Gardens of Lasting Beauty
Barrington area gardeners express enthusiasm for the outdoors in numerous ways. They spill secrets about growing. Some peek through fences. Others whiff fragrances with delight. They are gardeners who view their palettes as more than soil and plants – more than spaces for flowers. They strategically position portals, perennials, sculptures, and pathways on their land.
In the off season, they thumb through pages of garden catalogs and gaze at photographs to keep the splendor fresh. Here’s how some residents tend to their gardens and gardening friendships to create lasting beauty all year.
No matter what the season, Pat Ballot and Peg and Eric Olsen relish their gardens. They also enjoy each other as friends bonded by a common interest. They know each other through the Garden Club of Barrington. While the gardens were designed with all seasons in mind, spring is their favorite. With the first sighting of budding color, Pat says: “We’re back to life.” Eric says, “There’s so much to do.” Peg smiles and says: “Spring fever.”
Pat is the past president of the Barrington Council of Garden Clubs. She is a respected flower arranger, a judge at international flower shows, and conducts workshops on flower design. Pat explained that Richard, her husband, does not consider himself a gardener. “He loves to do the chopping, digging and cutting,” she said. His specialty, according to Pat, is the lawn, especially one with a formal look. Both grew up in Long Island, N.Y. A love of gardening for Pat grew from time spent with her paternal grandfather, where she learned the Latin names for plants well before the common names.
When Pat and Richard moved into their Barrington Hills home in the early 1970s, the yew hedges around the building were so overgrown that they reached above the second story. Grass had to be cleared to find the sidewalk leading to the front door. Richard used clippers to remove the brush so that their furniture could be delivered.
The original blueprints of the home were discovered in a closet, offering a glimpse back in time. Pat and Richard have restored 5 acres of the property to their original landscape outline and the 1930s garden to its original grandeur. The whole septic system had to be dug up and in doing so, they uncovered a formal garden bed complete with a huge peony hedge and a Pennsylvania bluestone walk. Of the restoration project she said, “The landscape plans were interesting for the time period of the 1930s. The garden had good bones. It’s an adventure.” For her, gardening teaches patience. On an evening walk, the couple heard gurgling and discovered a waterfall that led to a pond buried under thick brush.
Peg and Eric Olsen moved here from California, where they had lived for 10 years. Peg is from Seattle, and Eric grew up in Portland. When the Olsens purchased their 15-acre property in 1991, they cleared acres of overgrown buckthorn and debris. The land had been neglected for many years. Peg and Eric and their two daughters garden together. Each night Eric asks, “Who wants to go for a woods walk?” During the walk they assess progress, admiring nature’s work and compliment each other’s work.
Eric is an international business consultant who is fondly referred to as an “extreme gardener.” In the course of one day last spring, he replaced 170 boxwood lost from the year before. Peg says, “He accomplishes a lot. He’s high energy in the garden.” She says they always have something to talk about and a shared to-do list. Eric is ever experimenting with the formal and informal gardens they’ve cultivated. “We are lay-of-the land gardeners,” he says referring to their adherence to the natural contours of the land. The garden teaches him “how to survive in a stressful world.”
Peg likes planning gardens, riding horses, and international travel, which has been a major influence on her style of gardening. She and Eric have visited gardens throughout the world including Blarney Castle in Ireland and Monet’s garden in France. When she goes to London she heads to the gardens in Hyde Park. She decides on color schemes, plant choices, garden art, as well as plants and materials. “I love creating interesting hanging baskets, pots and containers. Throughout the growing season I enjoy deadheading (especially the roses), weeding and pruning. In the fall, I look forward to helping Eric select and plant all the beautiful bulbs, especially the daffodils and tulips that we traditionally add to our gardens.” In November, she cuts greens and decorates the outdoor urns. She’s learned that in the garden there are no mistakes.
“It can be tough to get started with placement, yet plants can always be moved around if needed,” Peg said.
Pat, Peg and Eric share their landscapes for nonprofit fundraisers and garden club benefits. They are providers and problem solvers. Their gardens express the joy and intricacies of nature.
