the garden of Gary and Jane Seymour |
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We
have
been
gardening from the first moment that we acquired our house in 1973. At that time, the lot
contained foundation
plantings of junipers, nine white pines along the back lot line, and
three
silver maples in the back yard. Jane
took the lead in
beginning a front yard garden. We
expanded that over several years into a perennial country garden
emphasizing
daffodils, daylilies and companion plants, along with two small trees. We installed a rustic cedar
post fence,
removed the sod in several areas, and created a paved pathway dividing
the
garden into sections, and planted peonies and other perennials mixed
with
annuals. We also
removed the junipers
and planted deciduous shrubs along the front walk. The
1990 version of this front yard received
the West Bend Beautification Award for our district. The
2010 version also won this award. By
that time there were only six plants left
from the 1990 version. The
garden was
also featured in Mary Steiner's column, "Gone Gardening," in the West
Bend Sunday Post in 1998. In
the meantime, we
had begun to look at the back yard. After
the children had left home we began to
revamp it. A few
trees were removed. We
built a patio, and began to wonder how we
could take advantage of the back yard shade. We
had already planted a few hostas in
isolated spots, but really had no plan. |
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A
visit to Foxfire
Gardens in 2005, produced revelations about how many different hostas
there were
in size, shape, color, and form, and how they could be part of creative
landscaping. Dr.
Schulte suggested we
explore Southeast Wisconsin Hosta Society. We
joined in November of 2005. Thus
began our crazy period of addiction to
the "Friendship Plant." As a result of the work done since 2005, two mature silver maple trees and six white pine trees dominate the shade in the back yard. Multiple small trees and shrubs make up the under story. The (much reduced) central grass area is surrounded by gardens containing a mixture of hostas, pulmonarias, heucheras, heucherellas, tiarellas, ferns, decorative grasses, hemerocallis, Siberian iris, astilbe, hellebore, and columbine. Some of the hostas are veterans of the garden, while others are more recent acquisitions of the last decade. They are adapting well to their home planting area. However they have their bags packed and will be ready to move to some new locations in the garden if need be. A pondless waterfall is a recent addition. There are currently over 450 named varieties of hosta in our yard. All of the miniatures and a few of the medium plants are in containers. |
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Kirkwood,
MO
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