FARMINGTON – Sharing the beauty of her handiwork, Beverly Oliver led 30 members and guests of the Mt. Blue Area Garden Club Tuesday along the paths of her “Ladybug Garden” located on Holley Road.

The paths led around several varieties of large hosta plants, flowering clementis vines and many others as well as several small buildings built by Oliver, who said, “If you want something, you build it.”

And she has.

The gardens stretch into wooded areas at the back and on one side of her yard where land has been cleared to make way for plants, ornaments and a large, beautiful treehouse. Actually, the house doesn’t sit in a tree but was hoisted onto wooden beams so that it sits aloft among the pine trees.

This is no ordinary tree house and neither are her gardens. Nestled in among the plants and buildings are small ornaments, signs and decorative touches.

The treehouse, called Dragon Fly Inn, was given just as much attention to detail. The pre-fab 10- by 10-foot building with a 6-foot porch was created by Pinnacle Farm Mini Barns in Kingfield. Oliver said her children built a platform 10 feet off the ground, and then, in one day, put the building together.

Oliver added electricity to the house and set up a small stove, refrigerator, day-bed, table and chairs on a nicely carpeted floor.

“I did the inside all myself. I just plain surprised myself,” she said later in an interview. “And learned how to cover up my mistakes,” she said with a laugh.

A neighbor built the stairs, at no charge. “People are so good to me,” said Oliver. “They are just so good.”

She is often asked if she built it for her grandkids, she said, then chuckled as she said no. “I just did it because it was fun.”

Among the apple and pear trees and high-bush blueberries in her yard grows a large kiwi vine that entwines an arbor large enough for a couple to enjoy tea on the table and chairs she has has placed beneath it. She had the vine for 20 years, she told the group, but didn’t it didn’t bear fruit until she sent some slips for testing only to find that she had two female plants. So, she found a friend with a male plant and then climbed up and “acted like a bee,” she said. Her effort produced a good crop of sweet fruit.

While explaining the gardens to the group, she made special note of a story about her now-deceased neighbor Leroy Woodman, known to most as “Piney.” Despite the fact that he owned the woods at the back of her property, Oliver said she ventured in anyway, clearing the property and building a garden in 2003.

At the time, garden club member Ruth Evans was hosting a gardening show on the local station Channel 11. And when she taped a show at Oliver’s gardens, Oliver called Piney and said to him that if he’d like to see what his land looks like now, he should watch Evans’ show. He did. In fact, she said, he taped it and watched it several times. Then, she said, he called her and told her to go to the lawyer’s office and sign the papers – he was giving her an acre of land, which she now calls Piney Woods.

“I still get goosebumps thinking about what he did,” she said.

The garden club holds three summer meetings in the evenings at private gardens, said organizer Pat Morse, not only for something different to do but so that people who work can have the opportunity to participate. Members and guests bring a sandwich, chat, tour the owner’s garden and have a short meeting. All are welcome to attend. On July 17, the group will meet at 5:30 p.m. at the home of Myrna Vallette and on Aug. 21 at Hummingbird Haven in New Vineyard. For more information, call Morse at 645-4838.