When Trev Minnaert and Frank Cella moved two years ago from a condo to a 1,900-square-foot house in Evanston, they envisioned entertaining friends and family in a secluded English-style garden.
What they had was a boring rectangle of lawn and overgrown yews in the 75-by-25-foot space.
“Our neighbors had a beautiful garden and the difference was striking,” Minnaert says.
Minnaert and Cella’s “back yard” runs along one side of the house and faces a busy sidewalk. The home’s interior had a cottage feel, which the men wanted to extend to the outdoors. The garden receives filtered sunlight through several mature trees.
The partners hired landscape architect Dane Caswell of Nature’s Perspective, a full-service landscape firm in Evanston, to transform the space.
THE SOLUTION
Define space to create a garden oasis
`The site was very exposed,” landscape architect Dane Caswell of Nature’s Perspective says of the Minnaert-Cella yard. “They didn’t have a typical back yard and it was a challenge to create a private garden.”
He designed the garden so that it would look attractive from the street and from inside the house. Overgrown yews and other shrubs were removed first. A 10-by-20-foot bluestone patio, large enough to hold a table for six and additional seating, was installed off the steps. “It’s a formal patio with a very informal English shade garden,” Caswell says of the site, which receives little direct sunlight. “The plantings play off shades of green and a variety of textures rather than color that you’d have in a sunny garden.” He left several spots where Cella can plant impatiens for a splash of color.
A serviceberry, an `Ann’ magnolia and a `Heritage’ river birch were among the new trees planted. Caswell swept the planting beds out to the sidewalk to create a living “see-through” fence.
Nine `Emerald’ arborvitae provide a privacy screen and winter interest along one side of the garden. A layer of shrubs, including Koreanspice viburnum, Burkwood viburnum, oakleaf hydrangea, `Endless Summer’ hydrangea, `Gold Tide’ forsythia, `Karen’ azalea and `Green Velvet’ boxwood, add screening.
“The fragrance of the Koreanspice viburnum knocks you down, it’s so strong,” Caswell says. “You don’t want it right next to a patio, but it’s great by an entryway as a welcoming plant.”
In the sunnier spots of the garden, Caswell used `Walker’s Low’ catmint and black-eyed Susans. Lady ferns (athyrium), Hosta `Blue Angel’ and pachysandra serve as low-maintenance ground covers.
“Hostas hold up well and stick it out in rough summers. `Blue Angel’ and `Gold Standard’ hostas and lady fern are a nice matrix,” Caswell says.
A custom-built cedar trellis panel creates an open, airy wall alongside the seating area. `William Baffin’ roses and `Nelly Moser’ clematis will gradually entwine the trellis, adding color and screening. Caswell’s design for the trellis incorporated the windowpanes in the house and the arch that leads to the front porch.
Elegant French urns enhance the English-style garden. The men also added a decorative wall fountain for the sound of trickling water.
A metal arbor from Restoration Hardware was installed near the sidewalk to create a doorway to the garden. From there, a limestone path leads to the patio, driveway and the new stone steps that head to the front porch.
“The path creates a sense of mystery, because it’s not a direct, straight line from point A to B,” Caswell says.
“Now as you step off the porch, you look into the garden,” Minnaert says.
Caswell provided ideas for outdoor lighting but the homeowners tackled the project themselves using an easy-to-install low-voltage system with brass light fixtures. “We’re not mechanically inclined, so if we can do it, anyone can,” Cella says.
The resulting transformation has garnered compliments from passersby who leave notes in their mailbox.
“People think the house looks a lot bigger now,” Cella says. “I absolutely love the garden.”
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What it cost
Project budget: $23,000
Project costs: Bluestone patio and limestone steps: $10,000
Custom-built trellis panel: $1,200
Remove overgrown yews; install new lawn and metal arbor; prep soil; install plants: $11,800
Homeowner add-ons:
Fountain: $1,500
Lighting: $2,600
Project total: $27,100
