Category: Gardens

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Featured Homes Gardens Lake Country Lake Country

A Wow-Worthy Ashippun Lake Backyard Makeover

By Anne Morrissy | Photography by Shanna Wolf

Keith and Kathie Dunton knew they needed a new patio at their home on Ashippun Lake in Waukesha County, so they contacted Tom Auer of The Ground Crafter to help with the project. However, when Auer first got a look at the home’s existing outdoor space, he realized that the Dunton’s property—sitting on four acres and containing more than 100 feet of lakefront—had a lot of unused potential. Beyond that, the existing deck and surrounding patio displayed structural damages so severe that Auer felt it unwise to do a basic replacement.

“The entire hill was sloughing off down the slope,” Auer explains. “That was cracking the foundations for the old patios. I told them the whole thing had to come out, otherwise it would have just been throwing good money after bad.”

By demolishing the old deck and patio space, Auer was able to work with the Duntons to completely redesign the outdoor living space. Utilizing a clever terracing design, Auer nearly doubled the amount of space on the decks and patios, to about 2,600 square feet. The new plans introduced two distinct terrace levels, and included a pergola, an outdoor kitchen and dining space, a hot tub, two fire features and a water feature meant to suggest a natural stream.

Auer says part of the intention in redesigning the outdoor space was to make it look like the home had been placed into its natural environment with very little effort. “This home is in the Kettle Moraine region, so one of our goals was to keep it looking like the house was dug into the side of a natural kettle,” he says. In order to accomplish this, Auer and his team began by re-grading the space between the home and the lake, and then installing several subgrade walls to ensure structural integrity. “The walls that surround the hot tub on the lower terrace, for example, there are actually hidden support walls behind them,” he explains. “The outcropping stone is not meant to be structural—it’s decoration. So behind that, there’s a thorough concrete rebar wall holding up the upper terrace above.”

The hot tub had long been a dream of Keith’s, but he confesses to being stumped as to how to incorporate everything he wanted with the classic Colonial architecture of the house, which the Duntons built in 2004. “The front of the home is very traditional and pretty and Colonial style,” Dunton explains. “We live on a lake, and we wanted to retain that Colonial design but still take advantage of the feeling of living on the lake. It was a challenge.” Keith credits Auer with his ability to incorporate all of their ideas into a design that worked with the existing house and property.

To do so, Auer made liberal use of natural stone in the design, including New York blue stone, shipped from New York and Pennsylvania, and local Lannon stone. The natural stone steps leading to the lake were a feature of the Duntons’ previous patio that Auer’s team saved during the demolition and repurposed in the new design. Another important element Auer incorporated into the plans was a 20-year-old honey locust tree that the Duntons were determined to save. “We started by establishing a protection fence around the root zone,” Auer says. “Because of that, everything on that side of the house was done by hand, because heavy equipment could have shocked the tree roots. And then at the end, any roots that we disturbed were root pruned.”

The new outdoor living space presented plenty of opportunity for landscape plantings, including fern, astilbe, moneywort, coneflower, coralbells, Ligularia, hydrangea, rhododendron, Hughes Juniper, Lamium, hostas and geraniums. In keeping with the natural environment, Auer worked the plantings in among boulders unearthed during the excavation. “The kettles were formed by retreating glaciers, which left large boulders and rocks behind in the soil,” Auer explains. “While excavating in the area, it’s very common to find these large boulders, so we repurposed some of those, set them aside and then put them back into the environment.”

The finished product has exceeded the Duntons’ hopes for the project. “My wife and I love to go out with a cup of coffee or a drink in the evening and sit by the stream,” Dunton says. “There’s just something very soothing about the sound of the water.” He says a recent guest commented that they must be happy with the new landscaping and outdoor space. “That’s it exactly,” he says. “We are very happy with it.”

Fabulous Flowers

Auer and his team saved and repurposed naturally occurring boulders from the soil during the re-grading of the property to create a landscaping plan authentic to the home’s location in the Kettle Moraine.

Sensational Seating

Auer and his team designed the new upper deck to ensure that no railings obscure the view of the lake from the sun room. The pergola enhances the amount of shade provided by a 20-year-old honey locust the homeowners wanted to preserve.

Water Ways

A pondless water feature mimics the effect of a natural spring cascading over the landscape. The nearby patio seating provides an ideal breakfast space—the Duntons say they love to have their morning coffee near the stream.

