Cindy Wilson lived on Butterfly Lane in Doney Park, Arizona, for almost two decades before her backyard started living up to the name. When she retired five years ago, she started growing a garden oasis.
At first, her plan was to sell the flowers she grew. But after wildfires and flooding hit her neighborhood, she discovered her garden’s true value. It wasn’t the money a sale could bring; it was the joy of giving them away.
Wilson invited her devastated neighbors, “hoping that I could just bring a bit of kindness and maybe a little joy,” she says.
Now her goal is to host “you pick” events weekly. From June to September, the garden is open to the public most Saturdays. Only neighbors are invited to the first pick of the season, honoring the garden’s roots. The flowers are free, though visitors sometimes leave donations to help with costs.
In 2021, the beige house on Butterfly Lane stood alone on a three-acre property. The inside of the house was just as lonely. Wilson’s six children had moved out, her husband had passed away, and she spent many days dreaming of a garden.
Now the house stands among rows of blooms and hand-painted signs. A bell rings to signal “pick-it time.” People from near and far gather to wander the flower beds. They fill baskets and take home handpicked bouquets.
Mary Walton is one of Wilson’s neighbors. She watched the garden grow, and her community along with it. Neighbors don’t only visit the garden. They help too.
As fall settles in at the Garden House on Butterfly Lane, Wilson prepares to prune what’s left of the plants. She says she will enjoy the last flower’s presence until someone takes it home.
Love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls but the word of the Lord remains forever.” — 1 Peter 1:22-25
