Jardin du Lac Awards May Garden of the Month

Throughout the spring, summer and fall, Jardin du Lac Garden Club of Lake Saint Louis awards a homeowner the honor of Garden of the Month. The garden selected for May 2011 is the home of Jim and Juanita Fowler in the Ridge Point neighborhood. They have lived in their home ten years and do all the gardening themselves.

Both Jim and Juanita were raised in the Missouri bootheel area on working farms so they know the importance of good soil and taking care of their plants, shrubs and trees.           

Jim told me that Juanita selects the plants and the location to be planted and Jim digs the hole, amends the soil and then plants. They work as a team in their yard. Juanita prunes all the shrubs, even the spiral Alberta Spruces.

Notice in the photos that Juanita does a wonderful job with the spiral Spruces and that’s no easy task. It’s also very labor intensive and time consuming, which is why Juanita does them. She said that Jim does not have the patience to trim them. Jim admits (with a laugh) that Juanita is correct.

Among their many plants are: Dianthus, Salvia, Barberry, Japanese Maple, Boxwood, Holly and Spirea shrubs, climbing roses, Colorado Blue Spruce, Lilac and Crabapple trees just to name a few. They have a climbing rose that goes up a telephone pole which can stay as long as it grows no more than about 12 feet up the pole. I wouldn’t want to have to prune this rose.

In addition to their plantings are many thoughtfully placed garden ornaments. The large eagle statue sits beneath their flag pole and American flag. The water pump appears to be pumping water into a bird bath. Now, that would be really convenient if the water pump actually pumped water into the bath. There are many different bird statues that accent the beds all around the yard. My favorite is the rooster weather vane where it shows up nicely with the burgundy leaved Japanese Maple in the background.

I can tell that Jim and Juanita care very much about their yard. They spend a lot of time maintaining the landscape and hopefully every once in a while they sit back and enjoy the view.

Congratulations to Jim and Juanita for being awarded Garden of the Month of May 2011  and allowing me to tour their beautifully landscaped yard.

If you have a beautifully landscaped yard or have unique garden ornaments that you are proud of and would like to see featured on Patch.com, contact me at Bahrmasel@msn.com.