By Barry Wise Smith
Photos by Jordan Wald and courtesy of Miss Sims Garden
Tucked away on a quiet street in Edgewood is a garden that harkens back to another time. Native flowers and plants flourish in the shade of mature hardwood trees while charming paths meander throughout.
Before Miss Sims Garden was, well, Miss Sims Garden, it was simply the private home of longtime Homewood resident Catherine Sims, known familiarly as “the plant lady” of Homewood. For years, Sims shared plants, cuttings, and seeds from her home garden with neighbors and friends. When she passed away in 2006, Sims designated in her will that the property—the house built in 1927 and extensive gardens on five lots—be deeded to the city to be maintained as a botanical park.
After an extended probate period, in 2009, the city took ownership of the property, which had become overgrown in the intervening years. In 2010, the city contracted with The Southern Environmental Center (SEC) at Sims’ alma mater Birmingham-Southern College to oversee and tend the gardens. The city paid for needed repairs to the house, and the SEC received one-time grant for $150,000 over
five years from the Sims Advised Fund. The
first caretaker was hired, and landscaping improvements began. A series of student caretakers cycled through over the next several years, with no strategic plan for maintaining the gardens for the future.
A New Era
In 2018, the city of Homewood advertised for a full-time caretaker for the garden. Amy Weis, a Homewood resident who was involved on the city’s Environmental Commission, was contacted by the caretakers who asked if she would be interested in the job. Weis, who has
a degree in Biogeography from the University of South Alabama, a master’s degree in GIS from the University of Cambridge in England, and had worked for the United Nations Environmental Program and as an adjunct professor at Samford, hadn’t heard of Miss Sims Garden and set about educating herself.
Once Weis learned about the garden, she wrote a proposal outlining her ideas and presented it to the Ward 1 City Councilors at the time, Britt Thames and Andy Gwaltney. “I took the challenge to heart,” Weis recalls. “I really started thinking about what I could do to grow and expand the gardens and bring more awareness to what we were doing.” In July 2018, Weis was hired as the Executive Director of the Sims Garden and met with Mayor Scott McBrayer and his Chief of Staff J.J. Bischoff to confirm the city’s support. “J.J. has been formative for making this happen,” Weis says.
Weis moved into the house on the property and quickly discovered that her job was not going to be without challenge. “The challenges started right from the beginning,” she says. Jefferson County gave notice about an impending sewer project that would include work in the garden, and where four 1920’s cottages once sat, nine, large new-construction homes had been built surrounding the gardens, significantly increasing stormwater runoff onto the property.
Weis put together a team of experts to help address the problems and think strategically about the growth and future of the garden. The group developed a three-phase Master Plan that included addressing stormwater concerns; adding a greenhouse and hydro-powered
irrigation systems; creating interpretive/education signage and programs designed for professionals, adults, and k-12 students; addressing ADA compliance issues; planting food gardens and native plants and pollinators; adding an outdoor kitchen; and providing support for wildlife and native pollinators.
Current Ward 1 City Councilor and Sims Garden neighbor Melanie Geer sees great value in having the garden in Homewood. “Living less than a block from Miss Sims Garden has given me a close perspective on its history and significance over the years,” she says. “While I didn’t have the privilege of knowing Miss Sims herself, many of my longtime neighbors were friends with Miss Sims and still have her pass-along plants in their gardens.”
As for the master plan’s implementation, Geer feels strongly that the garden is and will continue to be an asset in Homewood. “This unique opportunity for Homewood to support the creation of Miss Sims dream for an educational botanical garden in the middle of Edgewood is such a gift we can all be proud to support.” Geer continues. “I look forward to continued progress and participation as Miss Sims dream garden becomes a reality for Homewood and the many visitors each year. The outreach and educational aspects of the plan, if they are actualized, would be such interesting and useful elements of the garden for our community!”
In 2021, the city ended its contract with BSC, and in 2022, Weis established the Miss Sims Garden Foundation 501© (3) and formulated
a fundraising plan to help make the gardens
sustainable. Weis started small by hosting movie nights in the gardens and Jazz & Coffee events. “I wanted to start by building community in the garden,” Weis says. In 2020, Weis started her most successful fundraiser to date, the Pumpkins & Mums sale in the garden in
advance of Halloween. The popular fundraiser has raised nearly $40,000 each year since it started. Weis also added Santa photos in the gardens during the holidays.
“We have diverse events,” Weis says. “We rent the garden for parties and events—garden clubs, Bible study groups, Sunday School classes, and more.” Recently Weis did her first private sponsorship drive, asking residents and neighbors to financially support the garden. “And for the first time this year, we’re bringing back Miss Sims’ infamous plant sale,” Weis says of the sale she’ll hold in conjunction with We Love Homewood Day on May 3. The sale will feature heirloom plant varieties and native plants found in the garden.
Through a project of the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service, Weis has planted Grow More-Give More gardens on the property, with the produce grown being donated to people in need of fresh food. What is not donated to neighbors, goes to the Trinity West Homewood campus’ food share program.
“We want to be a vital part of the community,” Weis says. “It is hard work, and there’s always more to do, but it is important.”
To learn more about Miss Sims Garden or donate, visit cityofhomewood.com/sims-garden.
