Nancy Gibson, 65, is a gardening convert. For the first 59 years of her life, she wasn't much interested in digging, planting or weeding. Then, six years ago, her daughter called from Frederick, Md., to say she was taking gardening classes. It sounded so interesting that Mrs. Gibson decided to give it a try.

	Bill Wade, Post-Gazette photos Wisteria frames Nancy Gibson in her Brookline garden, one of two runners-up in the small gardens category. Click photo for larger image. Complete List: 2006 Great Garden Contest Winners

"She got me psyched about doing the same thing. I was really into houseplants for a time, but I never really cared about the outside. I get carried away when I get into something," she said.

Her garden has gotten as carried away as she has. Started with some small perennials and shrubs, it's become a multilayered, slightly wild collection that overflows her tiny lot in Brookline. Her side and back yard made her one of two runners-up in the small gardens category of the fourth annual Great Gardens Contest sponsored by the Post-Gazette and the Botanic Garden of Western Pennsylvania, formerly known as the Horticultural Society.

Mrs. Gibson began by buying a few plants at Chapon's Nursery in Baldwin Borough and borrowing gardening books from the library.

"I bought everything in a very small size for economic reasons, and to watch it grow," she said. "I really didn't have a master plan."

Coneflowers and bee balm were among her early purchases. She got Stella d'Oro daylilies and other perennials from friends. As the tiny plants began to expand, she soon realized you can't believe everything you read on labels. Some sun lovers or shade plants weren't happy in their assigned spots while others were apparently delighted with their surroundings -- they grew much bigger than the labels said.

Tough-to-grow delphiniums thrive in the Gibson garden. Click photo for larger image.

"We were moving things around quite a bit," Mrs. Gibson said, referring to her husband, Donald, who does much of the moving under her orders.

She got lucky with delphiniums, beautiful biennials that many gardeners struggle with here. They grow happily near the middle of a winding path that bisects her side yard, near an arch weighed down with wisteria (yes, it flowers) and a small pond that's home to rushes, lily pads and tall Siberian irises.

Although Mrs. Gibson generally sticks to Zone 5 plants, she has tried some she has admired in her daughter's Zone 6 garden, with some success. Trees include a mimosa (Albizia julibrissin), magnolia, ginkgo and a Georgia pecan tree planted by her husband (no nuts yet).

English holly, boxwood and a tall red tip (Photinia x fraseri) separate sections of her garden, and grape and Pyracantha climb the shed and a wall of the house. Behind one large hedge is a red-worm compost bin, which supplies "black gold" to her garden in the spring and sometimes summer.

Mrs. Gibson is particularly proud of her hostas, including Frances Williams, and has sold some at a local flea market. Next year, she plans to create a hosta/hydrangea bed in an area that straddles her yard and her neighbor's. Luckily, her neighbor is her sister, Eileen Brown, about the only member of the family she has not converted to gardening.

	Cleomes are among the flowers brightening Nancy Gibson's patch. Click photo for larger image.

Her daughter, Donna Zukus, waited two years after taking classes to get started on her more formal garden in Maryland, but she's now a master gardener. Son Barry of Seven Fields has caught the bug, too. He gratefully accepts the cranberry-red hybrid lilies, purple cranesbill geraniums and any other perennials that take over too much of his mother's garden.

Of the three gardens, hers has the most "wild look," Mrs. Gibson said, adding that she doesn't really try to put complementary colors together.

"Everything goes with everything," she said, laughing.

Always experimenting, she is handicapped by only one thing -- space.

"I would like to try more, but there's no room. I think I'm going to get into growing from seed. That won't take up much space, right?"