JUNE YARD OF THE MONTH
The terraced retaining walls at 3804 Dexter Avenue
create dramatic staging opportunities for this month’s Yard of the Month.
As soon as Dona Verschelden bought her home on Dexter Avenue in 2015, she realized she was going to have to do something about the front yard which was essentially just a steep hill. “I knew I would never be able to grow anything there unless I terraced the yard,” Dona remembers. “So, I hired a landscape architect to work with me on the design and install.”
Dona wanted “something different” and didn’t want to copy her next door neighbors Renee and Jerry Boydstun (past AHNA Yard of the Month winners) who had already terraced their front yard. Dona wanted to keep it natural with all Texas natives, drip irrigation, and long terraced beds.
The bottom level of the three terraces feature sculpted yaupon hollies. Next level up is dominated by Russian sage with flowering Anthony Waterer spirea, artemisia and red salvia.
Hovering above are Texas sage, nandina and miniature grasses. At ground level with the house are more yaupons, crepe myrtles, and even a few patches of grass. On the east side is an enormous cedar tree that Dona planted ten years ago. “It grows like a weed,” according to Dona. “I have to have it trimmed every year.”
By the front door, Dona always fills a large pot with clematis and places a yucca as the centerpiece. “I do the same thing every year.” Up against the house is a bed of purple hearts which are the only thing Dona has kept from the original landscape. “They don’t die,” she has learned firsthand.
Dona uses Miracle Gro as a general fertilizer. For her indoor plants and newly planted outdoor plants she used Schultz Plant Food Plus that calls for just 7 drops in a gallon of water.
Her work as a technical consultant keeps her days busy, but not too busy for her daughter and three grandkids who live two blocks away. “That’s why I moved to Arlington Heights and I love it!”
Congratulations to Dona for being selected as AHNA’s June Yard of the Month. She received a $25 gift certificate to Archie’s Gardenland and a year’s membership in Arlington Heights Neighborhood Association, courtesy of AHNA.
We love getting the addresses of your favorite yards. If you see a yard you’d like to nominate for this award, please send the address to AHNA President Lori Murray Bosken at president@arlingtonheightsna.com. Thanks to those of you who have sent in nominations. They’ve all been entered into the competition.
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