the garden of Dave & Joy Collura |
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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. |
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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. |
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Our
Visit: Mark & Becky Hanner
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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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