Spring anticipation
Like most gardeners, when spring comes they want to know: “Did it come back?” Every year their gardens change depending on the hardiness of the plants and the conditions endured during winter. “It’s all hands on deck during spring,” says Eric about the way his family joins in to prepare for planting. “I am busy as a squirrel in springtime helping plant all of our annuals,” Peg said.
The Olsen property serves as a test garden for the Aurora-based Ball Seed Company. Trucks filled with endless flats of flowers of all colors appear on the driveway. “We race around in a golf cart debating, arguing, and finally deciding where to put everything,” Eric said. In 2004, company owner, Anna Ball, closed the company gardens for renovation. They asked for volunteers to grow their plants for catalog and publicity photography. The Olsen’s garden was one of the volunteer gardens that survived, and they’ve been a test garden ever since. “Some varieties are not yet available to the public, so it’s fun to see what’s new,” Peg said. They also purchase garden varieties from local nurseries, retailers, and catalogs.
Eric has already determined which variety of roses he’ll plant this year. “I visualize what I want, what to re-do, and then plant incrementally based on sun and shade and dry or wet soil conditions,” he said. In the spring, he tries to keep the rabbits from eating the tulips. He’s built fencing around 10 of the acres.
The foundation of the Olsen gardens consists of a few favorite standbys. The striking crimson bloom of the Knock Out rose flowers until frost and requires no pruning. All salvias are deer resistant, drought tolerant re-bloomers that provide colorful borders to a perennial bed. Understated but invaluable is the evergreen boxwood shrub. Multiple varieties create a striking foundation for the home as well as defining evergreen garden perimeters.
When it’s needed in the spring, these gardeners transplant existing shrubs and replant perennials heaved from the ground. They cut back dead plant material and resist the urge to start digging in flower beds too early. “You have to wait for the last frost. Also, the soil needs to be ready,” Pat said. A handful of ready soil should fall apart, not stick together.
Pat, Eric and Peg use compost from their garden debris to prepare the soil for planting. They yank weeds early, cutting them out while their roots are still shallow. Vigorous grass growth in the spring signals a need to edge flower beds with a sharp trench. This may sound like a lot of work but Pat said, “Gardening is a passion. It renews my faith in life.” She may spend 20 hours a week in the garden during spring. She works outside the home as well. She admits to shedding a tear when a plant dies, but added, “Another one will take its place.” The gardener must always be attuned to what is happening and why.
Summer glory
In summer, gardeners enjoy the fruit of their labor. Fragrance, color, and texture are in full glory. Roses and lilies are their favorite fragrance. To keep plants healthy they prune and pinch. They’ll deadhead all the spring blooming bushes such as azaleas, rhododendrons, and lilacs by mid-summer which allows the bushes to begin new growth for next spring. They pinch to keep late perennials bushy and to stagger blooming times.
Pat fills her garden with evergreens and with out-of-the-ordinary trees such as the Blue Weeping Douglas fir, sour gum tree and Kentucky Coffeetree. “I grow specific flowers and vegetables for my arrangements,” she said of her many garden decisions.
Yet all may not be well in their garden paradise. In summer, gardeners must beware of insects such as aphids and Japanese beetles. When plants grow larger they have less circulation between them and the insect problem can become rampant. Potted plants need to be watered every other day and are often kept within reach of the hose.
Fall harvest
Eric and Peg tend a half-acre vegetable garden that includes potatoes, cabbage, squash and root crops. Produce can last through winter when stored in the garage. Pat limits her vegetables to heirloom tomatoes, pumpkins (some years), and Swiss chard. “The chard is a wonderful element to use in flower arranging,” she says. Her beech trees are a favorite in autumn.
Eric trims and then wraps the boxwoods closest to the house in burlap hoping to avoid another loss. The yews need pruning, too. He admires the golden plumes of Karl Foerster, a drought tolerant, deer resistant upright grass that grows to five feet and provides lovely winter interest. “It’s a good transition plant between formal and informal gardens,” he says.
Winter interest
During winter, the gardening trio relies on evergreens, structures such as pergolas and gazebos, sculpture, stone walls, and urns to liven up the gray and white palette nature delivers. “I like stone and bronze,” says Pat. “It always looks good and you don’t have to haul it inside during winter.” In her garden, a spring fed waterfall flows year round. Her belvedere gazebo provides a beautiful view no matter what the season. A bronze blue heron and a stone bench from France share ground with a cupid statue from Trinity Church in New York where her husband’s grandparents were married.
