Many of Fairhope's idyllic, charming neighborhoods quietly boast of the whimsy and delight of gardening on the grounds of cottages built at least 100 years ago, when the artists' colony vision was just beginning to be realized.

This magical setting — back then and now — continues to attract the souls of writers, painters and gardeners into the midst of old trees, charming shops and pastoral life by the bay.

Atmore native Vikki Day, cookbook writer, painter and heritage plant gardener, found her way to Fairhope just over a year ago.

Vikki, who taught high school art in Alabama, Florida and Georgia in addition to running an antique business, rented her little blue cottage by the bay for two months while mulling over whether she was going to put down roots here.

"At the end of those two months, I had joined an art association and made so many wonderful new friends that I just bit the bullet and bought the 111-year-old cottage and made it my own," Vikki says.

Vikki, her six cats, and Bach, her rescued white Schnauzer, have settled nicely, and her preference for the old-fashioned grace of the cottage garden is evidenced all around.

A natural cottage garden is a welcoming paradise, and Vikki has fashioned hers along the front walkway and around her comforting front porch by using a combination of romantic, old-fashioned flowers that continue to thrive and are remembered "from Grandma's garden.”

Such welcoming pleasers as red geraniums tumbling over patinaed containers, old English bluebells she had for many years in her Atmore garden, iris varieties, begonias, pansies, petunias and pentas are artfully placed in beds or containers to create the informal, restful benevolence desired in a cottage garden.

The fruits of blueberries and mayhaws and the wildlife they attract, along with the relative ease of upkeep, help make the lovely concept of a cottage garden become a beautiful reality in Vikki's landscape.

As is often the case, Vikki's love of growing all things green began with and was encouraged by her grandmother, who gardened in Mobile.

"My mother and grandmother loved gardening and cooking, which is why I love both of those so much,” she said. “I write cookbooks and love to cook with fresh herbs and vegetables I grow myself."

Her backyard plot includes herbs, including several basil varieties, fragrant lavender, lemon verbena, dill and red sage.

She also grows vegetables — potatoes, rutabagas, two kinds of kale, collards, mustards, lettuces and and leeks — all hardy and thriving.

"I like strange mixtures," she shares. "I am always dragging home plants from all over the country to fit somewhere into my garden. I like frontier plants (mixing old, established plants with new ones). I have some old irises that I brought home from Williamsburg, Va., and I am getting ready to plant nine Mayhaw trees I brought from Atmore. They make the best jelly in the world!"

Flowering plants, flowers, fruits and herbs all contribute to the charm of Vikki's garden. Bees, butterflies, dragonflies and other wildlife add their own beauty to the garden as well.

She relishes a peaceful place to rest on her front porch and enjoy the harmony of nature with insects, birds and animals.

"One of my friends paid me the nicest compliment recently,” Vikki shares. “She said that I reminded her of Tasha Tudor, a New England gardener, writer and keeper extraordinaire of home crafts. I was very flattered — I love and admire Tasha and have all of her books."

Tasha Tudor believed one of the delights of gardening is the awareness of how decisions made in prior years have a significant impact on the future.

To this end, she carefully harvested seeds from her well-tended plants so future generations could enjoy the magic of gardening.

She also excelled in all of the home crafts — weaving, soap making, collecting eggs from her own chickens, baking with fresh goats' milk and using only fresh or dried herbs from her garden.

Tudor tended her large summer garden in Vermont into her 90s — certainly a woman worthy of Vikki's admiration.

Cottage gardens are not of a precise design. Their layouts evolve and expand over time. This lack of precise predictability leads to the romantic, old-fashioned informal aura that is the very essence of Vikki's cottage garden.

"Be true to yourself wherever you go, whatever you do,” this effervescent gardener, artist and cookbook writer advises. “You'll meet the neatest kind of folks. Gardening gives you a zest for life and a zest for living."