Email
Print
del.icio.us
digg
FeedSpring Promise
A sea of tulips heralds a new season and a homeowner’s Dutch roots
By Michelle Baltus
Photo by John Abernathy
The couple felt no such love for their previous backyard garden, an English-style affair with a small lawn and “very little color and life,” says Bill, former CEO of Medtronic, the Minneapolis medical technology company. The loss of a large elm had also left the once shady space over exposed. In 2005, the Georges hired landscape designer Bob Harvey to remedy the situation.
This meant maximizing the garden’s modest 40-by-40-foot size, opening up the space to views of the lake, and adding more color and interest, Bill says. The couple also wanted an inviting space for both intimate family get-togethers and larger gatherings.
Harvey, owner of Edelweiss Design in Edina, went to work on a plan. Everything the couple wanted in a garden, they got, he says, most notably riotous, continuous color.
“Bill emphasized he wanted lots of color and I told him he had the man for the job,” says Harvey, a former gardener for the von Trapp (the family whose story was told in The Sound of Music) estate in Vermont. Harvey chose spring-flowering bulbs because their blooming season coincides with the couple’s in-town schedule and offers unparalleled diversity. They also make gorgeous cut flowers. “Your own blooms make a bouquet that much more meaningful,” Harvey says.
The garden’s hardscape serves multiple functions, as well. Harvey replaced the lawn with a raised perimeter garden and a parallel bluestone walkway that allows for circulation around the entire space. The irregular path encourages movement through the garden and creates intimate plant and gathering areas that make the yard spatially appropriate for any number of guests.
A limestone bench wall offers built-in seating and helps outline a central garden bed highlighted by a stunning black granite fountain. A delicate, blush-pink Saucer magnolia tree, as well as crimson, coral, and cream-colored rose bushes, offset the contemporary water feature, which bubbles over onto gleaming Mexican beach pebbles below.
Photo by John Abernathy
Garden locations and the sun’s orientation ruled plant choices, says Harvey. Repetitive blankets of white and pastel tulips create a more formal, windshield-worthy display in the front yard. Behind the house, dramatic reds, purples, and yellows maintain their intensity under strong afternoon sun. Trees ranging from burgundy-hued birches to glossy green weeping crab apples add weight and form to the garden, as well as filtered shade. “It’s bearable to be in the backyard again and yet we’re not left with heavy shade,” Penny notes.
Architectural lines and material elements simultaneously reflect the garden’s urban location and the home’s French country lines, giving the space an eclectic feel. A sage green grid fence with decorative arches adds a classic touch and visually opens the yard. The walkway’s irregular stones and sweeping curves are more whimsical, while the abstract fountain is purely contemporary. “We wanted something that could stand as an art form,” Harvey says.
A new iron fence on the side of the house extends garden sightlines beyond the backyard to the lake. “You get this wonderful borrowed view that gives you a sense of a much bigger space,” he says.
Not that you really need to look further, because something is always blooming in the George garden. Daffodils and brightly hued T. Fosteriana tulips (known as Emperor tulips) kick things off in April. The low-growing T. kaufmanniana tulip is another early bloomer, its lily-shaped flower lends grace to the garden’s nooks and crannies, where ground covers like epimedium and lamium thrive. A kaleidoscope of late-blooming tulips, including ‘Blushing Beauty’ (cream and fuchsia), ‘Maureen’ (white), and ‘Avignon’ (red-orange), serve as beautiful exclamation points to spring. Then, a cascade of perennials from astilbe to wisteria parades through the space until fall.
Other plants besides tulips lend significance to the garden. A symbolic cherry tree also offers fruit. “It’s good luck to have a fruit tree in the space,” Harvey says. Aspens are reminiscent of the couple’s Colorado residence, while lilacs remind Penny of her childhood. She also loves the two Japanese maples.
“I wanted them to feel the experience of the garden carried as much significance for them as the rest of the house did,” Harvey says. “This gives them a place they can be proud of and use to extend hospitality to their guests.”
“It really captures the ambiance of a Sunday afternoon garden party,” Penny says. “People comment how European it feels and how inviting it is. They hate to leave.”
And who can blame them?
Michelle Baltus is a St. Paul freelance writer and frequent contributor to Midwest Home.
For more information on resources featured in this story, please reference our Buyer's Guide.
11 ISSUES (1 YEAR)
