Spring has tiptoed on into Baldwin County, even though the calendar says otherwise. She has touched roadside azalea bushes and coaxed them into sharing shy early blooms of pinks and fuchsias, even while the camellias are still presenting their show.

Along the bay in Daphne, the lovely home and two-and-a-half-acre garden paradise of Jamie and Ham Wright displays the early charm of the season. This time for new life and new growth, along with the incredible transitions from the gray blahs of winter.

Jamie, with her love for beautiful flowers, and her husband Ham, with his precision talents as a woodworker and engineer, combine their abilities to fashion a home and grounds that accentuate the sloping site.

"I love to look at beautiful flowers," Jamie shares,"while Ham loves to mow." Together they create and maintain a most pleasing home and garden palette along Mobile Bay. Already, the azaleas grouped in graceful arrays throughout the yard are sharing their opening blooms of pink and are full of buds, hinting at even more glory to come.

A grove of stately old magnolias grace the driveway at the welcoming front entrance. Agapanthus beds bordered by Giant Liriope are scattered poolside and around the grounds. Sasanquas, crape myrtles, oakleaf hydrangeas, an Autumn cherry, red maple, an English dogwood, tulip poplars and a few pines and oaks all add their seasoned splendor into the informal charm of the landscape.

Jamie's favorite, Gerber daisies, which she planted in previous seasons, are already showing their jaunty colorful heads in various locations throughout the yard.

"We never had a formal garden plan," says Jamie. "Ham built the house and later a greenhouse for my plants, and I have just gradually added the plants that I love — the Gerber daisies and roses — I love roses,” she adds. "We added a pergola by the pool to accommodate my climbing red roses.”

She grows and loves several varieties of the popular floribundas, with their beautiful clusters of flowers and nearly continuous re-bloom throughout the season. The Wrights acquired most of their roses from Pete Taylor of Fairhope.

Raised in Mobile, Jamie first took note of gardening practices in the Spring Hill area where her family lived.

"I always loved being outdoors, and I really enjoy piddling in the ground," she shares. "I like to look at God's creations and so enjoy the many beautiful flowers we can grow here. I really love sharing my rose blooms with others and give most of them away.”

Early springtime in these parts is often rainy and still relatively cool, but sunny and warmer days are merely biding their time and are sure to come. With the early new growth sprouting around the Wright home and the cheery migrating birds flocking to full feeders by the pool, their early spring garden serves to remind us of the freshness and emergence of new life.

Usually, the early spring gardens in Baldwin County offer a weekly progression of change. The emerging blooms in Jamie's garden offer more of a show in late winter (by the calendar) because of the lack of leaves and other plant growth. Jamie's Gerber daisies and the first flush from her blooming azaleas hint at the splendor to come.

The full sun-loving Gerber daisies, which Jamie loves, are native to South Africa and produce large, vibrant blooms in a cheerful variety of colors. They seem to thrive in loose, sandy/loamy soil, which makes them the perfect choice for the Baldwin County coastline. According to Jamie, their large 4-inch blooms surrounded by colorful rays require little care and faithfully return throughout the seasons of the year.

Beginning with the inherent inspiration of land along Mobile Bay, Jamie Wright has managed to improve on the view by adding the beauty of flowers, shrubs and trees she loves to create a sweeping, tranquil vista for her family and friends alike. It all comes together to create a peaceful, secluded respite for not only Jamie and Ham, but for their three grown children and five grandchildren, as well.

Even though the calendar says February, the Wrights welcome Spring with her whispers of color and beauty that dot countryside and bayside in their own corner of coastal paradise.