海角大神

Not all transplanted gardeners strike the tent and move cross-country. Some just move their focus.

For dedicated gardeners like Sharon Barak, yardwork isn鈥檛 hard work. 鈥淚 do like digging in the dirt,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he physical part of it. The feels and the smells.鈥�

But much of the time that she鈥檚 digging and weeding in her rural Iowa garden, Ms. Barak feels miles, and years, away.

鈥淚鈥檓 really into fragrance in the garden,鈥� she says. 鈥淲hen you smell something, it transports you to a different time and different places.鈥�

For you, that time machine might be smell of crayons or peanut butter. Maybe freshly baked apple pie. For Barak, it is the sweet scent of old-time garden phlox.

鈥淲hen I smell that, all of a sudden I鈥檓 9 or 10," she says. "I鈥檓 in my girlfriend鈥檚 backyard playing, and we鈥檙e nibbling on the florets. They鈥檙e sweet at the end.鈥�

But some memories are not so sweet. Barak鈥檚 life took a turn when her boss 鈥� and friend 鈥� at work was murdered. 鈥淲e were the same age. You realize you don鈥檛 know 鈥� you realize your mortality,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t was never the same afterward.鈥�

So Barak quit the corporate world, went to hort school at the local , and started at her home near Van Meter, Iowa, in 1989.

鈥淚 started falling in love with all the antique flowers, especially the perennials. I saw this big world of plants that weren鈥檛 available here. I had to buy by mail. So I started this,鈥� she says, nodding toward the outdoor garden shop that shares the property with her home garden.

鈥淏ut now I鈥檓 beginning to embrace some of these new things 鈥� all the new huecheras. The new colors are very exciting. And the new irises that rebloom in the fall. These new hardy ever-blooming roses 鈥� you have to mention those. And the 鈥� ahhh 鈥� Oh, and those new dark-foliaged cimicifugas. There are a lot of good foliage plants now. They look good all the time, even when they鈥檙e not in bloom.鈥�

Sometimes, she says, the new! improved! plants really are better than the heirlooms.

鈥淚鈥檓 willing to kick the old to the curb at times,鈥� she says.

What, primarily, is she thinking of?

Oddly, garden phlox.

鈥淣ew varieties of phlox are mildew-resistant,鈥� she says, 鈥淟ike . And then there is which is purple with a white center. And Ending Blue 鈥︹��

And suddenly she is 9 again, sugar drops on her lips.

Another Transplanted Gardener: An Iowa doctor quits the hospital grind and .