CHARLOTTE — When Lib Jones and Tom Nunnenkamp bought their home 36 years ago, they had no idea they would create the oasis that surrounds the property today.
“We bought the house in December of 1990 with no intention of doing anything like this,” Nunnenkamp told Channel 9’s Elsa Gillis. “We were backyard gardeners.”
Nunnenkamp calls the 2.25-acre property in south Charlotte their glorified backyard. The couple named it MapleWalk because of the 97 different Japanese maples that adorn the garden.
In the 90s, a big rainfall flooded their home due to runoff from the elevated lot behind them. They decided to buy that lot mostly to protect their own property.
“By the time we saved enough to actually buy the lot, we’d been bitten by the gardening bug,” Nunnenkamp said.
One gardening project led to another, and they eventually brought the property next door as well.
“As we started acquiring these properties, people thought we were crazy,” Nunnenkamp said.
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Caring for the garden is an enormous labor of love. Jones and Nunnenkamp are out there seven days a week.
“I really think that I need the garden more than the garden needs me,” Nunnenkamp said.
From dawn to dusk, the south Charlotte garden is open to the public all year long.
“It’s a place of solitude,” he said. “If that’s what they’re looking for, hopefully it’s a place they can find what they need when they need it.”
MapleWalk also has four rescue bunnies for guests to visit. It’s located in a residential neighborhood. Learn more about the garden here.