Mike & Olivia Whatley
8222 Persimmon Hill Lane
After a long and very cold winter, many Deercreek homeowners are coping with signs of winter – dead palm fronds and burnt leaves on the shrubs. It is a joy to find a home freshened for spring by colorful flower beds and pots brightening their landscape, such as the home of Mike and Olivia Whatley. Their home, on Persimmon Hill Lane, has a pair of pots bursting with white geraniums welcoming guests at their front entrance. Their large circular paver driveway is lined with flower beds and shrubbery along both sides. Existing foundational landscaping is blended with seasonal beds to create a colorful vista for their home.
This home is the second home in Deercreek for the Whatleys. In 1990, Mike moved into his home on Vineyard Lake Lane after joining Deercreek Country Club as a founding member in 1989. As a golfer, he liked Deercreek since it was in the Southside area, had a good golf course, and was convenient to I-95 and shopping. When Mike and Olivia married in 2009, they sold his home and purchased their current home on Persimmon Hill Lane. Mike and Olivia have 2 grown sons, both married, with 3 grandchildren and 1 great grandson. They also have a dog, a German Shepherd named Lady.
When they bought the home, most of the landscaping (a palm, bottle brush, oak, two ligustrums and a magnolia and numerous shrubs) was from when the house was built in 1996. It also had a large concrete driveway taking up most of the front of their home. In 2019, they designed and installed a circular concrete paver driveway that entered on the left. Olivia, with her love of flowers, removed the shrubbery around the palm tree and next to the ligustrum along the driveway and started planting seasonal flowers. They created two large beds, one on the left front of their home with yellow snapdragons and the other on the right, in front of their driveway, with a mixture of colorful flowers. They do their own landscaping, with Olivia as the designer and Mike as the gardener. Together they have created a beautiful and welcoming home for their family and their Deercreek neighbors.