Views for Days

A gas-operated fireplace on the lower terrace matches a similar fire feature on the upper deck and provides additional entertaining space. In designing the new outdoor living space, Auer, of The Ground Crafter, aimed to maximize the view of the lake from each level.

Love their backyard?  Here are Tom Auer’s landscaping tips:

Choose a plant palette and stick with a common color theme throughout. Plant groupings of complementary foliage with some contrast colors, but stay away from colors that clash while blooming.

Consult resources on naturalizing plant schemes and companion varieties. For example, if a Ligularia is chosen in a small group, also consider planting Rodgersia as both plants prefer rich, moist soil.

Take advantage of the expertise available at your local garden center. Find someone that is excited to help you and not just somebody that “points you down the aisle.”

For more complex landscaping, consider hiring a professional. Pricing can be surprisingly budget-friendly and their advice is invaluable in preventing frustration and ensuring your money is spent on plants that will thrive in your specific situation.

This home was featured in the Lake Country: Fall 2018 issue. For more photos of featured Lake Country homes, visit the Lake Country Gallery.

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Gardens Madison

Plan a Lovely Year-Round Landscape

By Shayna Mace

Although it’s hard to see the lush greens of spring and summer in your lawn and garden slowly fade away in the fall and winter, there are ways to not only prep your landscape for cooler temperatures, but extend its hardiness and longevity for next year’s spring and summer. We talked to a few landscape experts who gave us tips on what to do.

GORGEOUS GRASS

Since it takes up so much real estate in the front, sides and back of your home, it’s worth keeping your lawn in tip-top shape not only for an eye-pleasing look, but for the health of all of your plantings, maintaining a soft surface for play for kids and grandkids, and even the well-being of our lakes.

“If you have a thick, healthy lawn that’s the best defense against broad leaf weeds and diseases. So, doing a regular program using a slow-release, granular fertilizer that meters out over time will help your lawn thrive. Going into the fall and winter it’ll offer your lawn better survivability, more disease resistance and it will come out of dormancy sooner and much stronger,” says Lee Schroedl, account manager and certified arborist with Bret Achtenhagen’s Seasonal Services. “Some people underestimate the value of this application [but] it sets up your lawn for success.”

A slow-release fertilizer will time out over four to six weeks for effective nutrient distribution. Schroedl recommends looking for a nitrogen-based formula that has some potassium in it (it’s the third number on the label in the nitrogen-phosphorous-potassium breakdown). Schroedl says an optimal time for an application is October or November.

AERATION BASICS

Besides fertilizing, aerate your lawn once in fall (between September and November) with a professional aerator rented from a hardware store, says Wayne Golz, lawn and plant care manager with Olson Toon Landscaping. Make sure the grass is moist and avoid aerating when it’s hot or dry as that can do damage. Golz says pulling out as many lawn plugs as you can with the aerator is a good thing: “You can’t over-aerate—you want to pull out as many lawn plugs as you can.” Schroedl says aerating in two directions is even better.

While aerating, it’s prime time to even throw out grass seed in thinning lawn areas, says Golz. Make sure to use the right formula depending on if the grass is in the sun or shade. Another important note: Schroedl recommends that homeowners should mark any obstacles in their lawn, like irrigation system sprinklers or invisible dog fences, as those can be nicked with a heavy-duty aerator.

POTENTIAL PRUNING

Now’s a good time to cut back perennials like day lilies and hostas, says Golz. Homeowners can also do renewal pruning in the fall, to make room for new growth on plants next year. Schroedl agrees, but cautions that people need to be knowledgeable about what plants they prune to avoid winter die-back.

“If you have day lilies and hostas it’s easier to cut those down in the fall because sometimes in spring it’s more of a mess as they decompose [over the winter]. You do not want to severely cut some plants down like blooming shrubs [such as] lilac forsythia, because you will cut off the flower buds for the following spring,” says Schroedl. “So, it’s being cognizant of what plant species you’re dealing with and … working with your local landscape contractor or call an arborist to help you identify your materials and timelines on what plants to prune.”

Golz says caring for and pruning your evergreens in the fall is another good move—but don’t trim them too late in the season: “You don’t want to trim those too close to December as they need time to heal themselves after you trim. You also want to give them a lot of water in the fall. All of that moisture they take in late in the season is what keeps them green—so as the cold air hits them they won’t turn brown.”

