Lisa Jackson is a fearless gardener.

Unbound by tradition or rules, she does exactly as she pleases in her plot, which sits on two secluded acres at the end of a dead-end road in McCandless. It's a joyful jumble of a space that never looks the same from year to year. For that, the enthusiastic, laughing Mrs. Jackson makes absolutely no apologies.

Her self-described "out-of-control" garden won the large garden category of the PG's Great Gardens Contest, co-sponsored by the Botanic Garden of Western Pennsylvania. Mid-October is a little late to feature garden winners, but in this case it's fitting; Mrs. Jackson loves Halloween, and some of the fruits of her garden become decorations for her favorite holiday. But more on that later.

It all started about 14 years ago when the she and her husband, John, happened upon this property, which was in foreclosure and in need of quite a bit of work. While exploring the grounds, they found a large built-in pool on the terrace above the home.

"It was black as black as could be," she remembers and seriously in need of major repairs.

"The whole place was weeds and cotoneaster," she says. "Our neighbors didn't even know there was a built-in pool (behind the house). That's how overgrown it was. ... John said 'I'll take on the house if you take on this mess.' "

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A Joyfull Jumble

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Mrs. Jackson was no stranger to gardening. Her parents had a small greenhouse, and she says she's been gardening "forever." She's also a master gardener and briefly worked at Phipps Conservatory.

"I never had an overall plan. It's just what I felt that year," she says frankly.

Each season, she tackled another area of the garden. Now the home is surrounded by beds populated with roses, lots of varieties of hosta, butterfly bush, hydrangeas, dahlias, cannas and many perennials. Annuals and tropicals, like elephant ears, are peppered throughout.

As with most true gardens, hers is a work in progress. She has recently constructed a waterfall and pond on the hillside below the swimming pool, which was completely restored. Things are moved around or removed on a yearly basis, dependent on her whim. While ornamental plants have the largest part of the garden, she also grows vegetables, grapes and always, a selection of gourds.

The gourds, some of which are grown suspended from trellises, are used to make clever Halloween witches and ghosts that she sells as fast as she can make them. She started growing gourds because she thought they "were really fun." Among the varieties she grows are snake, African kettle, apple, dipper, Corsican and birdhouse.

She also makes concrete castings of large leaves with her niece, Becky Henninger. They use hosta, banana and castor bean leaves from their gardens, which are then painted in vibrant colors and used as garden ornaments or large platters. She and Ms. Henninger keep a portfolio of project ideas for future consideration.

"I think eventually we might end up with the shop."

With her three daughters now grown and gone, Mrs. Jackson has even more time to dabble in the garden and with her artistic endeavors. Each season is a new opportunity for her. She doesn't understand gardeners "who do the same thing year after year. I think it's important to change things ... even if it's just the color of a plant."

While she does most of the gardening, she credits her husband as being a major inspiration.

"When spring comes, he gets a big load of mulch and gets the wheelbarrows and helps me with all of that. On the days I'm on a rampage, he comes along quietly and picks the weeds up."

As a contest winner, Mrs. Jackson will receive a gift certificate from Brenckle's Farm & Greenhouse. She'll likely have no trouble finding something new to add.

When asked if she has a favorite plant, she'll say she faithfully digs up five every year to winter in the garage: tuberoses, gladiolus, dahlias, elephant ear and cannas. Beyond that, her favorites can change depending on the day of the week or her mood.

She clearly finds great happiness in the work of growing things. She spends hours outside, where she is followed by her two faithful Labrador retrievers, Jasper and Bear.

"Mixed up and crazy, that's me," she says, laughing again. "If the birds drop their seed and a big sunflower comes up, I leave it there, it's eventually food for (the birds) and it's pretty for me."

Doug Oster writes a blog, "Growing With Doug," exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.