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Gardens of delight
Some called it a labor of love. Others consider it a chance to rekindle childhood memories. A few more simply enjoyed the challenge of taking soil and various plants and creating their own vision of paradise.
They all agree their respective creations are works in progress. Each year gives them time to add something new or change what they have to continue their quest for perfection.
On Saturday, these local families opened their homes and yards to others in the Mountain Home area during the 15th Annual Garden Tour. Sponsored by the Mountain Home Garden Club and Beta Zeta Civic Club, the yearly gardening event featured an assortment of gardening "how-to's" along with a few "what not to do's."
The garden tour showed people cost-effective ways to tackle landscaping challenges without breaking their wallets, regardless of their yard's size and shape.
Jerry and Merna Oliver spent the past 20 years building their backyard version of Shangri-La. They've invested their free time making steady improvements, which includes an island of flowers that nearly surrounds their home off North 6th East Street.
Although she prefers planting perennials, Merna has a soft spot for colorful annuals, especially petunias.
"If I like it, I'll plant it and take care of it," she said.
Ike Johnson and Nancy Emery had more pressing issues to deal with when they bought their home on East 16th North Street a decade ago. A tennis court that nearly filled their backyard was the first thing to go.
"I don't play tennis and got tired of seeing the asphalt," Ike said.
It's taken them 10 years to reach this point with everything in their backyard retreat built in stages. They started with a basic vegetable garden next to their privacy fence with additional improvements moving gradually closer to their back patio.
The couple has already laid the foundation on two new additions to their yard.
"We're still working to determine what to put in them," Ike said.
For aspiring gardeners wanting reliable flowers, the couple recommends planting alyssum -- a hearty annual plant with a wonderful fragrance.
"We (also) like woolly thyme as a ground cover because you can walk on it, and it's generally a good weed barrier," they added. In addition, they prefer growing herbs in clay pots next to their patio to keep the plants from encroaching on their flowers and other vegetation.
Some backyard projects showcased on the tour didn't need quite so much time but did require plenty of patience. Ron Evans needed just two weekends to build a gateway that preserves the tranquility of their backyard retreat.
He based the idea on a set of plans he ran across. However, those crude plans required him to make quite a few modifications during the construction phase since they didn't fit together quite as planned, he said.
In addition to the new gate, Evans had a unique idea to disguise more unsightly elements around his property. He took sections of a wooden trellis and built a frame around his home's exterior air conditioning system. It cleverly disguises the machinery in plain sight.
While some yard creations are based on personal preference, Jim and Nina Patterson have sentimental memories tied to their backyard garden, especially since she grew up there. Her father planted the garden when the family bought the house in the 1970s.
"Improving the garden was a labor of love for my father until his death in 1997," she said.
When the Pattersons bought the home from her mother in 2001, they spent several years clearing out the old underbrush while making the garden their own -- a blend of old and new, she said.
Their garden incorporates additional memories from Patterson's childhood. Japanese-style lanterns dotting their yard actually came from their backyard neighbor -- a former master gardener. Meanwhile, their birdbath by their backyard gateway came from another friend, who gave it to the Pattersons as a gift.
Their garden serves as a constant a reminder that friendship is everlasting, Nina said.
"What I like most of all is the way a garden is a mixture of life... of many lives really," she added. "It nurtures and needs to be nurtured. It moves with the seasons with color, texture and sound."
Those same elements became a similar source of inspiration for Armand Hebert. Covering more than 1.5 acres of county land, his property blends together a multitude of ground covering textures, while his selection of birch and aspen trees illustrate feelings of natural movement when they sway in the breeze.
His yard creation also breaks away from traditional, linear lines and focuses on gentle curves to soften the surrounding elements.
"Even the driveway curves around," he said.
It took plenty of trial and error over the past eight years for the retired Air Force officer to get his yard to its present condition.
"I just wanted to open up the yard," he said. "(It's) landscaped to keep open the wonderful view of the mountains and to create privacy barriers."
Like other gardeners on this year's tour, the former Maine resident has plenty of nostalgia blended into his yard. Catalpa trees along one section of his property bring back elements of his childhood. They remind him of the days he spent in a tree house built in one of those hard-to-get trees. Meanwhile, the huge flowers these trees produce have an aroma that remains very special to him.
But some aspects of the design, including his selection of trees, have more practical applications. The ones located on the south side of his home provide significant benefits in the summer by keeping those rooms at least 10 degrees cooler in the summer.
Proceeds from this year's garden tour will benefit a city beautification project. Proceeds from the 2009 garden tour helped fund the landscaping of Island Park near the Albertson's supermarket. In 2010, the event's proceeds went to purchase dwarf fruit trees and new raised vegetable garden beds for the city's community garden.