PRETTY PLANTINGS

Keep the color and interest in your yard going even in the fall by planting kale, pansies, mums, ornamental grasses and permanent items, like trees and shrubs, say the experts. Splitting perennials is another proactive way to fill in your landscape and save money on buying new plant materials. Or, start planning for next year’s bounty of blooms, says Schroedl.

“Fall is the time for bulbs—people underestimate the power of spring color. From October through November is the best time frame. We plant tulips, crocuses and hyacinths. Fall is the time to order in bulbs and think about where you want to add a splash of color in the springtime and extend your landscaping season several months. You can also look at mixing varietals that bloom early and late to extend your color time frame,” says Schroedl.

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Gardens Lake Geneva

From Far East to Midwest

By Anne Morrissy  |  Photography by Clint Farlinger

John and Linda Anderson are true garden enthusiasts. For almost 40 years they have worked to build the Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford, Illinois, a passion project that has produced one of the premier Japanese gardens in the country, which is seasonally open to the public and even features a restaurant and event-hosting capabilities.

John first took an interest in Japanese garden design after returning from a trip to Kyoto following his  graduation from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Later, when the Andersons built their summer home on the south shore of Geneva Lake, they used that lifetime of landscape experience to create a summer garden haven on their two-acre property. “The Japanese garden influences a lot of our landscaping even though our landscape at Lake Geneva is not strictly a Japanese garden,” John explains.

AN EXOTIC LANDSCAPE

According to John, the most direct Japanese influence can be seen in the design of their driveway and in the placement of stones, or “boulders” as he calls them, around the driveway to create visual interest. When the Andersons started the landscaping project at their lake house, they brought in one of the landscape experts who had worked on the Anderson Japanese Garden. “He determined the sight line of our driveway that leads from the road down to our home. Then he designed the visual elements of that drive,” John says. “He understands that how you enter a property is very important.”

The landscaping around the circular driveway was designed to create a pleasing view from every angle. “As you begin to come down our driveway from the road, you see our home set off by some trees,” John explains. “Then as you continue down and curve around, you get a glimpse of the lake. That view is intentional.” Adding to the appeal of the setting is a gazebo which overlooks a croquet court. The gazebo, an architectural folly or point of interest, repeats the same design elements as those of the house.

On the east side of the driveway, the Andersons created a shade garden around a stone sculpture that they purchased from a local artist in Lake Geneva. “In that garden, we use a number of native plants,” John says. The native prairie perennials are accented with Monarda, purple coneflowers and lilies, and the garden is framed by a wax begonia border. “In all of our gardens, we use a variety of plants which bloom at different times throughout the growing season,” says John.

EYE-PLEASING DESIGN

Behind the house, Linda keeps a cutting garden and herb garden. “I like to have fresh-cut flowers in the house throughout the summer,” she says. “I wanted to be sure we had a variety of flowers that can be cut; not all flowers can be cut and retain their color and vibrancy. I love lilies and a lot of the annuals, like zinnias and dahlias. I also grow basil, rosemary, thyme and other kitchen herbs.”

Following the tradition of Japanese gardens, John emphasizes that balance is the key to their landscaping plan. “In some places, we’re using very subdued neutral plantings.” Part of the design  includes areas of grass to provide a visual break. “You need to have a green lawn or something like that to allow everything else to speak for itself,” he says. “It’s important to have visual balance and scale.” To provide a backdrop and privacy along the lot line, the Andersons planted a “living wall” of arborvitae planted 18 inches apart. More trees and shrubs around the property cleverly disguise other utilitarian elements. The sterile line of a fence on the east property line is broken up with  different types of deciduous trees, bushes, yews, serviceberry and hemlocks.

VISITOR VISTAS

The Andersons agree that their favorite view on the property is their lakefront perennial garden.  “Because the Geneva Lake shore path is open to the public, the lakefront garden gets lots of pedestrian traffic, especially on weekends during the summer,” Linda says. “We wanted a nice walk along our property for people to enjoy.” The colorful mass of phlox, tiger lilies, bergamot and other vibrant perennials adds a pop of color to the Andersons’ lake view. According to Linda, the garden design was based off the desire to create a colorful Monet-like garden that could be enjoyed from their front porch. John agrees, and adds that “he sees the lake, which is always changing in color and texture, as the backdrop for all of the color in the garden.” The couple love the view from their front porch.

Although the gardens at their lake property are not technically a Japanese garden, the Andersons are pleased with the way their Illinois Japanese garden has inspired the landscaping here. “So many of our concepts for garden design came from our experience building a Japanese garden,” John says.

