildings,

including a 100-yearold home where the roof had caved in. The McDaniels salvaged hardwood floors, doors and solid pine walls to revamp the gas station into a small gift shop.

Later they poured a slab and used more lumber from the old house to add space for the Clothes Horse, a dress shop opened by Donna Alexander eight years ago.

"She was my bookkeeper," McDaniel said, "and when I found out she had been a fashion model and a buyer for The Fair and had always dreamed of having a shop like this, the decision to add on was easy."

Next came quilter Regina Johnstone, who came with her retired husband from California two years ago. Johnstone took over the old chicken house to open the Cedar Tree Nest quilt shop, which recently doubled in size.

Freckles the dog will soon be seeking new quarters. The Pace Creek mascot will have to move to make room for the masseuse who opens in May.

McDaniel has plans spreading in many directions. She already offers refreshments and sponsors salad luncheons in the gardens, but would like to have a real tearoom.

In an old yellow Victorian home, she's thinking about putting bunk beds and offering no-frills lodging for quilters who come great distances for classes and meetings.

"They would supply their own sheets and t o w e l s , " McDaniel said, "but we could offer them place to rest and stay for minimal amount."

McDaniel says she and the other shop owners work

collectively on decision about developing the property, which is becoming a spa-like destination for many women.

Johnstone said she meets a lot of couples who are retiring to the lakes area. "A lot of gals come up here (from the cities) and are not happy," she says, until they find the sociable company at the Pace Creek Garden District.

"Sometimes the husbands come in, credit card in hand, and tell me to give their wives what ever they want," Johnstone laughs. "That way they can keep on fishing."

The garden district does seem to be a magnet. McDaniel described a few who have been attracted to work in the gardens:

Bobbie Bounds from Hemphill, "is a brilliant master gardener;"

Sylvia Ferguson, a retired forester from the U.S. Forest Service, "our expert on native plant species;"

Pam Sykes, manager of the gardens, "our greenhouse specialist and expert on propagation;"

Then there's Althea, the wayward chicken who just showed up one day and stayed.

McDaniel is a retired nurse who regularly does missionary work in Ghana, Africa. It taught her to appreciate what she has each day.

"We have truly been blessed," said McDaniel, who considers the gardens another "mission" in life.