Snowcapped archways covered with dormant vines mark hidden entries to outdoor garden rooms created by the Olsens. At night their 12-sided gazebo, lit from the inside, sparkles across a dark landscape. Most of the structures were built by Eric.
A family affair
The garden lifestyle becomes part of the entire family, especially in the busy planting season. In the spring, first blooms are celebrated. In the summer, fresh bouquets of flowers are offered. During the fall they share home grown vegetables and floral arrangements. Family coming home for the holidays may receive their first welcome from a familiar array of trees and snowcapped statues. It is a unique lifestyle, nurtured by passionate and caring hands. Pat, Eric and Peg were each inspired by an older family member who taught them how to dig in the dirt and nurture a plant. That may be the surest way to create lasting beauty – to introduce a love of gardening and the time spent together that it offers to the next generation.
Container Gardening: Peg Olsen
No matter what you plant, stuff the containers full. “It’s OK to over-plant your containers,” Peg said. She and Eric usually set up their containers as early as May 15, with a goal of planting them past the last frost date.
Plant nutrition is important. Peg recommends fertilizing the plants in the beginning to help them get a good start. After that, follow the summer holidays for subsequent feedings: Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and then Labor Day. Peg likes liquid Miracle Gro, while others may like time-released products.
Water plants every other day. Plan your container locations to be in reach of a hose, if possible. Create drainage at the bottom. Peg suggests for larger pots, to place a plastic container that is smaller upside down inside the pot to use less soil, keep the container lighter and to support drainage. Peg warns not to use mulch in the base of a container as it carries mold and disease that may damage plants.
Plant palettes should be coordinated with the container’s material and color. Make sure to mix types of plants in groups that work well for the amount of sunlight or shade.
Here’s a recipe for success for your container gardens: in the middle, something thrilling (a spike, or decorative grass), around the middle, something filling (verbena, mounds of Lantana), and down the sides, something spilling (Vinca, ivy or other trailers).
Hands On Design by Pat Ballot
Pat Ballot offers these thoughtful design tips. She recommends On Garden Style by Bunny Williams, Simon & Schuster, copyright 1998, as a guide for gardens of all sizes.
Make an entrance. Use architectural elements including urns potted or not, finials, obelisks, gates, or columns for garden entrances. Place a pair of well-trimmed shrubs or trees – such as conical or cylindrical yews. It’s good to have a focal point at the end. A change in elevation may signal an entry.
Study the sunlight before planting. Observe how much sun and shade the area gets. Understand what grows best on your property and in our climate – Zone 5. Microclimates are small areas designed for plantings that need more warmth than what Zone 5 offers.
When space allows, combine curved and straight elements in beds. Groundcover, especially in larger gardens, is essential for cutting down on maintenance.
Pat says to minimize foundation plantings. Shrubs grow and soon the house disappears. Instead, Pat suggests a European style of placing attractive plantings beyond the foundation wall for viewing from windows.
Include hardscapes. These elements anchor an area. Use stone walls, gazebos, patios, retaining walls, or sheds. These add year round interest. Soothe the senses with a water feature, especially for those hot summer days. Even the smallest garden can accommodate one.
Use color in unexpected ways. Pat has a small, bright red bamboo tori gate tucked into the woods visible from a woodland path.
Include vertical elements in the garden both architectural and natural. Plant trees and pay attention to those that have winter interest such as the paperbark maple or blue Weeping Douglas fir. Create interesting backdrops such as a line or semicircle of trees.
If you have a favorite flower or color, plant lots of it, especially for larger properties. In her yard, she enjoys great drifts of daffodils in the spring, hedges of peonies in June and a floor of blue campanula most of summer.
“It’s important to sit down and enjoy your work,” Pat said. The larger the garden, the more seating is required. Seating can add interest and provide a comfortable place to contemplate your hard work.
Mary Klest is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to Quintessential Barrington magazine. She can be reached at mary@maryklest.com.