By Setarreh Massihzadegan
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

Heading inside after a bocce game, Mary Warnock can’t help but perform a quick cleanup on the large flower pot outside of the Kingsbury Clubhouse at Brooksby. While in conversation about her own garden, she precisely and expertly sweeps through the brightly blooming potted flowers with her hands to pick out a few dead ones.

“I’m a perfectionist. I don’t like to see a weed,” Warnock says later while walking around her garden.

From the looks of her garden patch, abundant with colorful annuals, leafy vegetables, and thriving daisies, it is clear Warnock applies this rule wholeheartedly. Since moving to Brooksby almost five years ago from Lynnfield, Mass., she has embraced a new gardening experience to rave reviews and successful harvests.

New harvest
“[She’s] the best gardener in the place,” says Anthony Grande, who lives at Brooksby and has his own garden patch across from Warnock’s.

About a year after Warnock moved to Brooksby, her granddaughter convinced her to sign up for one of the community’s 130, 10-squarefoot garden patches. Though Warnock gardened in her previous homes, she says this was new to her because it was the first time she had gardens in the sun. Having grown mostly shrubs at her last house, Warnock has begun exploring many more plants with help from her neighbors at Brooksby.

“This is a treat,” Warnock says of her current garden. “It fascinates me that just with a little bit of care you can do so much.”

Fruitful labor
Warnock says she asked those with nearby gardens for advice as she began planting. She says the work is never a chore, in part because it often becomes a social event when others are out enjoying their gardens.

As for her wide range of organized plants, she admits, “You name it, I grow it.”

Warnock is not the only one who benefits from her efforts. At one time she was getting a quart of strawberries every day, a yield she eagerly shared with her fellow bocce players.