As this Wisconsin garden shows, a large property can be a beautiful thing, especially when designed into smaller, more intimate spaces. By Deb Wiley. Photographs by Clint Farlinger.

Dividing the lawn

(Originally Published May/June 2004)

When Steve and Julie Newlun moved 12 years ago to their home near Neenah, Wisconsin, they brought truckload after truckload of perennials from their former home's too-crammed city lot. "We thought it would be a nice start,"Julie says.

But transplanting everything gave them a clearer perspective on the utter vastness of their five-acre property, which consisted of a flat, grassy space and a two-story house. "You could not see the plants. They were invisible! That was really a shock to us,"Steve says.

He realized that the only way to manage it was to think in terms of smaller areas. "I started by dividing the space on paper, using a grid,"he says. "If you break it down into manageable spaces, it's not so bad. Whereas when you first look at it, it's just scary."

Now, the Newluns' house is surrounded by a series of smaller gardens, though "smaller"is relative--some rooms are bigger than many yards. Each outdoor room, connected by a sinewy path that leads from one chamber to the next, has distinctive character and plantings. By dividing the space, Steve gradually conquered the planning, letting him focus on the details of each individual area.

Initially, visitors see his work in the Entrance Garden, consisting of a 120x60-foot section enclosing the driveway, and the side-yard Bird Garden, a small area Steve and Julie can gaze on from their kitchen window. From there, a path leads through a gate and past a wooded area with a waterfall, pond and a 7-foot sculpture of a praying mantis, the first of several whimsical statues of insects and birds created by Don Buechler, a local artist.

Viewed from near the pond, at first it's hard to see individual rooms. There's the impression of layers of flowers and shrubs, the hint of a pathway, the tops of three 6-foot-tall bronze sandhill crane sculptures and the roofline of a gazebo. This is where, in season, guests get the full impact of hundreds of Asiatic lilies in full blaze.

"I think the first thing people say is, 'Oh my!' and then they see the Lily Garden,"Steve says. "That's how they know I'm a serious gardener."

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