Vona Bates is having trouble with squirrels and raccoons.
The critters — occasional residents of her garden — have been ripping out plants as quickly as she’s been planting them.
But it hasn’t stopped her from putting out peanuts for the animals to snack on.
And when her cat Blanco starts to chase a squirrel, she stops him.
“No Blanco — Blanco, that’s family,” she called out to the white cat as she moved it away and then handed a peanut to the squirrel.
Bates refers to her home and garden as “God’s little acre and a third,” where she spends hours each day with clippers in her back pocket caring for her plants.
The property at 6700 Indiana St. was barren when she moved there 58 years ago. She and her husband filled it over the years by planting 700 trees and countless other plants.
She has carried on the work since her husband passed away, but earlier this year, she put further planting on hold because she is worried her large garden could be at odds with plans for development.
The city’s comprehensive plan designated a portion of the city that includes Bates’ property for future commercial and retail development. Bates is concerned about possible plans for a Wal-Mart or Home Depot near her home. Also, state transportation plans for a beltway could affect Indiana Street.
Arvada Community Development Director Mike Elms said the city has not had an application for a Wal-Mart or Home Depot in the area, but has heard about attempts to buy property in the area.
Although the area was recently designated for development, anyone wanting to build a store would still need to file an application and going through a zoning change process, he said.
Even so, the possibility concerns Bates. She had plans for the garden to outlast her. After her death, Bates wishes to bequeath the property to the Garden Conservancy, a nonprofit in New York, said her attorney, Bonnie S. Mandell-Rice.
“I know that Mrs. Bates is really committed to this property and its preservation because it houses so many plants and trees, some of which are irreplaceable,” Mandell-Rice said.
But if Bates had to leave her property before then, she doesn’t know where she would go.
Bates was born in eastern Colorado during the Great Depression and grew up working in the fields. She is private about her personal life but uninhibited about her love for her garden, and she gently strokes the branches of her favorite plants.
Bates works in her garden from daybreak until nearly noon, when she goes to work at an area nursery, then returns to work at home in the evening.
Many of her plants came from a nursery — rejects that she was sure would die but instead flourished, she said.
Her plans — if she continues her work — include changes in landscaping such as a bed of roses in an antique metal crib where she said she slept as a baby.
The garden is a lifetime of work she said she isn’t willing to start over.
“This took 58 years,” she said. “I don’t have 58 more years.”