BEREA —
It’s not everyday you can wander around in somebody’s backyard without looking suspicious.
Hundreds of locals bought tickets to explore six featured gardens in Berea Saturday during the 4th annual Garden Tour, to benefit the Berea Arts Council.
Each unique garden exhibited the creator’s vision for functionality, but with special attention paid to aesthetic details.
A projection as to just how many species of plants could be found in their gardens was an inestimable number.
We began the garden tour with “Flowers, Food and Foliage,” tended at the home of Gwen Childs and David Saladino on Harrison Road.
Childs, who is BAC’s executive director, greeted visitors with cookies, but the sloping property featured the work of Saladino, a garden designer.
Visitors could follow the stone path to the back porch overlooking rows of beets, mustard greens, lettuce, arugula and broccoli.
Wisteria clung to a triangular pergola constructed with 16-foot beams cut from nearby Black Locust trees.
By first glance, a visitor would see a 15 by 15-foot area scattered with approximately 20 species of perennials and ground covering. But after taking a few steps back, the shape of a heart becomes apparent.
“It’s a heart for Gwen,” Saladino said.
Down the road to Fairway Drive is Mary Startzman’s “Mystical, Magical Secret Garden.”
This garden was so mystical and magical, a gnome or fairy would not have been out of place.
Startzman’s creation is sectioned off in several striking highlights.
A 15-foot tall tree house provides a view of the entire garden. A large bell hangs there, which Startzman rings to communicate with a resident one street over, said her daughter JoJo Wray, who grew up here.
There is a hidden path disguised by thick foliage where Wray and her siblings “played sword-fighting,” she said.
Different trellis-covered paths twisted and turned around a stacked stone fireplace, fountains, statues and a large concrete aboveground Koi tank with fish the length of an adult arm.
A large tree looms over and in the back porch — its roof was built to accommodate the natural growth of the tree.
Startzman’s creation started 38 years ago with a lone garden “gate to nowhere” and a handful of trees.
The tug to “create something” inspired her to keep planting, even though she hates to plant things, she said.
“I don’t have time to weed,” said Startzman, “its ‘survival of the fittest’ in this garden.
When Startzman looks out the windows from her home, she envisions the view she would like to have from that window, and then recreates it in her garden.
Just a short stroll down the street is Gin Petty’s garden called “A Perennial Affair.”
A gently sloping hill in her yard is lined with tiers of lettuce, chives, parsley, garlic, dill, basil, strawberries, sweet potatoes, rosemary, cantaloupe, turnip greens, radishes, zucchini, onions, beets, tomatoes, peppers and cabbage.
A long row of spinach, a cold-weather plant that Petty starts in February, provides ground cover, prevents weed growth and keeps the soil loose. Surplus spinach is harvested for the Berea Food Bank.
Petty was a farmer for 25 years. It was only during the past 12 years that she began adding flowers and design to her work.
“I know about growing stuff, but back then, we didn’t have time to make it pretty,” she said, “now I’m trying to do this artfully.”
Close by was Marjorie Acevedo’s “Victorian Tranquility” on Prospect Street.
Spatters of roses, peonies, geraniums, water lilies and countless other species could be found through a trellis and past a tranquil waterfall.
Acevedo’s 20-year garden project blooms behind a house built in 1903, still featuring its original filigree, she said.
Around 22 years ago, behind a turn of the century farmhouse on Barberry Lane, Adriel Woodman’s backyard had four trees.
Now, it is home to a dozen varieties of roses, hydrangeas and hundreds of other species after 22 years of loving cultivation.
“My design theory is: Go to the nursery. Spot something that looks pretty. Put it in the ground – it’s addicting,” said Woodman, who aptly named his garden “American Gothic Spacious Splendor.”
The final stop on the tour was a short trip down South Dogwood Drive to Lakeview Drive.
Throughout the day, the question on everyone’s lips was: “Did you see the Miller place yet?”
Tom Miller’s “Cascading Waterfall Magnificence” is, in his words, “A majestic limestone landscape with cascading waterfalls, framed by evergreens and punctuated with whimsical use of stone.”
Around 11,000 gallons of water is recycled through the many pools and the three streams that spill into, what Miller calls, “Dow Falls” – a satirical poke at the recent years’ economic downturn.
The woods behind Miller’s house provided the perfect material and angle to build Miller’s waterfall wonderland, along with local river limestone that was brought in to line the waterways.
“If you don’t have a hill like this, you can’t do something like this,” he said.
Surrounding the streams, visitors can find a variety of tree species such as: Redwood, Japanese maple, juniper, cypress and cedar.
Placed among the foliage are four Buddha statues, large glass stones, benches and a fire pit where Miller and his guests can sit around, sing songs and pretend like they’re country-folk singer, John Prine.
Crystal Wylie can be reached at cwylie@richmondregister.com or
623-1669, Ext. 6696.
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