Housetrends June 2016: "Splendor for the senses"

HOUSETRENDS GREATER CINCINNATI

GREATER CINCINNATI | JUNE 2016 | HOUSETRENDS.COM | $4.95

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Living ISSUE

www.housetrends.com | JUNE 2016

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Paving the Way: Great Patio Ideas

Three Generations In Sparkling Long Cove Home 5/4/16 2:11 PM

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Columbia Tusculum backyard stunner is a feast for the eyes, ears and more

BY AMY HOWELL HIRT | Photos by Robin Victor Goetz, RVGP Inc.

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Nancy stands on a pergolashaded patio, with a veritable utopia stretching out before her.

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cascade of greenery frames a waterfall, flowing into a pond that teems with koi fish and meanders toward the horizon. ✤ But for the moment, she isn’t focused on the breathtaking view. She points out a few massive blooms on a hydrangea tree, water-logged after recent rains, and laments that a couple summer-blooming dwarf crape myrtles—one of her favorite plants—have yet to reveal their purple flowers. Like many avid gardeners, she’s driven by accomplishments yet completed, and possibilities yet explored. ✤ “It’s a work in progress,” she says. ✤ But the development of this ColumbiaTusculum property could just as aptly be called an “evolution.” The two-acre oasis, fit for a resort, has grown organically over the past 15 years, guided by the thoughtful design and dauntless imagination of Nancy and Batavia-based landscaper John Imwalle, owner of Scenix Contractors.

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1 The landscaper’s children, Johnny and Greta, make friends with the fish. 2 This covered patio area serves as a transition between the home and the gardens. Transoms and fans bring in light and air and hostas revel in the shade. 3 Sadie enjoys chasing Lazarus lizards, which are common in this area, beneath the shrubbery.

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Going with the flow True to nature, water features have shaped this landscape, with three stages of expansion washing away any memory of the small patio and overgrown yard—terraced with railroad ties—that greeted Nancy and her husband, Mike, 17 years ago.

It all began with the installation of a double waterfall that, in many ways, directs the flow of the design and leads the eye.

Babbling over rocks down a manmade hill, the water travels below glass bridges and laps along the sandstone shores of a 15,000-gallon liner pond. Where this focal point ends, another begins. A creek, originating on the back side of the landscaped hill, winds its way across the middle of the property before descending toward the edge of the lot. Here, John built a pond, creating a scenic overlook of the Little Miami River Valley and Lunken Airport.

Neat-meets-native Although Nancy and John rarely commit plans to paper, every aspect of this garden retreat is carefully considered to balance the natural and curated.

While several trees were removed to maximize the view and minimize maintenance, a line of mature pines towers over massive boulders, individually selected by John and Nancy and positioned in mulched beds.

Elsewhere, a cypress tree is being trained to create a canopy over a bench swing, and meticulously pruned Japanese maples, hinoki cypress trees and boxwoods, paired with statuary and bridges, nod to Nancy’s love of well-manicured Japanese gardens.

For greenery and color, Nancy relies primarily on naturally hardy shrubs and ornamental trees, rather than perennials and annuals.

Red-berried cotoneaster, for example, spreads amid rocks along the waterfall and creek, and sun-tolerant panicle hydrangeas populate the exposed back half of the property.

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4 After the couple purchased the 1969 home, “we started taking down trees and said, ‘Look, we have a view,’” Nancy says. 5 A 7-foot-long custom wood swing overlooks the creek and tall, deer-deterring wood fencing wraps around the property. 6 Hydrangea thrive among rocks lining the creeks. 7 At the bottom of the property, a 150-by-50-foot pond reaches depths of 8 to 10 feet.

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—Nancy

It’s a work in progress.

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8 To help support the koi fish population, the waterfalls run around-the-clock, year ‘round.

9 The hardscaping is likewise cultivated to take on a native feel. Tumbles of rocks that guide the water features could have been deposited by nature, while oversized slabs of Tennessee sandstone create terraces with organically irregular edges.

Family dynamics Over the years, Nancy, Mike and John, along with John’s wife and children, have developed friendships that venture into the territory of family—complete with disagreements over who deserves credit for the landscaping and its maintenance.

Although John was the chief architect of the project, he and Mike point to Nancy as the enthusiast and worker bee.

“She’s out there with a miner’s light working at night sometimes,” Mike says.

John adds that although his trucks delivered the hundreds of loads of dirt and rocks required for the project, “80 percent of these plants were shuttled in, in Nancy’s car.”

For her part, Nancy says John lets her handle much of the planting, because she enjoys it. His crew helps maintain the landscaping, waterfalls, creek and two ponds, along with their aerators, filters, drains and hundreds of koi fish.

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9 Although it’s not found in abundance, there are still patches of grass in a side yard area. 10 Leftover material from indoor remodeling projects was used to build this shed and the lower greenhouse. 11 “Only about 20 percent of the plants are flowering or herbaceous perennials, and just five percent are annuals,” John says. The rest are shrubs and ornamental trees.

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It’s kind of therapy, to get out here and dig in the dirt.

—Nancy

➻ 12 At night the garden glows with landscaping lights and underwater lighting tucked beneath the sandstone overhangs.

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All that hard work yields plenty of places for both families, including Nancy and Mike’s 10 grandchildren, to relax and play, from monstrous rocks that call for climbing to bistro-style seating on the bank of the upper pond.

Nancy admits, however, she’s not one to sit idle too long. For her, the joy is in the journey.

“It’s kind of therapy, to get out here and dig in the dirt,” she says.

RESOURCES Landscape design and installation John Imwalle, Scenix Contractors; Venetian stone pavers Pavestone 13 The sound of water rushing over rocks is another amazing sensory element of the garden. 14 This stone bridge is positioned about midway between the home and pond. 15 Nancy inherited her love of gardening from her mother.

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