After seeing milkweed blooming in her front yard, Kellie Campbell realized there was more than just greenery growing near her home, but a memorable connection to Carolyn Spier, the previous owner of the house.
Specs of orange and black float in front of you, bouncing from flower to flower, fluttering in the air as the delicate insect continues its course – a monarch butterfly.
Columbia resident Kellie Campbell, noticed a possible connection between the new home she bought and its previous owner — a blooming native garden attracting insects and wildlife in her front yard.
Native gardens are a habitat for pollinators like butterflies, moths, bees, wasps and hummingbirds. People plant these gardens full of flora and native plant species for both their beauty and their positive impact on pollinators.
Former owners Carolyn and Rob Spier lived in the ‘50s-styled home until Carolyn Spier passed away in 2021.
In Campbell’s front yard, native plants, such as milkweed, continue to grow in the garden.
Kellie and her husband Chris Campbell knew Carolyn because she would often volunteer at the Boone County History and Culture Center where Chris works as the executive director. He noticed how much she enjoyed volunteering and according to Kellie, he also “remembered seeing her great big smile.”
During that time, the Campbells were searching for a 1950s-1960s-styled home, and it wasn’t until Chris met Spier’s daughter, Roberta McCard, who pointed out that Carolyn’s home fit their ideal house description and would be on the market soon.
“It was neat to have a connection to the house,” Kellie said upon purchasing the home.
While settling in, Kellie noticed tall, green stalks in the front yard. She turned to Google Lens for answers about their purpose.
“The first thing I noticed was the milkweed, these tallest plants,” Kellie said. “I was like ‘What the heck are those?’ then after doing some research I realized these are really special, and how special they are to monarchs in particular.”
She then contacted McCard to see if the planted milkweed had any relation to Spier when she resided there.
“I reached out to her daughter Roberta and I said ‘Did your mother have a thing going on here because I don’t think these milkweed plants are accidental,’” Kellie said.
McCard responded with a heartwarming photo that opened a new perspective to their home.
“She sent me this wonderful picture of her mother, standing in the midst of the milkweed long before she passed,” Kellie said.
Carolyn Spier is surrounded by blossoming milkweed plants in her garden in June 2019
Spier would plant flowers, native plants and pollinator plants —like the milkweed in the picture — because of her admiration of nature and the plants’ contribution to the environment.
“She has always loved pollinator gardens and what they represent to nature as far as providing a haven for insects that will pollinate other gardens, as well as birds too,” McCard said. “The milkweed was given to her as a seed and she would often exchange seeds with her sister when it came to planting different flowers in the front of her house.”
After Kellie saw the photo of Spier surrounded by the same milkweed plants she now inherited, she felt this was an opportunity to uphold a garden legacy that was unintentionally passed down — an opportunity that holds significance to her and to Spier’s family.
Kellie then decided to make a sign with Spier’s name on it and place it in the garden to honor her efforts with the native plants.
“And so, Carolyn had something going on here,” Kellie said.“I got on Etsy and found a company in Texas that makes these cool little signs, and I designed it for Carolyn, sort of in tribute to her.”
McCard acknowledges her mom’s appreciation of the outdoors as she often “found solace in the garden and just enjoyed nature and loved being out there and seeing the colors and the different wildlife that came through.”
“My mom just wanted to beautify her surroundings, not just for herself but for others,” McCard said.
At first, Kellie wasn’t as familiar with native gardening, but friends in her book club were able to give her advice on tending to these gardens. One of those friends is Robin Tillitt, who dedicates much of her land to prairie natives.
“She had a lot of garden, so consequently you end up getting a lot of invasive [plants] that start to establish themselves,” Tillitt said. “We started to point out some of those invasive species that will come in, either carried in from birds with seeds, or squirrels burying things.”
Along with advice from her friends, Kellie sees Spier’s garden as a chance to expand her knowledge on this element of nature that was shared with her.
“I like research, I like new things to learn, so this has certainly been something new to learn,” Kellie said. “What is native? What attracts pollinators? What is good for them, you know?”
Now, Campbell continues to hold the native garden close and the aspect of it being Spier’s closer. She plans to maintain and add to the garden once springtime nears.
“I’m like ‘Hey you know what, somebody started it, let’s build on it, it’s a good thing and you know, let’s go with it.’”
Edited by Lucy Valeski | lvaleski@themaneater.com
