STLOUISHOMESMAG.COM AUGUST 2019 47
“bishop’s hat” from the shape of its leaves), which is more common now than it was then. It was exciting.”
Included in Martha’s discoveries was the revelation that what she considered an ugly, euonymous-covered
hillside in the backyard had once been a terraced garden.
The loss of the trees transformed the yard in more ways than one. The heavy equipment needed to cut
up and discard the trees destroyed the courtyard area between the house and the garage. Different spaces
opened in the back of the yard and Martha knew she needed additional plants. “It was a good excuse to start
something new. I started getting involved with the Hosta Society, and I met two gardeners who lived nearby,”
she recounts.
The gardeners turned out to be Jean Hudson and Pat Payton, whose beautiful, hosta-filled Webster Groves
garden is an institution. Living up to their notorious generosity, they took Martha under their wing. “So many
plants in my garden came from them,” she says. “I bet half of my hostas were first theirs.”
As well as plants, the two gardeners contributed inspiration. Jean was at the house one day when Martha
was complaining about all the maintenance involved in reining in the euonymous hillside, which she considered
ugly. Jean suggested getting rid of it. When Martha protested, citing all the work involved, Jean countered,
“How hard can it be?” Martha recalls, “She went and got a shovel and started digging. The two of us tore out the
first part.”