CATHY DEXTER enjoys her front porch surrounded by a colorful profusion of flowers at her home in Battle Ground.
BEARS ARE A beloved theme in Cathy Dexter’s Battle Ground flower garden.
A “CHAIN SAW BEAR’’ inhabits Cathy Dexter’s porch, surrounded by baskets and pots of blooming petunias and geraniums.
A COLORFUL profusion of petunias, geraniums, and gladiolas line the front lawn at Cathy Dexter’s Battle Ground home.
BATTLE GROUND – Residents of one east Battle Ground cul de sac enjoy a colorful welcome home, thanks to Cathy Dexter’s passion for growing flowers in her front yard.
Dexter slowly began gardening when she bought her home 10 years ago. Her first purchase was a pair of cherry trees next to the sidewalk, which start the gardening season with pink and white blooms in early spring.
Most of the flowers in Dexter’s garden are annuals, bought a dozen at a time from the Battle Ground Fred Meyer store. She credits the garden manager there for many tips and ideas for helping her garden thrive. Dexter says she doesn’t really know anything about growing flowers, and she is just learning as she goes along, one plant at a time. She estimates she has spent $500 on plants this year, a little bit at a time.
Dexter’s favorite flowering plants are petunias and geraniums, which she spends up to two hours each day watering and “dead heading,” a term for removing spent blossoms. Hanging baskets line the front porch, which Dexter also planted herself using small plant “starts.”
Baskets are strategically positioned above pots at ground level, to minimize water loss and make her watering chore easier. Dexter says she doesn’t have any secret for the thriving potted plants; she uses a mix of regular potting soil, peat moss, and perlite, with a shot of Miracle Gro Quick Start when she plants them.
Dexter started gardening because she wanted a hobby and a way to relax. She is a single mom and owns a cleaning business, Cathy’s Nit-Pickin’ Cleanin’.
“It’s therapy for me,” she says. Her other hobby is raising purebred Labrador Retrievers. She does not even attempt gardening in the back yard; that area is given over to the dogs.
Dexter added a few edible plants to her garden for the first time this year. A sprawling tomato plant and a robust pepper plant fill a bare spot at the corner of the house.
One advantage of planting masses of flowers is that they crowd out weeds, says Dexter. They also attract hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees, welcome visitors to her yard. A collection of birdhouses hang from a cherry tree.
Dexter loves bears, a fondness which stems from 10 years spent in Montana. Several large “chain saw bears” inhabit the front porch, and smaller bears, also from the Battle Ground Fred Meyer store, populate the flower beds. Dexter emphasized how much she enjoys shopping at a local store for her garden.
People who walk by often comment on how pretty her yard looks or the wonderful fragrance, says Dexter. One person said “It’s refreshing to drive by.”
Dexter has a few more goals for her garden. She would like to gradually add more perennial plants to the mix, which will return year after year. And she would like to learn about plants to add winter interest to her yard. She is excited for her first harvest of tomatoes and peppers, and may try to grow more edibles in the future.