The Andersons emphasize that the goal with all of their gardens is to create a pleasing environment for everyone who passes through. At their Lake Geneva home, this begins when guests first turn off of the road onto the property. “We want our home to be a place of hospitality, and we feel that that hospitality begins when you enter our property,” John says. “Another objective is to inspire others to create gardens for their own homes.”

 

This garden was featured in the Lake Geneva Summer 2017 issue.

For more photos of featured Lake Geneva homes, visit the Lake Geneva gallery page – or for more featured gardens, visit the Gardens gallery page.

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Gardens Lake Geneva

A Lush Landscape on Geneva Lake

Driehaus garden

By Barb Howell | Photography by Clint Farlinger

One of the most recognizable homes on the north shore of Geneva Lake is the estate of Richard H. Driehaus, and its magnificent grounds, Glanworth Gardens. The stately Georgian Revival built in 1906 is surrounded by lush greenery, stunning perennial gardens, an abundance of colorful annuals, and a series of ponds with gently flowing water features. Although not original to the property and the vision of legendary landscape designers, the Olmsted Brothers, the orchard is an exquisite addition to the property, greeting all who enter with a sense of peace and tranquility.

This serene oasis occupies land once designated as a vegetable garden and later an over-grown formal garden of arborvitae. In 2003, the area was transformed with hundreds of floribunda and hybrid tea roses selected for their color. To complement the roses, the orchard was planted with boxwood, strawberries, grape vines, and varieties of apple, pear, plum and cherry trees.

A wisteria-covered arbor, outlined with a boxwood hedge, frames the entrance to the orchard providing the first glimpse of what lies ahead. Marble sculptures depicting the four seasons and dating to the late 19th or early 20th centuries are a focal point. Last summer a temporary installation of architectural elements by French architect Hector Guimard provided additional interest. The pieces, circa 1900, included a vertically-oriented wrought iron staircase panel and a cast iron panel from the Paris Metro, which hung horizontally from the arbor.

 

This garden was featured in the Lake Geneva: Summer 2015 issue.

For more photos of our featured Lake Geneva homes and gardens, visit the Lake Geneva Gallery page.

 

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Gardens Madison

Cultivating Madison’s History

By Shayna Mace  |  Photography by Clint Farlinger

For David Waugh and Bob Klebba, owning the Mendota Lake House B&B is a dream come true in many respects. Waugh had talked about owning a B&B for ten years before the couple purchased the historic Collins House in 2012. And Klebba, a history enthusiast, enjoys the tales of the Fourth Lake Ridge neighborhood where the property is located, as well as planting the wonderful front garden display each spring for passersby on Gorham Street.

And looking at the beautiful, symmetrical and eye-pleasing presentation of flowers, grasses and edible plants in the front of the Prairie-style inn, it’s clear that the owners exhibit a lot of pride in their carefully restored B&B, which is also on the National Register of Historic Places.

THEN AND NOW

Built in 1911, the property was constructed for Dora and William Collins by Louis Claude and Edward Starck, notable Madison architects who also designed several well-known properties throughout the city, including the Majestic Theater, Breese Stevens Field and Lincoln School, located right next door to the Mendota Lake House B&B.

After the Collins inhabited it, the property was converted to a seven-unit apartment building for a number of years, then into an office building in 1949. The Wisconsin Medical Society and the Dane County Parks department have both called the place home. In 1985, it was converted back to a residence and remodeled into a B&B.
When Waugh and Klebba bought it in 2012, the property had been abandoned for seven years and there was much work to be done, especially on the grounds.

“There hadn’t been careful maintenance of the property. It was overrun with weed trees and a forest of box elders. Our first fall here was the invasion of the box elder bugs—it was wild! The first year was a lot of death and destruction,” Klebba jokes.

Klebba, who also owns Morningwood Farm in Mount Horeb, estimates they removed 60 to 70 trees, which opened up the lake view in the back. With the planting beds opened up in the front and back of the home, the couple took their second year on-site to get to work. Since they wanted “immediate” results, they planted annuals for quick color.

“Since then, we’ve been filling in with more perennials. Every spring we plant between 300-500 annuals, so it’s a lot of work,” says Klebba, whose Morningwood Farm provides the bounty. “But, we’re lucky because Fourth Lake Ridge is on a small drumlin, which means it’s sandy, loamy soil. It’s the best gardening soil I’ve ever worked in.”

