John Fairey plantsmanextraordinaire
A visionary garden creator and plant explorer, John Fairey has had a significant influence on the plant
palette and design aesthetic of southern gardens. ARTICLE AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY BILL NOBLE
T'S HARD TO pigeonhole Yucca Do Nursery, Carl Schoen John Gaston Fairey. He's feld, received the American Hor I probably best known for ticultural Society's Commercial Peckerwood Garden, the inter Award in 1996 for their work. nationally acclaimed oasis he created over the last 40 years on SOUTHERN ROOTS an old farmstead in Hempstead, Fairey' s straightforward explana Texas, some 50 miles northwest tion for his passion is, "I garden of Houston. But over the course because I want someplace wonder of a diverse career, the 84-year ful to live." He grew up gardening old Fairey has also made a name on his family's farm in rural South for himself as an artist, college Carolina and recalls weeding his professor, conservationist, nurs mother's garden in the mornings. ery founder, and plant explor Visits to Brookgreen Gardens near er with a particular interest in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, as Mexico's flora. a youngster, along with exposure Through the unique array of to a lively community of gardeners trees, shrubs, woody lilies, and set him on a course that eventual perennials fromTexas and Mexi ly found its greatest expression in co trialed at Peckerwood and dis Peckerwood Garden, one of the tributed through public gardens most ambitious and beautiful gar and Yucca Do Nursery-a spe dens and arboreta inTexas. cialty mail-order nursery Fairey As a young adult, Fairey cofounded in the 198os-Fairey moved to Philadelphia to study has expanded the paletteof plants painting and pursue a career as an available to gardeners through artist. Eventually he made his way out the American South. to central Texas to teach design "John has truly been a pioneer to architecture students at Texas infinding and popularizingplants A&M University in College Sta from Mexico," says Tony Avent, propri Over the course of his long career, John tion. It was while exploring the byways of etor of Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, Fairey has created a significant legacy in this section of southeast Texas that Fairey' s North Carolina. "While John certainly plant exploration, conservation, new plant career took a radically differentroute. wasn't the first Americanto botanize Mex introduction, and garden design. ico, his broad interest inplants other than PECKERWOOD'S EARLY DAYS cacti, the sheer number of trips, and his ous awards, most recently with the Scott No one who witnessed Peckerwood's hum mail-order nursery outlet allowed a huge Medal and Award from the Scott Arbore ble beginnings in 1971 could have predicted array of]ohn's finds to be distributed far tum of SwarthmoreCollege in Pennsylva that the garden would have a far-reaching and wide-something that many prior col nia in 2013. He has also been recognized for influence on gardeners and garden design lectors failed to do." his teaching, earning a National Teacher's ers in Texas and beyond. A realtor showed Acknowledgment of Fairey's accom Award from the American Institute of Ar Fairey the property surrounding a neglect plishments has come in the formof numer- chitects. Fairey and his former partner at ed farmhouse in rural Hempstead and he
22 THE AMERICAN GARDENER