Edwardsville couple’s garden opens a window on wildlife

Scott Evers doesn’t even have to leave the house to do his work as a nature photographer.

His yard is full of flowers, birds, butterflies and other insects. He can grab a camera, open the window in his four-seasons room and shoot away.

“This is my photography studio,” said Scott, 58, of Edwardsville, a retired police officer.

It sounds easy, but Scott and his wife, Janna, have worked hard in the past 14 years to attract wildlife, planting colorful perennials, installing water features and keeping bird feeders full of seed.

Of course, nothing could have prepared them for their good fortune this summer.

A mama deer picked a landscaping bed only feet from their duplex-style condo as a safe place to leave her baby all day, every day while she’s out foraging for food.

“He doesn’t nibble on any of my flowers,” said Janna, 60, a physician referral coordinator for BJC HealthCare in St. Louis. “I guess it’s because he’s still nursing.”

Usually, the white-spotted fawn lies in an empty spot between patches of purple cone flowers and red bee balm. Every so often, he stands up to stretch and groom himself.

The experience has been fascinating for the couple’s two grandchildren, Kenlee, 5, and Connor, 3.

“Look, there’s the baby deer!” Kenlee said on a recent weekday, leaning over the back of a leather couch and pointing. “Is he scared that we’re on the porch?”

“Well, if we went outside, he would run away,” Scott answered.

A tiny hummingbird flew up to drink sugar water from a plastic feeder hanging next to the window. In the distance, a cardinal and a bluejay munched on seed in a wooden feeder.

“If you guys would be quiet, you might hear the hummingbird,” Scott whispered.

The Everses live in a small, wooded subdivision called Pine Hollow. Their yard is one of 13 properties recently named Green Thumb Award winners by the Edwardsville Beautification and Tree Commission.

Commission members were particularly impressed by what the couple did with a small space.

“The unit next to it liked it so much that they followed through with similar landscaping to make (both) yards look uniform and larger,” said commission chair Zyann Kinney.

Scott and Janna’s landscaping beds include hostas, ferns, black-eyed Susans, hydrangeas, phlox, hibiscus, lantana and butterfly bushes, as well as irises that have been in the family for 100 years.

“We’ve been planting more native flowers,” Scott said. “They’re less maintenance, and they’re better for the wildlife.

“We have butterfly weed, a couple different varieties of milkweed, cone flowers, blazing star, bee balm, stuff that the insects and pollinators really like. And we planted some swamp milkweed for the monarchs.”

Beyond landscaping beds, the couple hired a contractor to install a faux waterfall (with a flat, shallow pool for bird baths) and a patio with a stone fire pit for sitting outside on cool evenings.

It’s not unusual for Scott and Janna to be visited by foxes, coyotes, wild turkeys, squirrels and deer. Sometimes it’s a struggle to keep animals from eating their flowers and plants.

“I’ve tried everything,” Janna said. “My (hair stylist) gave me some human hair, and that kept them away for a while, but it stopped working.”

Scott and Janna met in the 1970s, when she was studying nursing at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. They’ve been married 38 years. They have a son, Matt.

Scott became a nature photographer while still a police officer, traveling to beaches, mountain ranges and other natural areas and eventually turning his hobby into a part-time business. He sells photos from Fiona’s restaurant in Edwardsville and his website, www.scotteversphotography.net.

In 2001, the Everses sold their four-bedroom home on Dunlap Lake and moved into the two-bedroom condo.

“I was tired of doing all the yard work,” Scott said. “I maintained my yard and my parents’ yard, and I was still working.”

Janna wasn’t crazy about the idea of moving because gardening is one of her hobbies. Then she found out Pine Hollow residents can do their own landscaping, while the association takes care of mowing, trimming and fertilizing.

“For me, (gardening) is a form of relaxation,” she said. “I can come home from work. ... Even if I just water or pull a couple weeds, it gives me a sense of peace, and I think the waterfall adds to that.”

This story was originally published July 16, 2015 at 4:13 AM with the headline "Edwardsville couple’s garden opens a window on wildlife."