We take a stroll through the gardens belonging to Huntington’s greenest thumbs.
By Carter Taylor Seaton
HQ 81 | SPRING 2013
Nineteenth-century garden designer Gertrude Jekyll said, “There is no spot of ground, however arid, bare or ugly, that cannot be tamed into such a state as may give an impression of beauty and delight.” While we’ve chosen the gardens at these 10 homes to show that you can garden anywhere – in your South Side front yard, in full shade, in a converted swimming pool, on a steep hillside or on a rooftop – they are also some of the loveliest gardens in Huntington. In every case, the owners created and maintain them.
Victoria & Don Baker
Victoria believes, “Everyone should have a garden, even if it’s small or on a rooftop,” so she arranged her plantings to provide each family member a garden view. Ferns, grasses and shrubs provide foliage and texture while planters of annuals on the deck, around her raised beds and in the balcony’s hanging baskets add color.
Tina & Lee Booton
Behind the deceptive brick wall in the Bootens’ side yard hides a secret garden, one they willingly share. Inside, the wide array of lush shrubs, statuary and flowers – in beds and in pots – delights. Tina has surrounded the patio and pool area with enough vegetation to rival a rain forest.
Pamela & Charlie Bowen
When the Bowens bought their house in 1989, Pamela first observed what came up in the existing gardens, then removed old shrubbery and made new beds in both the sunny and shady areas. Once she began collecting perennials, she couldn’t stop. Now 50 to 70 varieties tucked among the shrubs and trees provide a changing color palette every three weeks throughout the year.
Pat & Skip Gebhart
With the goal of having blooms from February through December, this garden includes flowing grasses, Japanese irises, hydrangeas, coral-bells, lemon lilies and a pond with water lilies. The large perennial garden in the front yard doesn’t stick with any specific color scheme but is designed to attract butterflies and hummingbirds.
Karen & Stephen Jones
Stephen is the master gardener for this 1.5-acre yard. Each spring, naturalized daffodils and narcissus lighten the landscape, followed by a blaze of azaleas, dogwoods and rhododendron. Throughout the 36 years the Joneses have owned their home, they’ve planted fruit trees, grape arbors and thousands of perennials to follow the springtime show of color. Karen is a watercolorist, so she chooses plants for arrangements – real and on paper.
Sharon & Staige Davis
Sharon’s gardening passion requires three acres to accommodate it. Designed to have blooms almost all year, her gardens flank the driveway, the front of the house, the patio and the rolling hillside. Koi and water plants in the pond where a former swimming pool was located create the patio garden’s focal point.
Susie & Ervin Jones
Susie and Ervin Jones’s shade garden starts coming to life each February. Susie specializes in cultivating hellebores, a perennial whose delicate downward-facing petals cover a wide color range from slate gray to pink, yellow, pale green and white. A shade garden expert as well, she has more than 85 different perennials and wildflowers and 75 hosta varieties.
Gail & Scott Stapleton
The Stapletons’ side yard changes weekly as their garden blossoms through the season. Easily visible from the road, it can be a driver’s distraction. Gracefully curved around the rear of their lot, the garden boasts paths between the beds for easy maintenance, a fountain and an eclectic color display. Butterfly bushes, hibiscus and lilies command attention in the full sun.
Karen & Carl Varnum
Karen calls her front-yard garden a hodge-podge. It’s chock-full of perennials, annuals, shrubs and bulbs planted for their variety of height and color and to provide blooms from spring to late fall. Among her favorites are the irises handed down from her grandmother and the bright red and purple bee balm that blooms in late June.
Kathy & John Zitter
Behind the Zitters’ split-rail fence and fanciful garden, art mixes gracefully with a wide variety of perennials like lilies, coneflowers, coreopsis, ferns and knockout roses, as well as splashes of annual color. Eclectic in design and plant selection, the gardens wander across the wide yard and are just plain fun to visit.
Editor’s Note: We would be remiss to run an article on Huntington’s best gardens without mentioning our own writer Carter Taylor Seaton. Having created her own beautiful garden near Ritter Park 15 years ago, Carter is a true expert. On the sunny side of her yard a serpentine border of liriope and hosta varieties separates the lush lawn from the deep perennial beds that burst with color all summer. The shady side border mirrors its twin but meets a patio created from bricks salvaged from Fairfield Stadium and the Ohio Valley Bus Barn.
