This July many CCH neighbors have creatively decorated their landscapes with patriotic stars and stripes and richly colored flowers just in time for holiday visitors. At 3420 Park Hill Place, Pam and Steve Caruso have made major changes to their landscape giving it a new look. The Country Hills Garden Club chooses their ambitious DIY garden project as the Beauty Spot of the Month.  The updated design has kept several established plants in place.  Curbside barberry and crepe myrtle bushes define the front edge of the garden. Beyond these, a hillside rises to mature holly and azalea bushes and a sturdy maple tree close to the house. After their research for plants of differing foliage, flowering displays, and growth habits, the Caruso’s added rows of hardy evergreens, perennials, and ground covers to prevent hill erosion and to ensure eye-catching colors season to season.  During this month, their front yard shows off many of Virginia’s best-loved flowers, including the scarlet rose, lavender hosta, mauve hydrangea, blue spiderwort, pink crepe myrtle, creamy sweetspire, and orange daylily.  A new flagstone path leads to more visual delights in the lower side yard. At a tranquil corner, an American flag unfurls in summer breezes and butterflies flutter near pale purple blooms on a buddleia bush. Much pleased with their accomplishments, Pam and Steve say their dream garden is still a work in progress.  They won’t be hanging up their garden hoses and tools yet!   

Respectfully submitted,

Anita Johnson and Nancy LeBow

As we drove through the neighborhood, we saw lots of evidence of folks working in their yards. A few areas are worth noting as works in progress: Check out Cornwall at the corner of Old Post, Spring Lake Terrace at the corner of Farmington, and Parkhill between Farmington and Cornwall. We are excited to see these spaces as they continue to grow and develop.

In the meantime, do you ever feel overwhelmed with landscaping possibilities and don’t know where to begin?  Or maybe you want a clean design that is low maintenance and always looks good? The June 2019 Beauty Spot goes to a home that exemplifies a minimalist approach to landscaping design. Congratulations to Jean Lambert and her brother, Jim Lockwood, of 10007 Boxford Court.

We’ve had our eye on this home for years. It is the epitome the “one and done” design method, utilizing liriope as the singular plant. Along the house, rock beds are enclosed in stacked stone walls, creating textural contrast between the smooth round rocks and the flat stones. There are six evenly spaced variegated liriope along the front bed, and several liriope plants lining the right side of the driveway. Visual interest is added in the front bed with a birdhouse on a post and decorative rocks at the base, and from the Japanese red maple that is visible from the left side of the house.

Sometimes, the simplest approach has the strongest impact. 

Stop by and see this yard: How can you incorporate minimalism into your landscaping design?

Respectfully submitted,

Jennifer Judelsohn

Joyce Skoglund

Country Hills Garden Club

Driving through Country Club Hills, there is no doubt that Spring is in bloom: the azaleas are bursting with a plethora of flowers, dogwoods are starting to flower in shades of pink, and there is lots of color all around! And when you see neighbors out working in their yards, you know it’s time for this year’s Beauty Spot awards to begin.

Congratulations to Yanji Lama and Chad Hurley of 10124 Spring Lake Terrace— we’ve had our eye on your yard for years and are delighted to award you the May 2019 Beauty Spot of the Month! 

We especially love the plantings on the hill on the left side of the walkway. There is a large evergreen that anchors the upper left corner of the bed. The rest of the hill is an assortment of perennials interspersed among white quartz stones, giving the appearance that the plantings all grew there on their own, in a very natural, organic manner. Clumps of garlic chive, blooming with purple flowers, sway in the breeze along with the ornamental grass at the top of the hill. There are native geraniums, lambs ear, sedum (both as a mounding plant and another variety as a ground cover), and creeping jenny.

In the bed to the right of the walkway, in front of the house, a metal container is planted with some vegetable, and there’s a whiskey barrel full of strawberry plants. A beautiful fuschia azalea is in bloom, and there are plantings of daylilies, variegated hostas, sedum, astilbe, and variegated liriope.

To add further interest, there are decorative pots with japanese painted fern, cactus, and annuals.

A stepping stone at the bottom of the hill on the left reads, “The Earth Laughs in Flowers.” This little stone hints at the magic that happens every year in this yard. Keep watch for the mass of delicate pink flowers that bloom later in May. It is a wonderful surprise and delight for the eyes.

Stop by and see this beautiful yard!

Respectfully submitted,

Jennifer Judelsohn

Joyce Skoglund

Country Hills Garden Club