Helen Peters doesn’t own your run-of-the-mill garden.
Her Old Colonial house on South Street is surrounded with birches, peonies, foxgloves, tiger lilies, stone paths, stone walls and a manmade waterfall that leads to a pond inhabited by frogs and koi.
The English country-style landscape was the result of five years of work. It’ll be one of six gardens featured in the 2013 Needham Garden Tour, hosted by the Needham Women’s Club and taking place from noon to 4 p.m. on June 9; tickets are available at Roche Bros./Sudbury Farms, Volante Farms, Babel’s Paint Decorating, Home Trends, Dedham Savings Bank, Prudential Advantage Real Estate and online at NeedhamWomensClub.org.
“The whole property was very different before we moved in. It was as a sleeping beauty that was still sleeping,” said Peters, who lives on South Street with her husband, her dog, and her foster daughter from Sudan.
Peters’ home sits atop a hill overlooking South Street. The garden is expansive, with walking trails running up the hill behind the house and down the hill to the street. The walls and steps consist of stone slabs that blend with the numerous flowerbeds to form a natural landscape.
She bought the home 20 years ago—the address won’t be revealed until the day of the garden tour—and found herself surrounded by steep hills and trees.
“I was in love with the house with all its nooks and crannies,” she said. “But we said to ourselves, ‘let’s do something with it.’”
Peters compared part of the process of transforming her untended yards into a landscaping achievement to an archeological dig. Workers were building raised garden walls, and as they dug they discovered garden walls and even a manmade pond underground, which Peters later renovated to the existing pond.
The most recent homeowner had had parts of the surrounding yards covered over. These buried “archeological” pieces were remnants of an old garden from a previous homeowner.
“This yard used to be spectacular,” said Peters.
Now, after five years of work, there’s more than enough to make a visitor stop and smell the roses.
Organizers hope those who see Peters’ garden may try something new in their own homes.
Susan Opton, who owns the Needham-based company Terrascapes Landscape Design, designed Peters’ garden and will be attending the Garden Tour to talk to visitors. A sharp observer may notice photos of Peters’ front and back gardens on the front page of Opton’s website, terrascapeslandscapedesign.com.
Of course, “every garden should fit the shape of the property,” said organizer Kate Maguire. Maguire added that local community organizations will also be participating by having individual planters on display.
“We want the event to be more than just a tour,” said Maguire.
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