By LYN DESMARAIS
BRANDON—Virgil & Constance Home and Garden occupies the space first used by the plant store, Pinewood Gardens, opened by the Sabatini family on Route 7. Virgil & Constance continues the Sabatinis’ tradition of specializing in distinctive and unusual plants. Beloved teacher Mary Shields and husband Tim thought and planned before taking the plunge and buying the shop.
“Tom and Bev Sabatini have been so kind, helpful, and encouraging of us,” Mary said. “Gardening’s been a love of mine from the time I was a toddler following in my dad’s footsteps, barefoot in the soft earth, as he rototilled the vegetable garden. I always wanted something to do when I retire from teaching. Tim is good with buildings and greenhouses, which always need repair. He brings his acute business sense having been a self-employed contractor since he was 21. Owning this store has fulfilled a family legacy. My dad died young, over thirty years ago. He and another were instrumental in growing flowers for public gardens in White River Junction. He had everything he needed to expand his hobby, but he never got the chance. I was in my early 30s just starting our family when he died. Now when my siblings come to visit, they say, ‘Dad would be so proud.’ I love the beauty of the plants and I love meeting every person who stops. Customers come and find unusual things. We are all making the world a more beautiful place. I’m so happy to be finally able to do this. I’m fulfilling Dad’s and my dreams.”
And the antiques?
Mary laughs, “Tim and I love antiques. The antiques section is getting smaller as our garden shop inventory grows. We’re not getting rid of the antiques but we’re refocusing, reducing collectibles and household items, and replacing them with more plant-related items and antiques. And we have an angel: Alice. She has been pivotal in what we’ve achieved. We couldn’t run our business without her. We say she was heaven sent. We weren’t even open yet. We were unwrapping all the perennials included with the business. Alice called and asked if she could work part time for us. She arrived with a coffee table book that included pictures of her gardens. We hired her on the spot. She knows how to run this business. Alice is indispensable.
“I grew up working on a truck farm in Pennsylvania: vegetables and flowers,” said Alice. “After marriage, we traveled with my husband’s job. Wherever we ended up, I worked with flowers: as a plant nursery manager at a Connecticut garden center, as a florist in New Mexico, as the greenhouse and perennial manager at Garden Time in Rutland. When Garden Time closed, I was retiring. Spring came and I heard the Shields needed some help here, so I jumped right back in. I managed 12 greenhouses in Connecticut, 3 at Garden Time, and 1 here, but we’re expanding. Every year more and more customers are coming from Rutland and from Middlebury. We’re offering a unique selection of plants and growing that business. For example, we have lemon trees, tree hibiscus, hearty perennial lavenders, unique hostas, roses that come in many colors, and rhododendrons that are purple, darker red, and taller pinks. We have some unusual grasses coming in, Mandevillas in pink and red, and two colors of passion flowers, white with a blue center and a 2-tone blue.
I have three annuals that I love this year. An airy white flowering annual called Diamond Frost Euphorbia, it fills in areas where you have solid color and it grows in bright sun to light shade, it’s almost care-free. My second is annual salvia or sage, Deep Ocean Blue. The bees love it. It’s also an easy-care annual and a great pairing with the Diamond Frost. My third, for shade, is impatiens and we have them in a wide range of colors.
I have four favorite perennials this year. We often talk about container plants having a thriller, spiller, and filler. Well, I use that same rule in my perennial gardens. Clematis are my thriller. I like grasses as my fillers. We have Golden Hakone grass which likes part sun to part shade and is a beautiful light yellow-green. It doesn’t get tall but it flows and drapes over things. With its chartreuse coloring, and as it moves in a very slight wind, it draws your eye into the middle of your garden.
The spillers, in front, providing color all season are Heuchera, or Coral Bells, and Artemnesia. Coral Bells come in gorgeous colors from green to red-rust to an almost a purple-colored leaf. Artemnesia, silver mound is a lovely contrast to the Coral Bells. Both these plants have fabulous foliage.
I absolutely love working here. Mary and Tim are great, the customers are great, please come in to see us. Take Mary and Tim’s advice to heart and ‘go play in the dirt’!”
