When Elizabeth took up gardening at her Holly Avenue home about 10 years ago, she took the long view. Inspired by a lecture at the Takoma Horticultural Club, she decided to improve her front yard’s “lousy” clay soil by digging sticks and leaves into it to boost its organic content.
In 2018, however, her gardening plans came to a halt when lightning set her attic on fire, and heavy rain fell through the damaged roof for several days. Two years of repairs and reconstruction followed.
In 2020, she was ready to garden again.
A neighbor offered clumps of ostrich fern, which Elizabeth planted in a shady corner of her front yard, and along the two sides of the house. They have flourished and provide a lush, almost tropical, vibe.
In her deep back yard, dominated by a massive black walnut and a charismatic redbud, Elizabeth has been reducing an undistinguished lawn to broaden her garden canvas. In addition, an “ugly” concrete fence that bordered the driveway was ripped out, along with invasive Chinese wisteria and bush honeysuckle. With each patch of reclaimed terrain, Elizabeth adds leaf mulch to improve the soil.
The back yard, which has both sunny and shady areas, is profuse now with golden ragwort, obedient plant, beardtongue, beebalm, late boneset, brown-eyed Susan and orange coneflower. Blue lobelia and eastern woodland sedge provide accents. Jumpseed, an intriguing native, (Persicaria virginiana), has a cameo.
Elizabeth planted some of these perennials, but others were volunteers.
Elizabeth says of her approach, “I kind of let the garden guide me. Things appear, and I say ‘OK.’” Gazing at the piles of leaf mulch here and there, she says, “It looks sort of messy, but maybe in two to three years….”
In the front yard, though, Elizabeth availed herself last fall of a garden designer, Janet Hostetler. Together, the two women planted various perennials, which seem to be thriving. These include golden Alexanders, butterfly weed, liatris and wild bergamot in the sunny area, and large-leaved aster, wild petunia, and wild wood aster in the shade.
–-Meg Voorhes
Photos by Meg Voorhes