Klebba is strategic about the time they spend on the garden throughout the year to minimize maintenance. In April and May, it’s about six to ten hours a week to get it going. They also weed at critical times, including at the end of April and in the fall, and plant thickly so the weeds never take hold. “If you can keep the weeds under control you reduce the amount of effort you put in. Then [in the summer] we’re only spending maybe 20 minutes a day watering the pots.”

The front garden display continues to be a work in progress, admits Klebba. “Our procedure up until now has been a riot of color. What’s funny about that is people love it—they love the noisy use of color. But when you’re gardening with perennials, it can take five to seven years to get it right. And ultimately, we are plant people, and we like what’s unique.”

 

This garden was featured in the Madison Spring 2017 issue.

For more photos of featured gardens, visit the Garden Gallery page.

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Gardens Lake Country

Belle Blooms

By Shayna Mace  |  Photography by Westhauser Photography

James Drzewiecki of Gingko Leaf Studio names all of his landscape projects something memorable. Take his stunning “Chateau de Fleurs” design for homeowner Heather and Brian Paulin’s Lac La Belle home. Meaning house of flowers, Drzewiecki’s landscape design company worked closely with the Paulins to revamp their formerly ordinary yard into a masterpiece full of lush gardens that complement the Monastery Hills home beautifully.

“We were never crazy about the yard before that, so we decided to have [James] design something for the whole yard,” explains Heather. The result is gardens the homeowners love, plantings the neighbors compliment the family on and passersby stop to look at.

FABULOUS FLORALS

The impetus for the Paulin’s yard makeover was out of necessity—a retaining wall had collapsed, so it was time to take stock of the landscaping situation. Heather did some research on Houzz and Pinterest and pulled together color schemes, plants and styles that she liked. After the couple met with and hired Drzewiecki, she shared with him her vision. “I wanted an English garden style where the beds are very full with not much space between the plants. James then took all of my ideas and made them work in our yard, and added some of his own,” says Heather.

Drzewiecki got to work building out a plan for the project. The first phase included working on the front of the home, putting in a new driveway and adding a new patio with outdoor kitchen in the backyard.

“The planting bed along the driveway is a couple hundred feet long and it’s the first thing you see when you drive up. The plantings weren’t looking good. The [Paulins] wanted the front of the house to have more curb appeal,” explains Drzewiecki. “Heather definitely had a look she liked, which is a little country, a little prairie and a mixture of different colors. She already had daylilies and purple coneflowers.  So we built the plant palette around that.”

Since the Paulin’s home has half of the old Redemptorist Fathers Seminary entrance in the front of the home, Drzewiecki had to incorporate it in his design. “It’s a really interesting old curved stone wall with pillars on each end. We’ve always loved having it on our property. We already had a planting bed around it, so we just updated the plants in it.”

Heather says Stone Oak Landscaping did an excellent job adding another pillar on the opposite side of the driveway and matching the capstone so it looked like it had always been there.

Throughout the yard Drzewiecki employed a strategic assortment of plantings to maintain color year-round. “We did a mixture of perennials, grasses and shrubs because our goal with all of our projects is create multi-season interest, bloom and continuous color, which means something is always in bloom starting in May, and then that should take us right through fall with ornamental grasses. And if we pick ornamental shrubs and trees, maybe with bark or fruit, we’ve made a landscape that covers 12 months visually.”

Now that the front of the home is done, Drzewiecki will finish work on the back of the home this summer, which includes new plantings around the patio. He’s very satisfied with the results at the Paulin’s home thus far.

“I think overall [what we’ve done] fit with the house’s architecture. We go out of our way to make sure the landscaping fits the home and it’s not a completely different style. Most people don’t realize what we’ve done and they assume our work was done when the house was built, because it’s so seamless what we do.”

Heather agrees. “I’m very happy with all of it. It’s really beautiful and much more functional than it was before. We always get lots of compliments on it.”

 

This home was featured in the Lake Country: Summer 2016 issue.

For more photos of our featured gardens, visit the Gardens Gallery page.

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Gardens Lake Geneva

An Amazing Garden Makeover on Geneva Lake

By Anne Morrissy  |  Photography by Clint Farlinger

For years, Linda Learn would walk by a dilapidated house on Geneva Lake just outside of town and say to her sweetheart Andy Loughlin, “I could really do wonders with that house.” Then one day, Andy came back from getting his daily newspaper and said, “Get in the car. We’re going to go on a ride that will change your life.” Their dream house was finally for sale. So in 1996, Linda and Andy purchased the house and began an extensive remodeling project that lasted more than a year.

