- December 14, 2025
Shirley Levkulich takes care of hundreds of unique plants, sheep and a cow named Hobo. All while battling lupus.
Shirley Levkulich has a lot of stories.
She’s grown up as a cow girl, modeled for Vogue and ran a successful nursery in Colorado for 31 years.
Though her experiences could be enough to write a rather large novel, she isn’t done just yet.
Levkulich opened Florida’s Garden Pit, a unique nursery located at 3047 W. State Rd. 40, in April. It’s home to all the different plants Levkulich said she could never find, like small bamboo and a variety of herbs. It’s also home some rare Harlequin sheep, a cow named Hobo and Levkulich herself.
“We have problems with people whizzing past us and going to the place next door,” Levkulich said. “I don’t want to get huge. I pretty much want to keep doing what I’m doing. God gave me a good gift.”
Florida’s Garden Pit will soon have a demonstrating butterfly and Japanese gardens, thanks to the efforts of Levkulich and her Foreman Sam Ayala. Levkulich has Ayala’s help has been necessary due to her lupus. She moved to Florida in 2006 to find a better climate for her to live. Though she only has one working lung, Levkulich was able to go off oxygen after moving to a place with low altitude and humidity.
“They think gardening may have gave me my lupus,” Levkulich said. “Something from the dirt could have triggered it. I miss the activities I could do but I’m a Christian and to me it had to be God’s will.
Though she only has one working lung, Levkulich was able to go off oxygen after moving to a place with low altitude and humidity.
“I was active person,” Levkulich said. “I miss the physical activities I used to do. There’s tons of things in life you regret. I don’t know the end design but it had to be God’s will.”
