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| Pete Matthews Jr © 2024 |
| 2024-07-22 033 Garden or guest house, Philip Ladd & Elaine Fiske; Garden Day, Islesboro ME |
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117 Atterbury Lane. Philip's grandparents, Mercer and Dudley Howe, built the original house in 1912 and expanded it in the 1930s. There was a formal rose garden, surrounded by an arborvitae hedge, in the area where we now have the raised beds. Below the porch was a formal cutting garden. Both gardens were abandoned after my grandparents died. In the early 1990's Sue Hatch laid out and planted the flower garden in front of the house, and many elements of her design can still be seen. When it was first planted, the yellow birch at the back was much smaller, so the garden got good light. For a number of years we had stunning climbing roses along the fence and clematis, but now there isn't enough sunlight and we are too fond of the birch to take it down. These days we plant and mostly tend to this garden ourselves, using plants that can tolerate a bit of shade with an emphasis on perennials. Sue also planted the row of highbush blueberries along the driveway which have produced heavily for many years. These bushes provide the berries for Philip's blueberry chutney that he donates for sale at the library and the ICC. The new plantings in front of the house were installed this spring by Dee Hall. She also planted a new grouping of plants on the left of the driveway before the blueberry patch, and new trees in the shade garden and out by fhe road, to start replacing the many blowdowns we've had in recent years. The shade garden in the driveway circle has slowly evolved over the years. There was nothing there originally, and it had become fullof overgrown trees and slag. As we cleaned it up, we started planting. The area is mostly ledge, so planting holes are hard to find and explains the layout, or lack thereof. Hostas and ferns are happy here. We have plenty of trillium, hydrangeas, pulmonaria, sweet woodruff, lily of the valley, ginger, ligularia and brunnera. Later in the summer and fall the harlequin glory bower (clerodendrum trichotomum) has a profusion of pink and white flowers and a lovely scent. This special tree descends from a cutting from the Forest Hills Cemetery near Boston and was given to us by a friend, Carrie Waterman, whose aunt was Libby King. You will find two entrances to the path that winds through the shade garden, one across from the front door to the house, and the other along the driveway across from the blueberry bushes. The upper garden with the geriatric-friendly raised beds is the latest addition and was built about ten years ago. We are both fond of dahlias and have about twenty different varieties that normally put on a good show starting in August and running through October, along with other annual flowers for cutting. Chris Becker helped with the layout of this garden, which started with eight beds and was expanded to eleven beds two years ago. The wind sculpture is by Lyman Whitaker. We take care of the garden ourselves, growing enough lettuce for our daily salads plus radishes, cukes, beans, beets, broccoli, carrots, asparagus, basil, thyme, tarragon, peas, squashes, tomatoes, Swiss chard, kale and whatever else we can cram in. We've tried and abandoned planting eggplant, okra and other warm weather crops as the area doesn't get enough late summer sun, and don't bother with corn as it takes so much space. [Ouch, so sorry we missed the upper garden!] We use solar powered electric fencing to control Bambi. Philip Ladd Elaine Fiske |