2026 PGSU Garden Story: Colleen & Jerry

A Lifelong Love of Wildlife

When Colleen and Jerry Winters moved to St. George in 2014, their yard was already landscaped - tall Italian cypress trees, structured beds, and a traditional lawn.

Then came a deep freeze. The cypress trees didn’t survive. What might have felt like loss slowly revealed itself as opportunity.

For Colleen, gardening has never been simply about flowers. Long before arriving in southern Utah, she was building wildlife habitats wherever she lived. As a child, she fell in love with animals while visiting national parks. In Midvale, she and Jerry allowed half their property to return to meadow, welcoming pheasants, quail, and butterflies. In East Texas, she gardened among sixteen acres of woods and pond, surrounded by deer, hummingbirds, passionflower, and native wildflowers. In Idaho, she carefully watched monarch caterpillars emerge from milkweed she had planted herself.

With every move, her understanding deepened.

By the time she arrived in St. George, she knew she wanted something more than a decorative landscape. She wanted habitat.

Doing Something Different

Instead of replacing lawn with gravel - the common desert solution - Colleen and Jerry decided to create something entirely their own.

They built a mosaic Kokopelli from scratch.

The colorful mural became a neighborhood project. Walkers stopped daily to ask how it was progressing. Friends offered artistic input. Jerry added a peace sign feature in another section of the yard. What began as a simple lawn removal evolved into a creative statement - and a conversation starter.

But the real transformation was just beginning.

While slowly removing turf by hand, Colleen discovered the Utah Pollinator Habitat Program. The application deadline was that same day. She applied immediately. She was accepted.

The grant provided more than 100 native plants - 18 species carefully selected to support pollinators. Instead of converting the yard little by little over years, the Winters were able to establish nearly 900 square feet of intentional habitat all at once.

Jerry drilled planting holes with an auger. Colleen planted each one herself.

Within weeks, desert marigolds, penstemon, globe mallow, and other native plants began blooming - even through winter.

A neighbor described the result as looking like a Monet painting.

Go Beyond Beautiful

Colleen describes her garden philosophy in one simple phrase: “Go beyond beautiful. Make it pretty with a purpose.”

Her yard is not trimmed into rigid shapes or managed into perfect symmetry. Instead, it reflects what she calls “wildlife gardening” and “chaos gardening” - allowing plants to reseed, intermingle, and find their natural rhythm.

She follows four essential principles:

• Food

• Water

• Shelter

• Places to raise young

  
  

She does not use pesticides or granules. She leaves bare soil for native ground-nesting bees, avoids excessive mulching AND chooses straight species over heavily modified cultivars whenever possible.

Utah alone is home to more than 1,100 native bee species. Many are specialists, meaning their larvae depend on specific native plants to survive. Without those plants, the insects disappear.

Colleen sees her garden as a small but meaningful way to give back.

If a plant feeds a caterpillar, that caterpillar feeds a bird. If a flower provides nectar, it supports bees, butterflies, and even bats. If a water feature offers a shallow drink, countless species benefit.

Wildlife belongs here too.

A Garden That Hums

Not every plant in the Winters’ yard is native. The backyard holds many gifted plants from neighbors - what Colleen affectionately calls her “neighbor garden.” It is experimental, evolving, and shared.

But the front yard - once turf - now hums with life.  Hummingbirds nest nearby. Leafcutter bees carry perfect circles of leaf to line their nests. Tiny Western pygmy blue butterflies nectar on desert marigolds. Lizards and birds move quietly through the layered plantings.

This garden is not silent. It hums. It grows. It belongs. And it proves that habitat gardening does not require acres of land.

“You can start in a pot,” Colleen says.

From Midvale orchards to Texas meadows, from Idaho milkweed to a St. George mosaic Kokopelli, Colleen’s journey has led to a yard that is more than beautiful. It is alive.

Come enjoy Colleen's garden at the Parade of Gardens; April 24th-26th, 2026.