When they bought Willow Landing, Linda knew she wanted an English garden. But at the time she didn’t know anything about gardening. “I didn’t know an annual from a perennial,” she laughs. “I didn’t know anything about gardening. They probably just shook their heads at me when I walked into the greenhouse. I just learned by trial and error; it was quite an awakening.”

The challenge was made greater by the state of the property when they bought it. “There was nothing in the garden worth saving,” she explains. “We could hardly get back there.” When the garage was enlarged, a hill lined with boulders was added, creating a stairway to the back garden. Then Linda began planting, kindling a passionate hobby. She and Andy now keep a vibrant English garden they call “The Secret Garden,” as well as a tranquil shade garden and a lakeside garden. Linda tends to prefer to plant annuals, so she can change the colors and the design season to season.

The shade garden lines a path of stone pavers that ultimately leads to the Secret Garden. Linda says she loves the shade garden for its cool tranquility. A weathered stone bench provides a nice place to sit on hot days, and hostas and coleus line the path. But the true gem of the property is the Secret Garden. The focal point is a 19th century classical statue of a woman that the couple purchased at the Chicago Botanic Garden Antique, Garden and Design Show six years ago. The statue presides over a landscape of boxwood hedges and Carefree Wonder pink roses, which Linda loves because, she says, “They smell wonderful and bloom all summer.”

A colorful mix of annuals accent the display, but there’s one thing you will never find in Linda’s garden: orange. “I said no orange in my garden!” she laughs. “I like to go mostly with pink, purple and white, and some yellow. I love the colors to be softer and more pastel.”

However, her favorite flowers, bright pink impatiens, strike a bolder pose. The Secret Garden is made up of roughly six sections, and each section is also home to a petite fairy statue, which Linda also picked up at the Chicago Botanic Garden Antiques, Garden and Design Show. Linda often invites walkers and passersby to sit a while in her garden and enjoy the view. “The garden is just a really soothing, beautiful place to be,” she explains. “I wish I could garden all the time. It’s my relaxation.”

In front of the house, the lakeside garden frames Willow Landing’s beautiful view of the lake. It features marigolds, phlox and tropical annuals that climb the arbor trellis, where walkers on the Geneva Lake Shore Path often stop to take photos. The bolder colors complement the traditional white pier. And the lakeside garden also serves as a reminder to Linda and Andy of that fateful day they first looked at Willow Landing: it is the garden that Andy now passes through every day to meet the famous Mailboat and pick up his daily newspaper.

 

This home was featured in the Lake Geneva: Summer 2016 issue.

For more photos of our featured Lake Geneva homes, visit the Lake Geneva Gallery page.

Categories
Gardens Madison

Olbrich Gardens Glows in the Fall

By Melanie Radzicki McManus  |  Photography by Shanna Wolf

The crowds thin as summer departs in a final puff of heat, and autumn begins muscling her way in with a frosty kiss. But don’t think the impending cooler season means there’s nothing much to see at Olbrich Botanical Gardens. In many ways, fall is the perfect time to stop in for a visit.

Olbrich Gardens, tucked on Madison’s east side across from Lake Monona, contains 16 acres of outdoor display gardens. The free facility also features the indoor, tropical Bolz Conservatory. The bulk of the gardens’ annual visitors—some 300,000—pop in from April through September, when the gardens are a riot of color. While its autumnal palette is a bit more subdued, the gardens are equally stunning in the fall.

“Fall is definitely one of the most overlooked times,” says Katy Plantenberg, Olbrich’s public relations and marketing manager. “But it’s actually one of the best times for a visit.”

In addition to providing comfy temps for strolling around the gardens, autumn’s pleasing color palette, evident in the surrounding landscape as well as the gardens themselves, creates a stunning backdrop of gold, pumpkin and ruby. And while the gardens aren’t as verdant as they are in spring and summer, the lack of dense foliage means it’s easy for visitors to appreciate all of the tiny details that can easily be overlooked during the growing season. Like the intriguing peeling bark on the seven son flower, a large shrub akin to a tree. The shrub’s bark has an ash-color base with a caramel-toned topcoat that appears to be either painted on or peeling off in strips—something you probably won’t notice when the shrub is fully leafed out. But as fall nudges its leaves to the ground, the bark becomes strikingly apparent.

