at Shorewood Hills WI
Go out to the UW Credit Union at 3500 University Avenue and sign up for today’s home garden tour at six locations in lovely Shorewood Hills WI. The $15 tour is sponsored by Olbrich Botanical Gardens. It ends at 3 p.m. today 07-08-23.
The Lovely Lisa and the Head Groundskeeper were surprised at the large number who walked the 1.9-mile tour — people our age! — on its first day Friday. The little village on the south shore of Lake Mendota (entirely surrounded by the city of Madison) is hilly, indeed!
One stop on Tally Ho Lane backed up to a hill that towered over the roof of the house, into which was carved a secluded patio bordered by a stone retaining wall. Somehow, a clean bed of pachysandra covered the vertiginous hillside to the left of the raised patio (shown in one of the photos below). However did they plant that? To the right, a water feature against a vertical wall provided sonic relaxation.
In contrast to Maple Bluff on the east end of the lake, Shorewood Hills presents itself as a little cozier, a little less pretentious. Even so, these are serious gardeners with the resources to maintain a variety of plantings. We also noted that the lawns were small but immaculate. Seems to be a garden-obsessed town. The Shorewood Hills Garden Club maintains over 20 triangular community gardens at street intersections. No curbs or gutters, sidewalks maybe on one side of the street. One stop featured a stone spillway to divert heavy rains, another a rain garden.
Kicking myself for not getting the proprietor of one stop, Bob Falk, on camera to discuss his raised beds (one of which is shown with hoops supporting pole beans). The Forest Products Service scientist devised beds that transpire water upwards through various levels of medium. He also built a garden shed built with salvaged materials and the tool bench (also pictured here).
The homeowner on Viburnum Drive punctuated her plantings with metal and porcelain rabbit figurines. The lady admitted she likes the bunnies and has learned to live with their foraging. One of the guides whispered her guilt to this visitor — she traps and releases her rabbits. The Head Groundskeeper one-upped her on the guilt meter; shoots his with a pellet gun. Nothing deters rabbit depredations like a dead one!
Blaska’s Bottom Line: Great weekend for a home garden tour! Perfectly sunny after Wednesday’s rain softened up the soil; temperatures topping out in the mid-70s, humidity low. Looks the same for today. The gardens were soothing and inspiring, the homes gracious, and everyone — owners, docents, and tourists, friendly.
What’s come over me?
(Kill the Wabbit! Kill the Wabbit!)
5 responses to “Gardens of the gods”
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Shorewood is an eclectic little enclave packed with all manner of meticulously tended flora.
Recall many a booze-fogged summer late night/early morning skinny-dipping at McKenna Park/Shorewood Hills Beach
“Kill the Wabbit! Kill the Wabbit!”
Gad Fersaken Wabbits are maddeningly abundant in these here parts; heck, they’re even going after The Gotch’s (arguably) world class Sweet Peppers (a first!), reducing a Jimmy Nardello and Goliath Sweet plants to mere nubbins.
The Gotch
NICE Squarsh Trellis goin’ on in image #2; any idea what the gauze covered plants in the tomato cages are?
The Gotch
Would only be a guess but he also had protective gauze around blossoms on his fruit trees.
Was wondering if you were able to identify the plants (which they’ve chosen to “train” upright with tomato cages) he was protecting; they’re broad leaf, so maybe eggplant or chard?
Dude must be hard-core! Those Squarsh Tunnels are anchored in $1000 + cedar garden boxes with a 100$ of dollar$ worth of soil in each.
But hey, you only apologize once for the price of fixed cost extravagances, am I right? The Gotch speaks from experience; Gardener’s Supply Company has set the hook and ain’t lettin’ go…
Anywho, covering plantings isn’t your…um…garden-variety/entry-level effort, it’s definitely advanced degree work to either prevent cross-pollination or curtail insect/critter predation.
The Gotch