Town and Country Garden Club lived up to its name with 2011 beautification awards to Wilbur Ridge in LaGrange Township, where asparagus thrives in sandy soil; a former Pokagon Township farm where exotic banana trees wave their leaves at Pamida; and a home in the heart of the city on Sherwood Street.

Garden club representatives reviewed 18 possibilities before awarding first place, and $75, to Betty and L.A. “Mike”McCabe, 57671 Wilbur Hill Road, where gardening isn’t back-breaking work thanks to the terraced back yard which lifts up plant beds; second place, and $50, to Margaret Grindel, a Sears kit house at 56445 M-51 South which in back, away from the busy highway entering Dowagiac, is like a roadside park; and third place, and $25, to Mary Jo Zimmerman, 124 Sherwood St., whose mother, Donna Brosnan, a previous winner, transplanted her some green thumb nine years ago, although Mary Jo’s favorite colors are red, white and yellow.

Named honorable mention in the annual examination of backyards off the beaten paths are Albert Dillard, 105 Halstead St.; Bob and Leslie Sestric, 28636 Maple Terrace, Silver Creek Township; and Alice Lee, 206 Clinton St.

McCabe is bothered by back surgery, so he enhanced the terraces on the family farm his mother began so he doesn’t have to bend over.

His father planted tiger lilies which line the driveway. There’s a red barn, a windmill, a meadow and hollyhocks climbing an ancient corn crib.

Nineteen of their 40 acres are planted to asparagus.

Alongside towering sunflowers are moonflowers. “At night, they open up into a white, tulip-shaped flower,” Mrs. McCabe said. “If you catch it just right, you can get night and day at the same time.”

The tornado ravaged their woods at the same time trees were tossed along M-62 between Cassopolis and Dowagiac on June 6 graduation day and “took the whole end of the barn off. It crossed the orchards and tore up a lot of trees,” he said.

An enormous black ash that canopies their front yard survived.

Their daughter scavenged from the woods gnarled vine which gives stairs from the upper level to the lower yard a unique twist of a railing.

McCabes have resided on the ridge for about 20 years. “My dad was LaGrange Township supervisor for about 10 years and managed a wholesale lumber company. When it closed, he opened his own business.”

Grindel bought her parents’ property when her mother died 17 years ago.

Her patio used to be occupied by a dog kennel converted from an old garage.

She once had three big German shepherds who padded around behind her as she dug the earth for 10-hour stretches at a time.

When she raised dogs, she might have seven or eight in pens.

Such strenuous gardening must keep her young because the 72-year-old also enjoys bicycling.

“My parents used to have a chicken coop up here right after the Depression,” Grindel said. “My dad used to trade potatoes for things” at the grocery located where Underwood Shoes is today. “My dad and grandparents owned all of this up into Henry Heights (the subdivision across Pokagon Street) at one time.”

Grindel grows a visually interesting mix of grasses, hostas, a 12-foot plant with huge leaves that looks like a maple tree on steroids and a tropical feel from the banana trees.

Zimmerman said, “When I moved here, there wasn’t much here. (Mrs. Brosnan, widow of Dowagiac’s longtime postmaster) kept giving me stuff. My brother and sister-in-law, too. They just got me started and now I love to do it. I just keep adding and adding. I had a chain-link fence and I started planting flowers there. If I didn’t like something, I’d move it. I watch shows on TV and look at other people’s yards.” The fence has been supplanted by a patio.

“I like red, yellow and white. And I like bee balm. Those are one of my favorites, and the day lilies (which line one side of her residence). My daisies are all gone. It’s a lot of work, but I just love doing it. I was so excited when (Town and Country) called. The front’s torn up because of a new sewer line. This weather’s been hard because it’s either 1,000 degrees or raining.”

Zimmerman has pink hydrangeas on one side of her house, white on another.

“There are no seasons,” said Jo Smiley of the garden club whose yard on Main Street across from Farr Park was a winner last year. “Winter and summer, from cold to hot.”