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Raised beds can be used to preserve home oasis
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Published: May 9, 2009
Forsyth County still has some hidden oases.
This is apparent at the home of Susan and Dorsey Dyer. The Dyers moved here from Georgia. He is a teacher at Davidson County Community College; she is a consultant involved in residential space planning and renovation. She tries to make people's houses fit their lifestyle.
They are surrounded and sheltered by woods. Their house feels like an old farm house -- worn and settled into its spot, an organic structure that's part of the landscape.
But the encroaching world is apparent. The constant buzz of the nearby interstate hums like an angry nest of bees.
About a year after the Dyers moved in, a developer contacted them. The property next door was going under construction. Their peaceful oasis would have its horizon reconfigured.
But the news wasn't all bad. The construction is just barely in sight. It's just the thought of it in a place like this.
Changing the scenery
The Dyers decided to build a berm, a long, sinuous, raised peninsula to block off the view to the new complex, a view that is most apparent from their screened-in porch. Most of the landscape is oriented toward the front of their house, but the porch, a well-used feature, is in the back.
The soil was specially selected for the berm project in 2005. It is oriented toward the porch, with the tallest plants toward the rear. The Dyer's used several broad-leaved evergreens to give the border weight, substance and year-round cover. They chose the Chindo viburnum that grows to more than 10 feet with lustrous dark green leaves that seem almost dipped in shellac. They form a dense pyramid when mature with 7-inch leaves. This selection seems to take anything thrown at it, from sun to shade, and is an ideal screening plant. They have also planted burford holly, another standard of the landscape industry that serves as a wonderful screen. It eventually grows to 20 feet, also with glossy evergreen foliage and dense clusters of orange-red berries that last the winter. It is tolerant of a wide range of soil and light exposures. It is drought and heat tolerant.
Cleyera, also known as ternstroemia, has evergreen leaves that are paddle-shaped and about 3 inches long. They are leathery or plastic-looking and have red leaf stems. The leaves are olive green with a purplish undertone and somewhat bronzed in winter. The plant grows to about 8 feet and was widely recommended as a replacement for red tip photinia, which served much the same purpose but came down with a widespread foliar leaf spot. The plant is not as coarse as photinia and has a more rounded outline.
Other broad-leaf evergreens in the screen include beautiful sasanqua camellias, which bloom from autumn into spring and usually have smaller leaves and finer texture than the Japanese camellia. Camellias have some of the simplest yet most elegant foliage of any of our broad-leaved evergreens used for screening, as well as the classic flowers in red, pink and white. Sasanquas will also take more sun than the Japanese camellia will tolerate.
A lower-growing evergreen in the garden is the pieris. It is one of the early bloomers in the garden. It is used as much for filler as a screen, though the plant can eventually reach a fair height.
One end of the long peninsula is still "under construction" and contains a southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), the king of the broadleaf screens and a Bloodgood Japanese maple with wide, deep maroon leaves. Both will be large plants at maturity and the wide berth left for them is an intelligent decision.
In the front of the border are colorful blooming specimens such as the classic George Tabor azalea, a feature I have seen on every one of my garden visits this spring. It is no wonder. This adaptable plant prefers full sun and blooms so profusely that its pink flowers flared with a deeper orchid often conceal the foliage completely. The flowers are large and showy. The Dyers also use the new Encore azaleas and have been pleased with their repeat performance in the fall. Daylilys and other perennials form a herbaceous layer in the front of the bed.
Island beds surround the Dyer's property, so the new berm seems as much a part of the landscape as the other features. Well-planned borders such as this one can help to hide a multitude of insults that loom on the horizon. Done right, they become a focal point rather than a barrier.
■ If you have a gardening question or story idea, write to David Bare in care of Features, Winston-Salem Journal, P.O. Box 3159, Winston-Salem, NC 27101-3159, or send e-mail to his attention to gardening@wsjournal.com.
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