The Forty Acre Garden - synopsis

When a landscaper inherits her great-uncle's forty acre estate she is torn between her steady career or following a dream. With the help of an elderly groundskeeper, the local tree service proprietor and the original 1920’s plan, she takes on the daunting task of returning forty acres back to their former glory.
Laura is at first overwhelmed with the 1915 house and the overgrown jungle surrounding it. However there are hints of a previous era gone-by from the neatly sectioned parterres and sturdy trellises. First, with the help of a Japanese gardener a teahouse is constructed on a knoll overlooking the gully. Neighbors hold a clue as they reveal they have original shade plantings from the garden. And during a neighborhood party Laura makes headway as Judge Maxwell, from across the avenue, informs her that the paintings in her Prairie Craftsman home are fifty and sixty year old depictions of the garden – priceless artwork.
By the first spring the plantings near the street are a splendor to behold. Laura owns a greenhouse to bring in revenue and is landscaping locally. She hires a hardworking young mother to help run the business, and together they rescue a dog that has lost its owner. Laura’s romance with the local tree service owner only heats up. Widowed Faron Grunwald, whom Laura affectionately calls Greenwood, is a father to three lively children.
Season by season Laura brings the grounds back to life while capturing the attention of the locals. She eventually wins a permit by the city to dam up the gully and make the pond in the Japanese garden. It is only when the neighbors across the street in the Italianate sell their home that Laura’s luck changes for the better. She captures the attention of an entrepreneur that repairs old homes. In the meantime an East Coast Professional Gardeners Association takes notice of a spectacular garden that needs to be on the historical registry.