A not so secret garden

Photos and Story by Carol Dunbar STONHOPE-Gary Pruden has created an oasis of beauty and tranquility on a small backstreet of Stanhope. No gnomes here, just an array of butterflies, turtles, birds, and woodland creatures, enhancing the scents and colors of the plants and flowers throughout the yard that surrounds his home. The grounds are abundant with tall grasses, elephant ear hosta, tiny cosmos, and the sounds of a fountain flowing into a water lily pond. There are pots and other containers filled with hibiscus, sweet potato plants, sage, and other herbs. Pruden, who works for a trucking company, doesn't consider the garden's maintenance work. He built the arbors and footbridge where a sculpture of fisherman sits. It has taken Pruden and his wife, Jan, six years to mold the ever-changing and growing design of the garden.