Welcome to the home of Joy and Dave Collura.  We moved here in 1990.  After 2 years of planning we started to terra scape in 1992. 

A raised bed butterfly garden on the sunny front lawn broke the suburban blue grass vista.  The back yard had lots of shade.  This was fortunate because Hosta virus humanicus had infected Joy in the early 90's.  The Genus hosta kept jumping into her cart at garden centers from Milwaukee to Washington D.C.  Dave did the hardscape and Joy placed the hosta, ferns, primula and other companion plants. 

Many of the specimen hostas have been in place since 2003.  Gardens are always a work in progress with new introductions being added.  A recent interest is mini-hosta in troughs.  The sunny spot in the back yard features a pond with naturalized hardy plants.  Dave keeps trying to grow alpine plants and cacti in sometimes too warm/humid low altitude conditions. 

Come, sit and enjoy the yard.  Watch the birds and the fish.  The yard's path is flat, walker/wheelchair accessible.

	Gardens, like gardeners, are all a little different (not strange, mind you, that's a different story, though our non-gardening friends may disagree); what Becky and I especially like is that, due to the differences, there is something to enjoy in all of them. This brings us to the lovely garden of Joy and Dave Collura, which has the benefits of sunny areas, a gently sloping hillside, and shade around the backyard. In short, Joy and Dave have worked over the years to develop a garden with a wide variety of styles, with something for everyone (the "before" photos they had on display were fun to see, as a comparison with the beautiful "after!").  Beginning with the entry by the driveway, and the rocky garden of Sempervivium and Sedum, an idea which we plan to emulate here in our garden, the climbing rose in the front sunny beds, and the nice textural form of the patch of soft blue Allium, along with the gently splashing carved granite water feature by the front door, you knew you were in store for a varied treasure of garden pleasures around back!  Walking around to the back, you begin to enjoy the hostas planted in the shade alongside the house, leading into the mixed bed in the bright shade in the rear. Here is where the more physical work was done to convert an ordinary backyard lawn into a garden full of gems. Many loads of stone were hauled in and used to define the beds coming down the slope. The koi pond by the patio is fed from the stream that the Colluras built into the slope from the back of the yard.
Fountain		H. 'Praying Hands'
Hosta and Planter		Cypripedium reginae

The mixed planting style used here is what gives the garden its special joy; various ferns, wildflowers, even a Cypripedium reginae graced us with a bloom during the tour! There are numerous ornamental trees and shrubs, providing interest in the contrasting colors and textures, interspersed with the hostas. One hosta, which really grabbed my eye, was Hosta 'Lakeside Paisley Print', growing out over the magenta impatiens below. 

You will likely recall the lovely troughs used for table decorations on the tables in the banquet room. Joy and Dave made these, along with the many larger troughs they fashioned and planted as garden features. The troughs are a terrific way to grow and display miniature hostas, and a nice structural element in the garden, or used as a border for one area in the garden. They were used to highlight single plants, or groupings of several, giving the miniature hosta the sort of growing conditions they favor, which is not the same as their larger kin. 

One other feature we enjoyed, which will also likely be found in our garden in the future, is the alpine bed, formed with slabs of rock stood on edge, and filled with scree or a sandy soil mix, providing the sharp drainage the alpines need to be happy. Happy they were, as they started to fill in the crevices. A last idea, which made a hit, was the use of decorative concrete blocks, stood on their sides and planted with tiny sedums. Our visit to Joy and Dave's garden was a great start to our escape to Wisconsin!

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