When Sheila Caswell and Rich Triphahn moved to a house in Chicago’s North Center neighborhood in 1998, their back yard was the typical patch of grass, sliver of sidewalk and a garage. A parking lot and four-story condominium building loomed on one side. The 30-foot-wide city lots made for close quarters with another neighbor’s house. “It was actually kind of a disgusting back yard, pretty trashy looking,” Caswell says, “but Rich manicured it.”
Four years ago, however, the couple banished the grass altogether and created a tiny oasis filled with lush plantings, whimsical art and enough space to entertain without feeling like they are in a fishbowl. Their efforts garnered the award for Best Small Garden in the Chicago Tribune’s Glorious Gardens Contest 2004.
The judges all agreed that this was a garden they would like to sit in and relax. “It has a really nice feel,” said judge Kris Jarantoski, executive vice president of the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe.
The garden makeover began when the lawn was professionally excavated about 18 inches deep. The excavated soil was used to create three raised beds that are edged with stone and surround the patio. Flagstones and bricks were used to define the seating area from the path.
Caswell planted the beds with Japanese painted ferns, coral bells, Russian sage, hosta, rudbeckia, hydrangea and tender annuals such as Mexican heather. One of her favorite plants is the downy serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea), a small tree that offers fragrant billowy white flowers in spring followed by purple berries and yellowish-red leaves in autumn.
She planted a patch of spring-blooming purple Siberian iris in front of the tree. The iris produces dark brown seed heads that are attractive through winter. “I like a lot of color and texture,” Caswell says, “and I like a really full look, more natural, even a little harried.”
For one corner of the garden, Caswell selected a PeeGee hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata `Grandiflora’) trained as a small tree rather than a typical multistemmed bush. Its large panicles of creamy white flowers create an umbrella over the edge of a raised bed.
“The sunken patio creates a real nice privacy area that’s hard to find with a tall building next to you,” Triphahn says. A staggered grouping of Emerald arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis `Smaragd’) screens the parking lot and provides winter interest.
While building the cedar deck, Triphahn unearthed a few treasures. “I found several old bottles from the early 1900s,” Triphahn says. “Some were medicinal, some were perfume and some still had the stopper in. I felt like Indiana Jones.”
He also built the cedar pergola, 16-feet-long and 8-feet wide. Anchored in a raised bed, it is flanked by holly and burning bushes. “The pergola completely separates us from our neighbors,” says Caswell. “We can sit out there on the patio in private.”
A grapevine and the climbing roses `New Dawn’ and `William Baffin’ cover the pergola. “I get some fantastic red eating grapes,” Caswell says. Two shrubs, the yellow-flowered St. John’s wort (Hypericum) and the semi-evergreen Daphne, add color and texture against the garage.
Contest judge and landscape architect Bob Hursthouse of Hursthouse Landscape Architects and Contractors in Bolingbrook liked the way the pergola ties the house to the garage. “It does a nice job of pulling the space together,” he said.
When Caswell found six discarded windows in the alley, she recycled them. “They were so cool. I asked my 12-year-old neighbor, Annie, to paint them with lavender or trumpet flowers.” Caswell displays the windows on the garage and the fence. “It has a personal touch,” Caswell says, “like decorating your living room.”
“I like the simplicity of the artwork,” says judge Bryce Bandstra, the Chicago Park District’s general foreman of conservatories.
Caswell’s father made 18 cedar window boxes that sit on the deck and the garage. She fills them with coleus, sweet potato vine, vinca, sweet alyssum, petunias, Wandering Jew and other annuals.
“I get a lot out of doing containers,” Caswell says. “It’s fulfilling to know I put it together.” She gleans most of her ideas for plant combinations by visiting local garden centers.
The couple continues to tweak the garden. Triphahn is building another pergola along the garage to cover Caswell’s potting area and provide support for three rambling trumpet vines. “I want to add some subtle lights to the patio too,” Caswell says. “We use candles now, but I want to light the serviceberry. But I don’t want it to look like the Statue of Liberty.”
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Growing with the flow
Sheila Caswell shares these tips for creating an open-air hideaway:
Measure twice, plant once. “I’ve made some mistakes not knowing how big things get or not paying attention to how far apart plants should be placed. I plant too closely then have to move things.”
Keep ’em hydrated. Soaker hoses are placed in the raised beds, but Caswell hand waters everything else. “I water the containers every day and fertilize them once a month. That’s the key to making them lush.”
Toss the chips. “I don’t like woodchips in the raised beds. I like to plant something that flows over and cascades.” English ivy and Virginia creeper scramble across the ground and the wall along one walkway.
Let it flow. “I like more cascading containers, not just a [Dracaena] spike in the middle.” Caswell uses trailing petunias and sweet potato vines to flow over the edges.
Pay attention. The amount of sun changes dramatically during the day across the garden. “There is little to no shade at the height of the day on the deck. Everything but the PeeGee hydrangea has a difficult time, so I pick plants that are pretty drought-tolerant.”
— Nina Koziol
