For our final story tonight, a little springtime inspiration.

The Carolinas are coming back to life with warmer days, fresh blooms, and that familiar coat of pollen reminding us the season has changed.

It's a perfect time to visit a garden, but the one you're about to see wasn't exactly planned.

"Carolina Impact's" Jason Terzis takes us there.

- Well, when you think of gardens in the area, chances are one of the bigger ones comes to mind, like the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden in Belmont, the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens, or the Duke Mansion Gardens in Myers Park.

Then there are smaller ones, more off the beaten path, like Wing Haven in Myers Park, or the McGill Rose Garden in Noda.

Then there's MapleWalk Garden, which at the beginning, wasn't even supposed to be a public garden in the first place.

(birds chirping) (upbeat music) - [Jason] One by one, they show up, knowing there's good food to be had.

- So I'm trying to train them to a bell and a whistle.

- [Jason] There's traditional seed.

- Tom doesn't know how much I spend on bird seed, and that's a good thing.

- [Jason] Grape jelly.

- They love this grape jelly, and I have to fill it up.

Tom and I laugh that we should have stock in Welches.

- [Jason] And the coveted high-protein, nutrient-rich mealworms.

- If they're around, they'll come.

- [Jason] Oh, and they'll come all right.

Everything from Orioles to Cardinals and yellow finches.

As one takes off, another one arrives, and they all have names.

So you know who they are?

- [Liv] I do.

- [Jason] And so this guy is who?

- [Liv] That's Carl.

- [Jason] Keeping the birds well-fed is just one of the many things happening in Liv Jones and Tom Nunnenkamp's backyard.

And over time, their little backyard oasis has grown into something much more.

- MapleWalk Garden, I think, is something different to everyone.

- It's a wonderful escape.

- Almost any time you're here, they are out walking around.

They always come up and talk to you.

- We have a few weddings a year.

We have some proposals.

- Well, we have 1,600 feet of stone-lined paths here in MapleWalk.

- I think we've brought a lot of joy to a lot of people.

- [Jason] What started out as a simple backyard garden some 35 years ago has evolved into a wooded nature trail for all to enjoy.

- [Tom] It has become, I think, for me, part of my legacy.

- It's a spiritual connection for me to be out in the garden where there is life happening all around me.

- It's a place where people can find beauty, they can find solitude.

- We get people, almost on a daily basis, that say, "Oh, I didn't know you all were here."

- This tree that we're passing is a Chinese redbud, and it's a variety called Don Egolf.

And as you can see, it blooms all the way up and down the trunk.

- [Jason] MapleWalk Garden is the most visited residential garden in Charlotte, home to about 100 different Japanese maples, hence its name.

- This is a Japanese maple called Kiyohime Yatsubusa.

There'll be a quiz later.

You need to remember that name.

- Tom was very interested in Japanese maples initially.

- I prune it on my back.

Takes me three hours.

- I'm not allowed to prune his maples.

- [Jason] Here, you'll find all sorts of trees, plants, and shrubs, and tons of camellias.

- We have over 175 different camellias in the garden.

The ones blooming now are the Camellia japonicas.

This particular variety is Kramer Supreme.

- [Jason] Adding to MapleWalk's uniqueness, it's location, right in the middle of South Charlotte, just off Carmel Road.

- It is very unique, and I believe it's great that this place is here.

As Charlotte has become more urbanized, it's good to have these nature retreats where you don't have to drive so far away from Charlotte to go to them, that you have places and hidden gems like this.

- We get a tremendous amount of joy seeing other people enjoy the property.

Hello, how are you doing?

- [Jason] What MapleWalk is, isn't what it was originally intended to be.

When Tom and Liv bought the home in 1990, they wanted a lush backyard garden.

- In the spring, I love to see what's popping up through the leaves and the mulch, and is waking up from the winter.

- [Jason] But they soon realized they had a little situation on their hands, in the form of a vacant lot directly behind them.

- We had a big rainstorm, and seemingly all the water in the world ran toward our house.

Our property sits lower than all the surrounding properties.

- [Jason] A few years later, they made an offer, purchasing that vacant lot from a neighbor and extending their already lush backyard garden.

- It took us two and a half years to clean up the property.

- [Jason] Tom and Liv enlisted the help of Dr.

Larry Mellichamp, the director of UNC Charlotte's Botanical Garden.

- He would walk around and indicate, as we walked around, different plants that he thought would look great in this particular area.

- [Jason] Tom and Liv then acquired another property, one that had a house on it, bringing their three parcel lot total up to two and a quarter acres.

- The joke is, that as we acquired the property, people thought we were crazy.

When we tore that house down, they knew we were crazy.

- The division of labor kind of evolved into Tom being more the tree person, and I am the perennial person.

Next is this snowball viburnum that is in full bloom right now.

It's right off of our sunroom.

- [Jason] Rescue bunnies now live here as well, in their own custom home, and sure love it when visitors show up with food, like fresh oregano.

- I've been here many times, and kids just run in from the neighborhood, and they feed the bunnies.

- It's definitely a labor of love for us.

Tom and I don't have children.

We have four-legged children.

- [Jason] With their sun porch providing the perfect viewing spot, Tom and Liv have created something special, even if unintended.

MapleWalk Garden has a perfect 5.0 rating on Google, as well as TripAdvisor.

- Right now, we're number 33 out of 399 things to do in Charlotte on TripAdvisor, which just flabbergasts me.

- It really feeds my soul.

- Liv and I have been very fortunate that here we are well into our 70s, and we're still able to do this, enjoy it.

- [Jason] It's a labor of love indeed, with the fruits of that labor being enjoyed not just by Tom and Liv, but by the entire community.

- Okay, so now I have to ask, is there a fee?

- No, and that's the best part.

Absolutely nothing.

They welcome visitors all the time.

It's open 365 days a year from sunrise to sunset.

Dogs, welcome too.

All Tom and Liv ask is that you keep 'em on a leash.

And good chance you'll see them out there as well, because as they said, there's always something that needs to be done.

So even during the time that I was there, visitors were coming and going, and they're just making conversation with everyone.

They want everyone to feel welcome and just come enjoy what they've created.

- I love it.

I'm gonna check it out this spring.