By Tim Appling
Fairmount’s September Yard of the Month is the home of Scott and Laura Kee at 2200 Hurley Avenue. The Kees rented a house just down the street a few years ago and fell in love with the neighborhood. So when the house at 2200 became available, they decided to buy it. Though the house itself had been extensively remodeled, they started from scratch on the yard. The result is a tidy and very attractive landscape, for which Scott says Laura should get all the credit.
Laura is an interior decorator, but obviously has a talent for exterior design as well. The front porch is fronted by a mixture of wax-leaf ligustrum, and an unusual variety of Indian hawthorne. Interspersed among the larger shrubs a few chrysanthemum plants from past autumns can also be seen beginning to produce new buds. White-blooming lantana lines both sides of the front walkway while at the right corner of the house a mixed planting of pink lantana, rosemary, lavender, basil, and moss rose is centered around a bird bath. A row of junipers grows along the street running beside the corner-lot house. Laura laments this summer’s “grasshopper problem.” But at 2200 Hurley, there is no sign that the voracious pests caused any harm. In this tranquil setting it is also easy to forget that bustling 8th Avenue is a mere one block west.
Scott is employed by Suncoast Resources which markets fuel and lubrication. He is an avid golfer who is undeterred by the Texas summer heat. Besides her interior design work, Laura also has a booth at the Cattle Barn Flea Market, where she works on weekends. The two were high school sweethearts in the Hill Country years ago, but went their separate ways. Relatively recently they reconnected and rekindled their romance, which led to marriage three years ago. The couple now share their lovely Fairmount home with a golden retriever named Cynthia Ann Parker and Coco, a chocolate lab.
As Yard of the Month honorees, the Kees have received a gift certificate from C. C.’s Touch of Nature.
Very soon Fairmount residents will be in full Halloween mode and decorating their homes and yards to reflect the spooky spirit of the season. Back by popular demand will be our Halloween Yard of the Month, the winner of which is selected by Facebook vote. Start planning your scare-scape now. You just might have a ghost of a chance of winning!