Middle Home Garden Tours sponsored by WHPS/MAMGA
Middleton: Thursday June 26:
John Selbo and Burnie Bridge 6831 Erdman Blvd
We moved into our bungalow in Middleton Hills in 2010. The garden surrounding our house consisted primarily of four trees plus several boxwood foundation plantings. I was fine with that because it offered a few anchors around which to build. Over the years John managed to pull up most of the aging landscape cloth surrounding the house and we gradually enlarged the beds, although they still mostly follow the house’s footprint. It is a small garden, but has matured nicely. I have focused on design with textures rather than abundant blooms and have tried to create a flow of perennials from full sun to full shade. Various sections of the garden assume prominence with the changing seasons. We have acquired several pieces of yard art that we think improve the garden’s interest. As we have aged, I have concentrated on letting the garden mature with us. Most of the garden is accessible to my small motorized scooter. The days of ripping up and rethinking large areas are over. I am no longer able to get my hands in the dirt although John, initially a reluctant gardener, has stepped up to do the maintenance while I continue to handle design. He also expertly maintains three compost bins which we share with our neighbors. Our garden is on a corner and walkers who come by often express their appreciation for our efforts. In that respect our garden has been an easy ice breaker.
Kathy Nieber-Lathrop 6353 Briarcliff Ln
I am an author of middle grade novels and picture books. I use words to paint scenes, characters, and settings. Each of my twelve gardens paints the themes of my books – love, family, friends, sustainability, neighbors, pets, conservation, and fun. I use perennial bushes, trees, shrubs, and plants interspersed with yard art, fountains and annuals to complete the designs. I even name my gardens: the fairy garden (for my two daughters); the China Wall garden with a favorite Korean Maple; the Devil’s Lake Garden for my limnologist husband; the Love Garden even has a Secret Garden tucked behind a hibiscus trellis; the Neighbor Garden, so named because my neighbors gave me so many transplants; the Celtic Garden paints a green sea of hostas and ferns; and last is my vegetable garden nourished by moisture from our rain barrel.
Sarah Schaffer 1703 Middleton St
When John & Sarah Schaffer bought the dilapidated 1902 Victorian in downtown Middleton in 1988, the only thing in the yard was a Harley Davidson on a dead lawn, and a property line dominated by black walnut trees, including one of massive girth that dates from about 1870. (It still stands, dominating the landscape). House renovations, rescuing the structure from ruins, occupied the first decades. Attention to the outside came later, with intentionality only in the last decade.
Sarah’s lifelong appreciation of gardens originates in both her German grandmother, whose unconventional house situated amidst a rustic landscape on steep semi-rural wooded property overlooking Lake Ontario was a child’s wonderland, and a great aunt who maintained enchanting formal gardens at her gracious Italianate home in the bucolic college town of Hamilton, NY. From these fiercely independent, intuitive gardening women, Sarah absorbed especially the ideas of “the slow reveal” and “islands of repose” — these remain guiding principles as the gardens evolve at this Middleton landmark hillside home.
The house sits in the center of a generous urban lot and is surrounded by gardens on all sides. This casual landscape offers no rare or extraordinary species, nothing meticulously manicured. Instead, there is a continuous flow from one garden room to the next, including a “Sunken Garden” (the former driveway), the “Secret Garden” (named by a young neighbor who spent a summer there at her writing bench), the “Desert Wasteland,” and a charming and alluring garden shed. One visitor said, “Your yard is an intricate set of irregularly shaped pockets that cohere together but are very unusually conceived.”
The hillside location offers levels and terraces. The streetscape, unimpeded by sidewalks, is an evolving display from spring thru fall. A greenhouse on the property supplies some of the plant material—overwintered, propagated, seeded. Found objects—especially the cobbles, granite foundation blocks, and other native stone—have been repurposed into paths and garden walls. A brief flirtation with welding yielded trellises, an arbor, and other metalwork. A simple water feature offers a soothing note.
All gardens evolve, and the character of this one continues to respond to unexpected change, especially, recently, the loss of privacy from adjacent building projects, and the loss of two large shade trees on the east border. And of course, the landscape is deeply affected by the mighty walnut, a magnificent specimen that ensures persistent juglone toxicity and dry shade. Containers offer some relief from the challenge.
If you visit, be aware that this is not a simple yard to traverse. There are rustic stairs without railings, some a bit steep, and paths are uneven. Ample parking is available on the street, or in the nearby municipal parking lots at the library.
Betsy True 4785 Toepfer Rd
The Functional Yard:
We have a one-acre yard in the Town of Middleton that we have been gradually improving with garden, orchard and woodland settings. A large fenced vegetable garden occupies the main center; I am serious about vegetables, using raised beds, rotation, elevated bins and containers. Pears, quince, espaliered apples and various small fruits are distributed around. There are chickens at one end of the yard and bees at the other. A prairie covers the side yard, a pond lies just off the sun porch on the other side; there are many diverse micro-environments. We landscape with an eye for insect nutrition and habitat, extended bloom for the bees, habitat for small animals and edibles for the house. It’s a work in progress and a joy to keep improving and trying new things.
We have been here since 1999. There were originally only about 6 trees and lawn. I have been pursuing the goal of resilient edible landscaping and forest gardening. I see the hardscape improvements (some quite expensive) as investments in food production. We grow, freeze, can, dry most of the produce and consume everything. What we don’t eat becomes converted into eggs and compost.
Note: I have a handout on some of the improvements.