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Evolving Spaces:
At a home in the city, blank slates
become great gardens.
"Our block is perfectly flat," says Ken Jones of his
Floyd Avenue home's location west of the boulevard.
"Looking down the street, most yards are a strip of
grass and sidewalk. I wanted to do something totally
different. For my birthday, I gave myself a new front
yard." In just a week, his present was complete.
To achieve a new look for his rectangle of grass, Jones
called upon his friend and former neighbor Christie
Barry of Christie's Fine Gardening. "Christie has a
great way of listening to her clients and coming up
with a plan," Jones says. "All I had to work with was
grass and a big ugly bush. I really wanted something
to break the flatness."
The first step taken to achieve Jones' goal of adding
height was the building of a stone wall around the side
and front of the yard."Ken liked the idea of a low-stacked
stone wall that looks like an old foundation," Barry
explains. She put two of her employees on the job of
building a two- foot-high block wall and then covering
it with tumbled bluestone, each piece placed painstakingly
by hand. While most of the stones are stacked flatly,
a few stand on end to add some variety to the pattern.
A limestone bench was built into the wall that runs
along Jones' front sidewalk, and large granite stones
serve as corners.
The wall has been a successful element of Jones' front
yard makeover. "I get so many compliments," he says.
"An older woman who lives down the street and walks
by my house on her way to the grocery store sometimes
stops to rest here. I saw her sitting on the bench one
day, and she said, 'Thank you so much for building this... I
needed somewhere to sit.'"
With the wall in place, Barry and her team created
a U-shaped flower bed and left a semi-circle patch of
grass small enough to be easily maintained. In the border
are all kinds of sun-loving perennials — including
cultivars of Echinacea, phlox, hibiscus, yarrow, sedum,
and a few annuals like zinnias and lantana tucked here
and there. She chose plants carefully so that there
is color, whether it is flower or foliage, year round.
A styrax tree, which will stay small in keeping with
the scale of the garden, adds interest with its bell
blooms.
The overall effect of Jones' front yard is one of
classical lines defined by the wall filled in with a
loose, colorful array of flora warmed by morning and
midday sun. More and more of his neighbors have caught
the front yard makeover bugÑthere area far fewer strips
of grass and more gardens, each one reflecting the personality
of its owner.
Out back, Jones had a lovely view of... leaves and more
leaves with a few weeds mixed in. With the front yard
looking good, Barry's staff continued making their magic
with a quick backyard makeover to complement the front.
Drainage was major challenge, so French drains were
installed to ensure that standing water would not be
a problem. Back near the alley, shade plants were put
in a spread of mulch, while up near the house grass
was planted and beds were built up and edged with treated
rubber. In them, all kinds of vegetables and herbs are
now flourishing in the late summer sun.
As a finishing touch, one that encourages Sunday paper
reading and relaxing in the cool of the evening, two
Adirondack chairs are paired together near the back
porch. Now this yard is one that invites tomato pickers,
cooks looking for fresh basil and anyone looking for
a little oasis west of the Boulevard.
Christie's Recipe for Great Gardens
Years and years of experience working with blank slates
of lawns and gardens have led Christie Barry of Christie's
Fine Gardening to come up with the following prescription
for sequential creativity.
- Clear the plot of land, however small or large,
of all growing things that you do not want to be part
of your plan. "Then you can see what your palette
is," Barry says.
- Do the hardscaping next — fencing, stonework,
trellises, pergolas, water elements, such as ponds,
fountains or streams.
- Next are the "bones" — evergreens that will
remain green all year round.
- Flowering shrubs are selected for their color and
shape.
- Perennials — favorites like black-eyed Susan,
hostas, pinks and hollyhocks that will return year
after year serve as the backbone of the flowerbeds.
- Annuals — marigolds, petunias, impatiens, etc.,
add color and texture.
- Don't forget to plant plenty of bulbs! Tulips and
daffodils are two of the first signs of spring, and
daylilies are drought resistant friends for the summer.
— House and Yard Supplement,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
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