August beautification award winners announced
By The Emporia Gazette (Contact)
Thursday, August 21, 2008
The Emporia Gardeners of America have chosen the gardens of Allen and Joyce Throm and Lovilla Linn for the August beautification awards.
Both yards have a healthy stand of fescue grass with many trees, shrubs and flowers to enjoy during the growing season. The Throms have a fairly large yard containing several small planting displays, whereas the Linn yard is very compact with many blooming shrubs, flowers, four Bradford pear trees and many flowing grasses which give the feeling of movement and airiness. It is a very neatly-kept yard.
The Throms built their home at 3414 W. 22nd Ave. in 1977, one of the first in their area, which was all pasture when they began to build. Joyce Throm began in 1979 to plan her first flower garden, which has now grown over the years to several displays of color and variety. She said she has always loved working with plants and flowers and works most of the cool mornings in their yard.
The present home of Lovilla Linn at 3501 W. 21st Ave. was built in 1992. She and her late husband, Bob, moved into the home at the end of 2000. It was empty for an extended time with trees and Pampas grass the extent of the landscaping. Flowers, shrubbery and a very attractive deck were added in 2001, plus a sprinkling system in 2002.
As the Linns contemplated the purchase of the home with the small garden shed in the back, they could see many possibilities for improvement inside and out. The garden shed is used for many gardening projects. A snowball bush, a lavender chrysanthemum and perennial hibiscus planted around the shed bloom sequentially during the spring and summer.
The corner of the Throms’ house on Mount Vernon Terrace and 22nd Avenue shows vibrant color with a large display of pink coneflowers (which have finished blooming) along with yucca in front, mock sunflowers, white yarrow, spiderwort (which is no longer blooming), yellow and orange daylilies, hostas, chrysanthemums, red coral bells, clematis, miniature hollyhocks, red basil, feverfew, verbena, Russian sage, cosmos, variegated lariope, coreopsis, ribbon roses, pink spirea, Knock Out roses and many pink and white double peonies. Rock stepping stones separate the peonies from the curb flowers.
Approaching the Linn home, a very large and beautiful Pampas grass tickles the nose while walking up the driveway to yet another Pampas grass by the garage. A large container of salmon-colored geraniums catches the eye on the walk to the front entrance. Nestled in the front northwest corner approaching the front door is a Bloodgood maple tree, a small densiformis yew, three dwarf daylilies (which have completed their blooming cycle), an Alberta spruce near the door and an inviting wooden bench with a container of brightly blooming impatiens with soft lighting around the bench.
A small ceramic boy and girl statue are resting on the bench with the impatiens, while a pretty green frog is close by, blending into the coloration of the hosta by the walk. On the northeast corner of the walk is a cistina, variegated hostas, two Chinaberry dwarf hollies with a small boulder in between and a Persian lilac to complete the north side.
On the east front corner, a very large Pampas grass draws attention. It is encircled with gold mound spirea and pygmy barberry. Along the south side of the house is another lilac bush with two burning bushes and a Manhattan euonymus in between. To complete the east side, a very tall Althea shrub has white blooms in abundance at the south end.
The Throms have used several trees to their advantage when planning out the flower beds, designating the space between them to be the planting area. They have also used much yard art to bring interest and variety to their plantings. Having grown up on a farm, Joyce Throm has used memorabilia of farming days interspersed among her abundance of plantings.
Alongside a spring-blooming magnolia tree is proudly displayed the American flag and also a Missing in Action flag. Tansies, Asian lilies, dianthus, day lilies, red hibiscus, lambs ear, mock sunflowers and a mound of blue fescue complete the second of four well-defined areas of beauty.
The third area includes a red sweet potato vine, a large golden basket with Gerber daisies, cherubs and a low pool of water bird bath with two ceramic cats close by. The fourth area has a very large black kettle from Joyce Throm’s farmhouse that contains caladiums and ferns, hostas and groundcover encircling the kettle. Landscaping castle stones circle silver mound, flowering kale, more hostas and a hummingbird feeder. Attention turns to a bench with a metal headboard connected with Pampas grass in the background. A very tall dinner bell, used to call in Joyce Throm’s father from the field, has two hanging baskets on the bell pull. Joyce Throm said that the reason it is so tall were the tree roots that prohibited lowering it any more.
At the back of the homes, the Linn backyard fence has again, stately Pampas grasses, honeysuckle, sunflowers, an iris bed and chrysanthemums to brighten the fall color. A locust tree shades an impatiens bed, with a hanging basket of impatiens near the garden shed. Around the very comfortable and inviting deck are yellow- and wine-colored Asian lilies and chrysanthemums. A planting of tall wild grass is near the steps of the deck with two geranium plants resting on the ledge of the deck. An umbrella table and chairs on the deck provides a sense of relaxation and an invitation to enjoy the outdoors and beauty of the surrounding yard and plantings.
A neatly organized landscaped area by the entrance to the Linn yard on 21st Avenue is filled with many sun-loving plantings in an elongated oval shape. Four gold mound spirea and two pygmy barberry frame the shape with a boulder in front of the spirea and three creeping blue chip spreaders fill out the border. Bradford pear trees are in the front yard with a nicely manicured fescue lawn.
Numerous plants line the driveway of the Throm home to their garage: a yellow tick seed perennial, ponytail grass, monarda and hen and chicks, along with a large bird bath, blood grass, red galardia, ribbon grass and Stella lilies. Near the driveway fence, a little wooden man on a stick, dressed all in blue, peers over his spectacles from the center of a very tall and healthy-looking euonymus.
“Oh, his name is Peeping Tom!” said Joyce, who discovered him in a gardening magazine.
What fun gardeners can portray through their yard art. Below the euonymus, displayed in a bed of rocks, are large pieces of limestone from the schoolhouse in Hanover (destroyed by a tornado years ago) attended by Joyce Throm and her father. In the backyard, flowers and many perennials line the perimeter of the yard. A wren house and two of the three martin houses are quite full with chattering bids ready to depart for the winter. They swoop into their houses over a vegetable garden which Allen Throm also helps maintain and harvest.
Among the many trees in the yard, a fruitless mulberry planted in the ’70s is appreciated, especially when the clothesline is in use. One unique plant discovered by Joyce Throm this year was a “mouse plant” called Tiny Mice with a red bloom and tiny features of eyes and ears, which is growing by the front porch with bridal shower in a basket with a small American flag.
Both yards — the compact and well-planned yard of Lovilla Linn and the free-flowing yard of the Throms — show much love and care for gardening and a great interest in working to make beautiful surroundings for all to enjoy.
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