Although Olbrich Gardens is on the small side—the Green Bay Botanical Gardens is spread across 47 acres, for example, while the Milwaukee area’s Boerner Botanical Gardens has 40—it seems quite spacious, with winding paths that lead past 14 outdoor gardens, including a rose garden, perennial garden, herb garden, wildflower garden, hosta garden and sedge meadow. The two-acre perennial garden, which includes a 200-foot stream, three pools and a bog, is especially arresting in the fall, says Erin Presley, one of Olbrich’s horticulturists.

“A lot of the plantings there have been specifically chosen for their fall color or interesting berries or bark,” she says. “There’s an incredible diversity in the perennial garden, with things blooming up until it frosts, and some even a little bit after.”

Like the prairie dropseed, a showy, tufted ornamental grass whose wiry seed heads burst into a golden-toast color come fall. The plant also emits a pleasing, buttered-popcorn scent. Nearby, the white fall-flowering anemones provide snowy pops of brilliance against their deep-green leaves.

Another place where vivid colors await is the wildflower garden, says Presley. The common witch hazel found there, a native shrub, dons a yellow-orange coat come fall, honey-scented golden flowers fringing its leaves. The native eastern redbud tree also swaps out its greenery for yellow tones, only the redbud’s coloring is more intense, with leaves that glow like a spotlight.

A crowd favorite no matter the season is Olbrich’s Thai Pavilion, a gift to the University of Wisconsin-Madison from the Thai government and the Thai chapter of the Wisconsin Alumni Association. The pavilion, one of just four outside of Thailand, was created without nails or screws, and is intricately decorated with gold leaf etchings and a lacquered finish. Surrounding the pavilion is a garden filled with specially-chosen plants that emulate the lush, tropical environment found in Thailand: ornamental grasses, hardy bamboos, large-leafed shrubs and large Chinese junipers artfully trimmed a la “mai dat,” a clipped-tree art featured in Thai gardens since the 13th century.

As you’re walking through the gardens, don’t overlook Olbrich’s numerous planters, as their contents change with the seasons. In the fall, the yawning containers may be filled with plants such as violet asters, golden mums, deep-purple kale and a plump pumpkin or two.

THE CONSERVATORY AND  SCHUMACHER LIBRARY

When the weather gets a bit too chilly for meandering outside, you may wish to move indoors to the balmy Bolz Conservatory. The conservatory, fashioned into an eye-catching glass pyramid, features a 20-foot-high waterfall and a cozy year-round temperature of 65 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. More than 200 fogging nozzles ensure the interior stays delightfully humid. A stroll through the conservatory affords the chance to view more than 640 plants found in tropical and sub-tropical locales around the globe: orchids, vanilla, bananas and fishtail palms, to name a few. There are even some endangered carnivorous plants, such as the pitcher plant.

Just as appealing to many is the wildlife you might see in the conservatory. Sweet-voiced canaries, orange-cheeked waxbills, diamond doves and two types of quail fly freely inside, while toads, frogs and geckos hop and dart about wherever they wish. In the pyramid’s pond and stream, goldfish and koi are easily spotted swimming around.

Over in the Schumacher Library, a horticulture librarian or volunteer, likely a master gardener, will answer your gardening questions or help you research everything from landscape design to herb gardening. You can even receive assistance in finding a mail-order company that carries a particular plant you’d like to purchase.

Education is important at Olbrich, notes horticulturalist Presley. The library is a wonderful resource, but the gardens themselves are also a showcase in landscape innovation. “One thing people don’t realize, perhaps because we’re smaller, is that there are some really cutting-edge things going on here,” she says, citing Olbrich’s newer gravel gardens as one example.

With help from Roy Diblik, recognized for his expertise in Midwest native perennials and sustainable plant communities, the entire front of Olbrich’s visitor center now sports these gardens, also found elsewhere on-site. As their name implies, gravel gardens feature gravel, which is used as mulch. That might not sound pretty, but the gardens are lovely. Filled with native, prairie-type plants that are drought-resistant, the gardens’ plantings—once mature–create an explosion of different colors and textures that almost completely cover the gravel.

This autumn, when you’re ready to jump in your car for a fall foliage tour, remember it’ll be pretty hard to top the one waiting for you at Olbrich Gardens.

 

This garden was featured in the Madison: Autumn 2016 issue.

For more garden photos, visit the Gardens gallery page.