If your child has attended Pine Tree High School, the name Eunice Morton may sound familiar. For the past 25 years, she has taught a variety of science classes, including AP Biology and AP Environmental Science, and is currently the lead science teacher. Or you might recognize Mrs. Morton from the Adult Lady Sunday School class at First Baptist Church in Longview that she has taught for 28 years. Between family, church and school, Eunice still finds time to create her own personal Garden of Eden, conveniently located in her backyard.
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Eunice Morton poses with her beautiful lilies, which she grew from cuttings passed through the generations.
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Her strong emotional attachment to Mother Nature began as a child. She played in fields and found comfort in the woods. Eunice credits her green thumb to her mother, whose vegetable garden kept the family fed.
Most of Eunice's garden started out as cuttings taken from her mother's, grandmother's and great-grandmother's plants. She spends an average of two hours a day keeping her yard maintained, and she doesn't mind it a bit.
"It's a place of peace and solace, where all my stresses slip away," Eunice said. She finds the hardest part of gardening to be simply sitting down and enjoying the scenery.
Mrs. Morton has plenty of helpful suggestions for Charm gardeners. She believes a successful garden starts with good topsoil and compost. She suggests buying plants native to East Texas, which ensures that they can handle the heat and humidity. She highly recommends daylilies for their sturdiness and beauty. However, she feels the most important aspect of gardening is attitude. "You have to want to do it," she said.
"If you don't like yard work, plant shrubs and be happy with it. If I didn't like pulling weeds, I wouldn't have a garden."
And what a beautiful garden it is.
