Wendy’s dog, Dylan.
Above: Succulent planters. Left: Woodland plantings of hosta and heuchera.
a lovely, warm microclimate that nurtures her garden- ing fantasies. The garden is lush and green as a result of this and the hundreds of yards of compost she has added. Not that all those trees are without their challenges.
The roots compete with everything she tries to intro- duce. The forest constantly sends in scouts, such as wild dogwood and raspberries, to exploit the opportu- nities afforded by all that richness. Overlooking the lake is a sunny, open and park-like
lawn, which is greedy for Wendy’s attention. She would rather weed than mow. In one area, there is a sheltered pond, a nursery for tadpoles in spring. Elegant Hakone grass or golden Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’), reaches over the edge, while some pieces of dried wood from the forest rest alongside. These remnants and refugees from the forest appear
throughout the garden; Wendy hauls pieces in when- ever she find them and they help form the garden’s lovely bones. The rocks, too, are from the local area and occur here and there in a random but natural look- ing arrangement. “There is no maintenance associated with these
found materials,” says Wendy. Nor is there any main- tenance to her “tool graveyard”, a sculpture she made from retired garden implements. Nothing is wasted here. The house faces the lake in the eyes of the viewer,
although Wendy says the actual front door is on the other side. No matter. A terraced garden, supported by giant blocks of granite repositioned by landscapers from farmers’ fields to Wendy’s yard, descends from a patio by the house. One of those finicky birches casts scant
www.localgardener.net SUMMER 2013 11
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40