Hydrangeas bloom in Beulahland
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article & photos by JENNIFER WHITTAKER
If you want to see a garden God has blessed, make a pilgrimage to Beulahland hydrangea garden & nursery. Tucked away in the woods of southeast Monroe County near Bolingbroke, retired Methodist minister Gary Starrett is growing 320 cultivars of hydrangeas. “There is a spiritual motivation to my gardening,” Starrett said. “It’s a calling. It’s an opportunity to utilize a gift I feel is God-given.” Beulahland is a demonstration garden that allows people to see the many hydrangea varieties that exist. A tour of Starrett’s garden teaches you that it’s better to plant different cultivars of hydrangeas to vary the hydrangea blooms in your garden rather than planting French hydrangeas and trying to alter the blooms’ color by adding lime to make blue blooms pink or aluminum or other amendments, such as coffee grounds, to make blooms blue. Starrett welcomes garden clubs, master garden groups and individuals to his private garden in the late spring and early summer by appointment. He estimates several hundred people visit his gardens every year.
BEULAHLAND’S BEGINNING
Gary Starrett takes time to enjoy one of the 320 cultivars of hydrangeas growing in his Monroe County garden.
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Starrett bought his Monroe County property 32 years ago while working at the Methodist Children’s Home in Macon. On his days off he retreated to his property to garden. The property continued to serve as his retreat as he served different Methodist churches throughout his 40 years of ministry. He named his garden Beulahland, which means promised land, because he looked forward to finally being able to live there. “When you’re working with people you don’t see the results right away, but when you’re working with plants you see results pretty quick,” Starrett said. “You either grow them or kill them. They thank you by blooming.” Starrett has been growing flowers since he was seven when he started selling tropical plants his mother rooted at their home in Fort Myers, Fla. When he was in second grade, his parents moved to Albany where he lived with his family until he graduated from high school. Georgia Neighbors | Spring/Summer 2017