FEW people here would argue that Arkansas has a fancier resident than P. Allen Smith. They’re spread over three arms of the empire. Of course, that may not translate to the typical gardener in Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Smith believes a home is an archetype for the soul, and will have a balanced dwelling surroundings with internal and outer aesthetics linked by a seamless transition. Sure, former President Invoice Clinton has the name recognition, but is he a fellow within the Royal Horticultural Society? Lauren Shakely, senior vice president and publisher at Clarkson Potter, who signed the self-described hillbilly boy to a contract that has now run to six books and made him the corporate’s star gardening writer. The son of a working-class widow, he grew up with 4-H chickens and a job within the household shrub store, then managed to turn himself into the Martha Stewart of the South. But Mr. Smith, nearing 50 and about to introduce a line of products and his first cookbook, will never leave Arkansas. No, Mr. Clinton does not. Off digicam, Mr. Smith’s world is a tightly orchestrated one, with smooth lines and little room for improvisation. So he simplifies the message, offering beauty with instant accessibility. Moss Mountain Farm, a gorgeous property overlooking the Arkansas River a half-hour drive from Little Rock. People say howdy with a straightforward familiarity. They were seduced as a lot by the charmer who made sure their resort rooms have been crammed with peonies as with the erudite designer who could articulate what was a new idea on the time: a backyard crammed with distinct areas, or outside rooms. He also owns a design firm. The backyard home might be yours with a few simple ideas and strategies, the centerpiece of which is inventive use of containers. Hortus Ltd., his media company, produces his Internet site, books and his two Tv exhibits, which collectively are broadcast in 180 markets. Not even a couple of dead flies or a poorly parked car escape his consideration. But regardless of the quarter-million gardening books in print, two Tv exhibits and 100,000 e-newsletter subscribers, the name P. Allen Smith can draw a blank among a certain slice of the garden and design crowd. Here, everybody in town seems to know him. Sure, there are those who will tell you his fame has gone to his head, but his followers do not agree. Even when he was purchasing for a new York publisher a decade ago, he refused to do enterprise with anyone who did not first visit him in Little Rock. Although his model is carefully designed to be universal and accessible irrespective of the place his clients might live, Arkansas is the nicely from which he draws his inspiration and his energy. Does he have the highlighted blond hair, a growing middle America fan base and an upcoming line of branded holiday wreaths and spice rubs? His real estate firm handles the Moss Mountain Farm, which his brother, Christopher Smith, runs. Nonetheless, the publishers got here. Most of his employees, which he mentioned numbers about 45, wear the uniform: navy P. Allen Smith logo shirts and khakis. Does he personal a 650-acre property punctuated with 175,000 daffodils and a spectacular, three-story digicam-prepared Greek Revival retreat? Still, Mr. Smith would possibly nicely be the most well-known tastemaker you’ve got never heard of. He purchased the land five years in the past and has since built an environmentally friendly homestead surrounded by acres of gardens and livestock whose important structure was constructed to mimic an 1840s farmhouse.