BY MARCI LAEHR TENUTA
Journal Times | Posted: Friday, July 11, 2008 12:00 am
An antique map of the town of Yorkville from the 1920s shows the land along 51st Drive belonging to T.H. Skewes, a farmer whose descendants still live in the area. But now it is divided between two homes, that of Carrie and Joe Bergs and Jan and Gary Hansen.
Instead of farm fields and dairy barns, the land around each of the houses is decorated with beautiful gardens.
Day lilies and hostas, pansies and coneflowers, lavender and roses, from the unusual to the common, both yards boast a summer full of blooms.
But that is really where the similarities end. The gardens are different in plantings and form. Their uniqueness and proximity made them both a perfect spot for the Racine Garden Club's biennial Garden Tour, which will be on Sunday.
The back door to the Bergs' old farmhouse opens to a stone garden surrounded by bed plantings and cheerful pots. Arbors heavy with clematis and roses add bright splashes of color.
"This is the center of entertaining and living out here," Carrie Berg said.
Just beyond the patio, a stone walkway leads to a little garden area with a bench. Daisies and other perennials form a cottage garden feeling.
In more formal garden fashion, a huge bed is situated in the middle of the lawn. It's a project the Bergs started about four or five years ago. An arbor entrance leads to gravel walkways that separate rectangular beds holding vegetables and perennials. There are rows of iris, lilies, peonies, roses and assorted annuals.
Carrie said her husband loves to plant vegetables, and so the beds also contain rows of peppers, tomatoes, zucchini and pumpkins. A nearby plot is reserved for fruit, such as strawberries, blackberries, rhubarb, raspberries and a peach tree.
Along the property line, under the shade of a row of trees, is probably the most unusual garden on the Bergs' property.
"My husband calls it the resurrection garden," Carrie said. "It's where he plants anything I throw out."
In a beautifully careless way, hostas are mixed with irises and day lilies, and much more. "It's always funny to see what comes up," Carrie said.
A treasured shrub in the gardens is a lilac bush the Bergs believe is more than 100 years old. "I suspect it's been around since the turn of the (20th) century," Carrie said. "In the spring it's magnificent. It's gorgeous."
They've also left the old silo from the former farm standing in their backyard, and have created beautiful tiered garden beds around it, using field stone from the former farm fields.
"We think the boulders are part of the old dairy barn foundation," Carrie said. Shrubs, coneflowers, lavender and other perennials offer bright spots of purple and pink around the historic structure.
A small garden shed also boasts its own garden with a Japanese peony tree, hollyhocks and other flowers.
The trees on the property are also historic. Carrie said she estimates that the old oak and maple trees in the front yard are probably about 140 years old.
In front of the Bergs' farmhouse under the large maple tree is a shade garden. Carrie said she counted about 222 hostas in the garden bed. Next to the nearby garage is a prairie flower garden.
All of the gardens have been planted by the Bergs and their son, who are now 17 and 19. "We love it," Carrie said.
When they bought the old farmhouse 19 years ago, they started out making larger landscaping decisions, moving trees and bushes. That led to the garden beds. Carrie said she learned to garden on the property.
"You just start, and learn more about the land," said she said. "It's trial and error."
Across the street at Jan and Gary Hansen's, gardening runs in their blood.
"We both grew up in farms in Iowa," Jan said.
Their gardens are a little less formal and spread out than the Bergs. Instead, beginning at the edge of the driveway to the Hansen's home, their gardens continuously flow to surround their ranch-style house.
It begins with bright perennials, shrubs and trees at the entrance, and flows on one side into a shade garden beneath very large trees in the front yard. The shade garden is full of hostas, ground cover, shrubs and other flowers. On the opposite side, which is full sun, bright-colored perennials line the driveway.
Just in front of the house, an island of trees, shrubs and flowers sits in the end of the concrete driveway. Jan said the summer perennials in the circular garden bed are gorgeous during the warm months.
A shady path leading along side the house to the backyard is full of ferns and hostas. On the other side of the walk, daisies and forget-me-nots rule the garden bed.
The garden wraps around the back side of the house and small deck. A service berries tree attracts cardinals for the Hansens to watch from their windows.
Bleeding heart, dahlias, irises, lavender, Russian sage, yarrow, coral bells and Shasta daisies fill the back gardens.
"It's really pretty to sit out here," Jan said.
She also mixes in some annuals with her gardens. In particular, she loves pansies and has planted them in the beds and pots around the exterior of the house. Jan said she always plants pansies so she can make little bouquets and bring them inside.
The Hansens moved into their home in 1992 and created the gardens that surround their home. "We picked (the house) for the yard," Jan said. "I've always enjoyed being outside and working with plants. And no matter where we are in the house, when we look out we can see the gardens."
If You Go
WHO: The Racine Garden Club
WHAT: Biennial Garden Tour and plant sale
WHEN: Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the garden tour, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the plant sale and community gardens
TICKET INFORMATION: Cost is $8 in advance, $10 the day of the tour. Tickets are available at Mileager's locations, Wayne's Daughters on Douglas Avenue, First Weber Group Realtors, Wild Birds Unlimited, Personal Touch Flower Shop locations, Miller's Flowers and Borzynski Farm and Floral Market. The day of the tour tickets will be available at 2805 Green Haze and 938 Ohio St.
The Gardens
The following is a list of the featured gardens on the Racine Garden Club Tour on Sunday:
613 51st Drive, Union Grove
Pipers Grove Farm
Carrie and Joe Bergs
Five acres including hosta gardens, vegetable and fruit garden, perennial cutting garden and a 100-year-old lilac bush.
600 51st Drive, Union Grove
Jan Hansen
Butterfly plantings, vegetable garden, a nice variety of sun and shade perennials and annuals.
8200 Gittings Road
Guy and Linda Rannow
Good selection of roses and perennials, a waterfall pond, arbor, rut trees, attractive deck, lots of whimsy and surprises.
938 Ohio St.
Dorothy Hackler
Lovely small yard with arbors and decking. Meandering path with small fountains, Japanese Maple and clematis.
3329 Osborne Blvd.
Ruth Clark
A very small yard with more than 30 hanging baskets, lots of containers, roses, excellent color display.
3430 Spruce St.
Charlotte Bowen
A large yard with a nice blend of annuals, perennials, sun and shade gardening. Attractive deck, patio and pond.
2714 Norwood Drive
Nancy Ramsay
Inviting driveway, beautiful display of color, water pond and patio, metal sculptures, wildlife habitat.
43330 90th St.
Carol Usa
Two acres of beautiful beds that include hostas, perennials, annual-filled pots, excellent specimens of Austrian Harp pines, arbor and patio.
600 21st St.
The Zen Center garden on the DeKoven Center grounds.
Sixth Street and Grand Avenue
The Williamsburg Memorial Garden
5455 Durand Ave.
Ridgewood Care Center garden
3825 Erie St.
Trinity United Methodist Church Memorial Garden
*On the tickets to the Garden Club Tour, the addresses for the Bergs and Hansen residences are incorrect. Both live on 51st Drive in Union Grove.
A plant sale will be at 2805 Green Haze to benefit the AAUW scholarship program.