It may appear to the outside world that we all grow old, frail, feeble. But, not so with sisters. They know and remember each other as they always were. They know each other’s youthful hearts. They share private family jokes and remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. They seem to live their lives outside the frosty touch of time, at least in memory.

Beyond the garden gate, this time, we glimpse the magical garden palette of two special sisters, Marian “Babee” Currie and Paula Watkins, different glorious flowers from the same garden, thriving along Mobile Bay at Battles Wharf. The girls, along with their other siblings, grew up in Mobile and with gardening genes inherited from their grandmother and the artistic bent of their mother, both have established garden palettes honoring their ancestors.

Babee, the younger of the two and a Master Gardener, lives in the bay house purchased by their parents in 1939. It is a large, open home with both front and back porches which Babee adorns with old cuttings that have been around for decades and plants which beckon specifically to her, such as Lady Banks white roses and her beloved daylilies.

Paula and two other siblings have made their homes on adjoining lots. But, it is Babee and Paula who tend their gardens, seeing to the myriad chores gardening demands and who walk their gardens in the early morning or dusky twilight, enjoying the soothing balm to spirit and heart this hobby provides.

Babee’s heart has been damaged from a couple of heart attacks over the past few years, but it would be more seriously damaged if she had to give up her gardening.

She finds it relaxing and refreshing and slips out in the early morning to work at weeding, planting, or propagating before she becomes too tired in the heat of the day. She retired in 2005 as a Judicial Assistant

and truly loves her time spent planting flowers and watching them thrive in beds bordered by the proverbial white picket fence. The results, she believes, far outreach the toil. She laughingly longs for a miner’s hat to help extend the light on into the nighttime hours so that she can accomplish more. The coastal humidity doesn’t really bother her. “If you grow up with it and it is what you know, you adapt,” she shares.

Along with the Lady Banks roses, Babee’s yard includes a fig tree, from her mother’s cutting, which is just beginning to share its juicy bounty. Limelight hydrangeas exhibit their gorgeous blooms at spots throughout the garden along with tall, majestic agapanthus and a favorite--pink and purple rain lilies, which only bequeath blossoms on a rainy day. Babee mulches her beds with pinestraw and has several pairs of gardening gloves scattered about which she always uses when attending gardening chores. The old white garden gate, a gift their grandfather gave to their mother upon her graduation from art school, is a fine point of family historical interest and charm between the sisters’ two gardens. Shrubs, ornamental trees, winding paths, and perennial beds lavish beauty and enhance the individual garden delights of each sister. A large ship’s bell, a treasured relic from their father’s Mobile shipping business, makes a majestic addition nestled among shrubs in the side beds.

Older sister, Paula, at six feet, is a commanding presence and a competent gardener. She doesn’t share quite the love of caring for roses that her sister does. “I couldn’t give roses the attention they demand when the children came along,” she confides. She loves the native oakleaf hydrangeas and the color variations coleus add to the garden with little effort. Like her sister, Paula loves the outdoors and is an urban forester who enjoys mowing the lawn and keeping it in shape. Paula’s husband, Bubba, often jokes that if it is mealtime, you’ll find these two on their mowers outside, grooming their lawns.

Paula lavishes her gardening attention on magnificent, fragrant gardenias, which she loves to root, a large-leafed Tibouchina, with its lamb’s ear-like feel, numerous hibiscus plants, summer lilies, and encore azaleas. She points out a lush growth of cooling mint, a Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow shrub, a lavish plot of purple irises, and the beloved old South favorite--white and blue hydrangeas. 

While providing ample room for each sister’s individual gardening tastes, shared beds between their homes highlight a blended vision of beauty by the bay. These two sisters, with husbands Jim and Bubba, and dogs, Lizzie and Ginger, share a close family life here by the water. “We don’t follow rules and we love gardening for the beauty it produces and being outside and we just like to have fun!” they share, bubbling with laughter.

A treasured sister shares childhood memories and grown-up dreams. Babee and Paula share roots which proclaim that they are indeed sisters, but, more than that, their hearts proclaim that they are lifelong friends, sharing the whimsy and passion of gardening.