McCumber Fine Gardens

About McCumber Fine Gardens

Lilac reaches the old streets west of the Plaza before it reaches anywhere else in town, and for two weeks in May Casa Solana smells of nothing else. McCumber Fine Gardens works those settled yards in the morning, while the shade is still on the east side of the houses — mowing, edging along walks and borders, weeding beds by hand rather than blasting them, shaping hedges and shrubs with an eye to the plant rather than to the shears. Gardens like these were made by somebody's patience and they are kept the same way. A lawn cut even under old elms, with its borders clean, is a plain pleasure, and it holds all summer when the spring work has been done right. By noon the lilac heat is up and the day has moved on to the next street.