BY GINNY GEIGER AND BARBARA ANDERSON
Garden Club of the Lakes
You will not find a Yard of the Month sign for this month’s winner. However, the pictures in this article will help you understand why.
For several years, Ginny has frequently driven by this yard, which only had a new house and lots of dirt, unplanned greenery, and junk.
Current owner Chris Askew said the best word to describe the yard was “barren”. Ginny had enjoyed watching Chris and Kathy Askew build a wooden fence along the side of their property, install a driveway, lay wooden beams along their driveway, put down rocks between the driveway and the fence, plant shrubs along the fence, lay sod on parts of their yard, landscape the very front of their house/porch with rocks, plants and grass, and plant other shrubs around the yard. Building “our little paradise” was their goal.
As Ginny watched with much curiosity, she wondered what they would do next. Then there appeared a large area in the yard between their house and the road. There was a black tarp on the ground bordered by more wooden beams. Now that did it for her. She had to know what they were doing. But she couldn’t just walk up, knock on the door and ask them.
So, she thought they could be the Yard of the Month and follow them to see the end product of all their intense labor. But it certainly was not noteworthy for its beauty. Another Garden Club member suggested we use a yard she had found that was a “work in progress” to follow up in a year to see what they did. So that’s exactly what we did.
As we have always said, “Behind every yard, no matter what it looks like, there is a family inside with a truly interesting story.” The Askews proved us right once again.
Their story began long ago and is most interesting, but we will focus this article on their last three years – the time they have lived in this beautiful home. When a realtor showed them this place, it was built and ready to move in. They immediately fell in love with it and the acre of land where it is located.
Then the work began. When we used the word “work”, they quickly corrected us. They both agreed that this was a hobby and gave them a lot of pleasure. Now remember all that “work” that Ginny saw every time she drove by? Well, Chris had a neat way to describe how they did it – Labor: Chris – 90% to Kathy – 10%; Ideas and design: Kathy 90% to Chris 10%.
Chris’s past knowledge of yards, growing, and weather was learned in North Carolina and Idaho, Kathy’s in North Dakota. Fast forward to Keystone Heights, Florida. They started by planting things they knew about and were most disappointed when they all died.
Not only were they not used to the heat, unusual cold, and the rain, but they also had to deal with sugar sand, sand spurs, and rather significant erosion problems. Rocks, drainage, and sod have been their plan of attack. At this point, it seems they are winning, with a few exceptions where the erosion is still winning.
The news is not all bad. In the front yard, a few green plants are still alive, mostly hibiscus. But when we saw their back yard, there were more signs of life. Several varieties of honeysuckle were growing along their back fence. Lavender, calla lilies, and a variety of flowering plants were still green. For several of our
Garden Club members, their 35 milkweed plants would be exciting. And for other members, their bee hives would spark interest. Chris and Kathy harvest the honey and give some of it away. We were the lucky recipients of a jar.
What are their plans? To deal with the sugar sand, they are scraping off four to six inches of that stuff and replacing it with dark dirt. Then, in the big area covered with the black tarp, they will plant trees, including crepe myrtles, their favorite: magnolias, and other flowering trees. A large shed is also in the plans.
Chris and Kathy love to travel. They have traveled to all 50 states, 35 of which they have gone together. With that in mind, their plans have to consider their being gone for periods when their yard will have to take care of itself.
So, why did we choose this yard as Yard of the Month? We want to encourage you to keep going, no matter how bleak or barren your yard looks. We want you to know there is hope, and we want you to realize that beautiful yards don’t happen overnight. They take time, lots of love, and hard work.
What will the Askew’s yard look like when we revisit them in a year? Stay tuned.
If you want to learn more about the Garden Club of The Lakes or nominate yourself or anyone in the community for Yard of The Month, please call Pat Lorenzo at 904-728-9460.
