There's a confluence of history, art and greenery here. By the banks of the Bon Secour River, the Boathouse Studio at Cooper's Landing is alive with tradition. Both American Indians and waves of European immigrants have tended plants here. Their spirits energize the sandy loam.

For decades, Pearcey gathered architectural art from antique shops, Dumpsters and swap meets. He has repurposed art deco panels, building icons and garden tiles as display elements for semitropical foliage, converting the lawn into a feast for the eyes.

My host is more of a guide than an entrepreneur. He immerses me in tales of the landing and antebellum home, origins of art pieces, and care and propagation of plants. The mystique of segos, agaves and ferns grasps me like an ebbing tide. Though the encounter is more induction than sale, I find myself going home with one of each plant.

TAKE HOME TIPS:

"We're blessed with an environment where you can put almost anything in the ground and it will grow," Pearcey says. Segos are "programmed for survival." Toss chunks of a core or seeds from a friend's plant into your leaf compost and forget them. That's how Pearcey's 700 segos started.

The BoatHouse studio At Cooper's Landing, P.O. Box 277, Bon Secour. 949-6489.

Photo Information: Lloyd and Diane Pearcey's greenhouse is a tropical oasis. This agave, a California import, would have perished during this winter's freeze without the shelter of the greenhouse.