The Country Hills Garden Club is pleased to award the August Beauty Spot of the Month to Hector and Karen Ponciano at 3512 Pinehurst, a first-time honor for them.  The Ponciano’s have been residents for over 15 years and have been working together to transform their landscape into a pollinator friendly haven.  They are proud that no pesticides or chemical fertilizers have been used and have thoughtfully included native plants to reduce the need for watering.

From the moment you approach the house, an inviting island bed captures your attention. Anchored by a majestic butterfly bush, the bed is adorned with a captivating array of brightly colored perennials that promise multi-seasonal delight. Phlox, Shasta daisies, yarrow, coreopsis, mums, gazania, and coleus unite to create a visual delight for the eyes and a sweet banquet for the numerous pollinators that grace the yard. Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterflies, adorned in bright yellow, contrast beautifully against the deep purple flowers, while a variety of busy bees visit the vibrant coral-pink tubular flowers of an assortment of agastache.

As you wander along the front of the house, meticulously curated flower beds offer a tapestry of continuous interest throughout the growing season.  Stokes aster, coneflowers, butterfly weed, and indigo plant add pops of color, while the velvety silver-gray leaves of the lamb’s ear provide a touch of delightful texture.  A non-traditional cardinal flower is covered in magenta colored flowers.  Autumn Joy sedum and Blackberry lily seed pods, await the arrival of late summer to reveal their colorful bounty.  As you approach the front door, an assortment of container plants greets you, with a love-lies-bleeding amaranthus providing an unusual focal point with its eye-catching deep purple panicles.  

Beyond the view from the street, the backyard contains multiple beds with an assortment of perennials and well-placed shrubs.  The theme of blackberry lilies continues along the back fence, harmonizing with black-eyed Susans, obedient plants, and cranesbill geraniums.  Adding to the backyard’s charm is a special lineage of peonies, a beloved heirloom from Karen’s Great Grandmother, which has traversed through generations, from Massachusetts to New Hampshire, before finding its home in our CCH neighborhood. 

A statue of St. Francis, still recovering from a recent party, is engulfed in a sea of rudbeckia flanked by calla lilies and ironweed.  An aromatic herb garden teeming with an assortment of chives, basil, rosemary, and lemon grass and a small patch of milkweed, donated by their neighbor Scott, flourishes in the sun.  Scott fosters Monarch butterfly caterpillars and hopes that these milkweeds will one day support the lifecycle of these beautiful insects. 

As visitors explore the Ponciano pollinator paradise, it becomes apparent that their efforts have cultivated a beautiful landscape and sanctuary and therefore deserving of this recognition from the Country Hills Garden Club.

Kirsten Youngren

Country Hills Garden Club