By Joyce Owen
Toni Wheeler, owner of a nursery and garden center on County Road 30A, gets plenty of phone calls. Many concern the plants she sells and how to tend them, but one caller who inquired as to whether she sold seeds has propelled her shop to possible national exposure. Although she?s not sure what role her business, Perennials and Natives by a girl named Toni, plays in the overall theme of the ABC TV show, ?Extreme Makeover, Home Edition,? Wheeler knows the show airs Sunday night.
Every week, the makeover show begins with team leader Ty Pennington?s ?Good morning!? when a family is surprised to learn that their home has been chosen to receive a makeover. The family is whisked away for a vacation while a team of designers and builders renovate their home. At the end of each episode, the family returns to see the results.
For Wheeler, playing her part in the TV show has required patience since the phone call in August.
Soon after that fi rst call, Wheeler was discussing seeds with a producer from ?Extreme Makeover.?
Wheeler said she carried only one kind of packaged seeds.
?That was enough, I was told.?
Through a little detective work, Wheeler learned her seeds were to play a part in a garden for the home makeover show and decided everyday seeds were not enough.
?If Martha Stewart can have her own line of seeds, so can Toni Wheeler,? she said.
She used small paper sacks and, with a fl ower-hole punch and raffia, created unique seed packets filled with four o?clock and black-eyed Susan seeds.
On Aug. 10, a phone call from guest services at Hilton Sandestin, where the family was staying, alerted her she would have visitors at the shop on Saturday morning. As the day wore on, Wheeler received several more calls pushing the visit to 1 and finally 3 p.m. Her patience was rewarded when Maryann and Abigail Gilliam arrived at 3 p.m. with a camera crew and producer to document the visit.
It was then that Wheeler learned the Gilliam?s were from Detroit, Mich., on their fi rst-ever visit to the beach while their 600-square-foot home was being renovated. Maryann Gilliam had contacted the show and asked for help to remove the toxic mold from the home so that her six children would be safe.
?Can you imagine living in a two-bedroom house with six young children? It makes you cry, feeling the sadness of what they?ve been through,? she said.
Wheeler also learned the seeds were for a memorial garden the family had created for their father, David, who had died from mold poisoning on Christmas Eve. The mother told Wheeler that Ty Pennington, the show?s host, told her they tore down the house, but kept the memorial garden, and she needed ?to go buy seeds in Florida.?
In addition to the seed packets, Wheeler gave 12-year-old Abigail a set of gardening tools and a metal sun decoration for the garden so she could have sun all the time. Wheeler gave Maryann a copy of a book on sea turtles to read to the children.
Wheeler was told not to discuss the visit, but she has been watching the show since the new season began this month, hoping to see the episode with the Gilliam?s. At the end of the Sept. 24 show, in the preview for the next episode she recognized Maryann and Abigail.
?If I had known when it was, I would have gone to Detroit to ?move that bus,?? Wheeler said of the show?s signature line that everyone shouts to reveal the new home.
But like other viewers, Wheeler is content to watch the show at home to see what part her seeds play in the makeover project.
Wheeler and the management of the Hilton Sandestin, who hosted the family during the weeklong vacation, have been given the go-ahead to announce the date of the show.
Hilton Sandestin?s marketing manager Nancy Stanley said the show that featured scenes with the family during their stay in Florida would air on ABC at 7 p.m. on Oct. 1.
Toni Wheeler, owner of a nursery and garden center on County Road 30A, gets plenty of phone calls. Many concern the plants she sells and how to tend them, but one caller who inquired as to whether she sold seeds has propelled her shop to possible national exposure. Although she?s not sure what role her business, Perennials and Natives by a girl named Toni, plays in the overall theme of the ABC TV show, ?Extreme Makeover, Home Edition,? Wheeler knows the show airs Sunday night.
Every week, the makeover show begins with team leader Ty Pennington?s ?Good morning!? when a family is surprised to learn that their home has been chosen to receive a makeover. The family is whisked away for a vacation while a team of designers and builders renovate their home. At the end of each episode, the family returns to see the results.
For Wheeler, playing her part in the TV show has required patience since the phone call in August.
Soon after that fi rst call, Wheeler was discussing seeds with a producer from ?Extreme Makeover.?
Wheeler said she carried only one kind of packaged seeds.
?That was enough, I was told.?
Through a little detective work, Wheeler learned her seeds were to play a part in a garden for the home makeover show and decided everyday seeds were not enough.
?If Martha Stewart can have her own line of seeds, so can Toni Wheeler,? she said.
She used small paper sacks and, with a fl ower-hole punch and raffia, created unique seed packets filled with four o?clock and black-eyed Susan seeds.
On Aug. 10, a phone call from guest services at Hilton Sandestin, where the family was staying, alerted her she would have visitors at the shop on Saturday morning. As the day wore on, Wheeler received several more calls pushing the visit to 1 and finally 3 p.m. Her patience was rewarded when Maryann and Abigail Gilliam arrived at 3 p.m. with a camera crew and producer to document the visit.
It was then that Wheeler learned the Gilliam?s were from Detroit, Mich., on their fi rst-ever visit to the beach while their 600-square-foot home was being renovated. Maryann Gilliam had contacted the show and asked for help to remove the toxic mold from the home so that her six children would be safe.
?Can you imagine living in a two-bedroom house with six young children? It makes you cry, feeling the sadness of what they?ve been through,? she said.
Wheeler also learned the seeds were for a memorial garden the family had created for their father, David, who had died from mold poisoning on Christmas Eve. The mother told Wheeler that Ty Pennington, the show?s host, told her they tore down the house, but kept the memorial garden, and she needed ?to go buy seeds in Florida.?
In addition to the seed packets, Wheeler gave 12-year-old Abigail a set of gardening tools and a metal sun decoration for the garden so she could have sun all the time. Wheeler gave Maryann a copy of a book on sea turtles to read to the children.
Wheeler was told not to discuss the visit, but she has been watching the show since the new season began this month, hoping to see the episode with the Gilliam?s. At the end of the Sept. 24 show, in the preview for the next episode she recognized Maryann and Abigail.
?If I had known when it was, I would have gone to Detroit to ?move that bus,?? Wheeler said of the show?s signature line that everyone shouts to reveal the new home.
But like other viewers, Wheeler is content to watch the show at home to see what part her seeds play in the makeover project.
Wheeler and the management of the Hilton Sandestin, who hosted the family during the weeklong vacation, have been given the go-ahead to announce the date of the show.
Hilton Sandestin?s marketing manager Nancy Stanley said the show that featured scenes with the family during their stay in Florida would air on ABC at 7 p.m. on Oct. 1.