Simply gourdeous

Southern Living, Aug 1999 by Riley, Ellen

Randy Harelson was headed home. After 18 years in Rhode Island, he was driving south to put his feet back on Southern soil. He was also looking to put down roots in a new business. On his journey, he passed a little white farmhouse with a colony of gourd birdhouses hanging in the side yard. "When I saw that farmhouse the idea came to me-full-blown. The Gourd Garden and Curiosity Shop was born in my mind in that instant," Randy says. After five years it has become everything he envisioned.

Located on a gentle curve of County Road 30-A in the Florida panhandle, The Gourd Garden's circular drive leads you into a garden lush with tropical foliage, flowers, and herbs. Dried gourds hang in raindrop shapes from every porch and eave. This year's new crop dangles from arbors, defying gravity. It is nursery, old-fashioned garden, and roadside attraction rolled into one.

Randy drew upon his training as horticulturist, teacher, and designer to create his multidimensional business. "This is a business about place. I chose Seagrove Beach because it represents old-time Florida. It has the lazy, low-key quality that is rapidly vanishing," he says.

Whimsical charm engulfs this business. "I wanted it to be like an old tourist stop we all remember as children riding through Florida," he says. "It taps our memories of alligator farms and cypressknee museums. The gourds give this place that quality.

"To me, gardening is about having fun. I resisted doing a traditional nursery because I'm not interested in the kind of garden design that is about pomp and formality. It's interesting plants, vegetables, and unusual things. It's finding the magic in life," he says.

Dried gourds of every size and description fill baskets and bins in the open-air barn. Long-necked dipper gourds remind visitors of days not long gone. "I had a man tell me that water never tasted so good as when he drank from an old dipper gourd," Randy says.

Inside the old Florida-style home nearby, rooms are filled with beautifully crafted gourds. Made into vessels, instruments, and accessories, they are functional art using techniques that have been around for centuries. From tiny animals that fit into the palm of your hand to ornately etched lamps, Randy has fulfilled his goal of offering gourds as art.

"This is a place where people can come to enjoy themselves," he says. With the large assortment of flowers, herbs, and gourds to peruse, a few hours of beach time can quickly vanish. "Several ladies from Fairhope, Alabama, paid me the ultimate compliment a few weeks ago. They drove into the Gourd Garden and told me they'd come just to picnic under our live oaks. It must have taken them several hours to get here, and they just wanted to enjoy the cool shade and fun of this place." At The Gourd Garden and Curiosity Shop, that's easy to do.

Pages 76-78: Gourds are available from The Gourd Garden and Curiosity Shop (R), 4808 East County Road 30-A, Santa Rosa Beach FL 32459, (850) 231-2150.