the garden of
Dale Sievert

The gardens were begun in 1970.  Two major characteristics of the gardens were introduced early.  First, all trees are deciduous.  It was felt that only rounded shapes would blend with the nearby trees.  Second, the vegetation-surrounded oval at Mobile’s Bellingrath Gardens made a strong impression.  The front and back lawns reflect that.

The gardens have several other characteristics of note.  First, all perennials were selected for their foliage, not their flowers.  Thus, there are over 700 hostas of over 100 varieties.  Other favorites include: Plectranthus, Lamiastrum, Tiarella, Bergenia, and Thalictrum.  Impatiens and begonias are planted in monochromatic beds.

Five thousand antique paving bricks and 2,400 cobblestones, both granite and sandstone, are used in walkways, patios, sitting areas, walls, and as edging.  The water gardens have three separate water features.

In 2006, mosses were introduced in the Japanese Garden.  Later expansion throughout the yard resulted in several moss gardens, plus 250 containers, holding about 20 species.  

Approximately 10,000 fieldstones were brought into the gardens for terraces, planters, and edging.  Many other unusual rocks in the yard were primarily collected in western states.

Dale did all the garden development, with the exception of the granite cobblestone planter behind the garage and the entrance gates into the Japanese Garden.
 

Garden Tour Photos




 Back Yard Bricks & Begonias Cat and Moss Waterfalls
 




Hostas and Moss Hypertufa container Japanese Garden H. 'June'
   




Rock and Moss Sedum Border Stump and Moss Back Yard
 

 
My Visit: Roberta Chopko
Boonton, NJ
For openers, let me say that I know absolutely nothing about moss.  Ever the librarian, I went to my local library and checked out a copy of George Schenk’s book entitled MOSS GARDENING to prepare for my assignment.  It didn’t take me long to discover that I had a lot to learn.  Moss encompasses more than a walk through the Irish countryside hoping for an encounter with a leprechaun.  We met no leprechauns here, but were charmed nonetheless. 

The preface to Schenk’s volume asks, “Who would be interested in this book?”  Apparently, Dale Sievert is, as we would soon learn.  The front of Dale’s two-story house in Waukesha, WI, is flanked by several curving beds bed, filled with bright yellow Sedum floriferum ‘Weihenstephaner Gold’, striking, to be sure, but giving no hint as to what lies behind the house.  As you follow the path along the side of the house and enter the garden, you are greeted by a quote from Schenk’s book, “Every John and Jane grows grass.  Only nature’s chosen grow moss.”  Framed in black, and strategically placed as you enter the garden, this quote prepares one to soon discover that Dale Sievert is surely “one of nature’s chosen.”  His moss garden was established in 2007 and now contains 28 known species, with at least half a dozen yet to be identified.  Most were imported from within a few miles of the property, though a few came from as far away as Georgia and Utah.  

Aside from the dozens of moss-covered rocks that are artfully positioned throughout the various garden rooms, there are 270 containers of mini-gardens on the property, containing mosses, lichens, and mini hostas.
Hosta Terrace Waterfall
Japanese Garden Bamboo Water Feature

All the plants are hardy to the area, but the containers are relocated next to sheds and fences to avoid desiccating sunlight during the winter, a minor feat for this Herculean gardener! 

Dale defies the old saying that, “a rolling stone gathers no moss.”  He has, for the most part, single-handedly rolled, moved, and carefully placed thousands of stones throughout his garden to create several distinct garden areas, the Hedgerow Garden, the Sunken Garden, the Terrace Garden, the Williamsburg Garden, and the Water Garden, to name but a few.  Forty-three tons of rock and concrete were used to build the water garden, all hauled up the hill in the backyard by wheelbarrow, seven hundred trips in all!  Five thousand antique paving bricks, twenty-four hundred cobblestones, both granite and sandstone, are used in walkways, patios, sitting areas, walls, steps, and edging.  Most of the construction materials were housed on a vacant lot 1,000 feet up the road, before being trucked to the property by Dale.  All of the stones he found on his property and in the surrounding areas were “imported from Canada by the glacier.”  He rescued and recycled bricks and paving stones from the local landfills, street reconstruction sites, and old factory dock areas, not paying more than a couple of cases of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer for his bounty.  Never failing to see the humorous side to his backbreaking labor in installing all the hardscaping in this garden, Dale quips that he put the three children of his orthopedic surgeon through college, with the multiple surgeries he has had on his shoulder and various other parts his body. 

Not having an engineering degree, as one would have expected after seeing his garden, Dale pursued several careers before finally teaching college economics.  While continuing to teach, in 1970 he returned to his first love, the land, and began a part-time landscaping business.  In 1982 he established a nursery, which he operated for another fifteen years, until he left teaching in 1999.  From what we saw of this fantastic garden, the word “retirement” is obviously not in his vocabulary.  According to his wife, if Dale wakes up in the morning and announces that he is going to build a bridge in the garden, the bridge is built shortly thereafter. 

Though moss is obviously Dale’s first love, the garden features many hostas planted in drifts throughout.  Though there are no identifying labels, Dale says there are approximately 140 different cultivars planted in the garden, with 800 plants in all.  A six foot row of dark green Hosta ‘Potomac Pride’ lines the walkway as you enter the garden, and drifts of ‘Gold Standard’, ‘Sagae’, ‘Paul’s Glory’, and H. montana ‘Aureomarginata’ fill the terraces near the Water Garden’s three cascading waterfalls.

The Water Garden was constructed from 2000-2003 and has three separate delivery systems.  The falls in the back corner is fed from the large pool, which splits into two streams before falling into two smaller pools, finally returning to the large pool.  The “weeping falls” is in the center, where water seeps out of the rocks into two small pools before draining back into the large pool.  Each of the double falls has a three-foot drop on the east end of the garden.  A 6’ x 12’ reflecting pool, adjacent to the waterfalls, is only one foot deep, though the use of dye makes it appear much deeper.  

Dale identified the single stand of ‘Paradise Joyce’, bordering the reflecting pool, as his favorite hosta.  H. ‘Paradise Joyce’ is a gold-centered sport of ‘Halcyon’ with blue-green margins, and is very similar to ‘June’, the best-known sport of ‘Halcyon’.

Dale is currently in the process of completing his Japanese Garden, which was begun in 2004.  Naturally, there is moss throughout this section of the garden.  According to Schenk, “Mosses and lichens convey a patina of venerability and age, as the Japanese, who originated moss gardens, have demonstrated in their designs.”  The three fence sections and two gates, one for entering the garden, and one at its exit, are made of Ipe, a very hard and dense wood from Brazil  One will easily enter the garden through the first gate, but Dale said he plans to install a coin-op at the exit gate.  He quipped, “You can enter the Japanese Garden for free, but you’ll have to pay to get out.”  I am still not sure if he was joking or not, but I will be fresh out of quarters the next time I visit.  This is a garden one doesn’t want to leave.
 

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