From gardening to art, homeowner makes her mark

BRANDON Roxanne Tobaison and Coleen Bentson are artists of a very different nature, with watercolors the medium of choice for Tobaison, and plants, shrubs, trees and dirt the means through which Bentson makes her mark with meadow-like gardening.

I think Coleen is tremendously talented, Tobaison said. When I look around her yard, its like what you see in a painting. You have different colors in different textures and varieties. Its not just landscaping, planting and pruning. Its being creative with her layouts.

Tobaison, a watercolorist for 35 years, described Bentson as a landscape artist, on location at the October paint-out arranged by the Brandon League of Fine Arts (BLFA) at Bentsons Valrico home in River Hills.

To hear what other people are saying about my garden, it adds an extra purpose to what Im doing, Bentson said about her extensive landscape designs, including a gated secret garden on the south side of her corner-lot property. I never thought about it as art.

What she does consider art is the Home to Heart greeting card line for handwritten notes she started on a shoestring budget, featuring photos she takes of her garden and yard throughout the year and seasons.

The cards have been for sale at various locations throughout the Greater Brandon area, including Kiwis Exotic Plants Nursery, Car Wash on the Green and Bloomingdale Nursery in Valrico; White Rabbit Antiques & Collectibles, Victorian Grace Tea Room and Mandalay Mist Bronzing Spa in Brandon; and the gift shops at Brandon Regional Hospital and the Center Place Fine Arts & Civic Association.

She created a beautiful space here, thats a form of art, said BLFA artist Diane Newsome, who complimented the gardens accessibility for walk-through views across its many pathways. And then shes taking pictures of that art that she can share with other people.

Bentson said she was drawn to gardening as a homeowner unable to grow grass without issues.

I took the challenge to xeriscape my property, said the mother of three, whose children range in age from 22 to 26. It looked good and one thing led to another. As I got older, my kids didnt demand as much of my attention. I could spend hours on my yard without worrying about what the kids were doing inside.

Bentson said she favors a natural look, best described as something that has grown there by itself, not manicured, and yet at the same time organized and weed-free, everything pruned and looking fresh.

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From gardening to art, homeowner makes her mark