Pocket gardens
A Quiet Retreat: Madison, Indiana
When Dottie and Jerry Massie started designing gardens around their stately 1840 Federal-style home in Madison, Indiana, they knew they'd have to make the most of every inch of their side yard. It measures less than 10 feet wide and about 30 feet long.
That space has become an intimate niche for quiet times. Dottie and Jerry call it their serenity garden.
The Massies built a tall latticework screen for privacy. At one end of their garden, they added a low brick wall. In front of it, Dottie and Jerry placed a white bench and a Japanese maple, which remains a rich burgundy from spring to fall.
To soften the gravel path that leads to the seating area, Dottie planted low-growing dark-green hostas, plus lacy ferns with unusual fronds. Tree peonies, with pompon blooms, join clumps of waxy-looking buttercups to contrast with the green.
Dottie filled the side beds along the path with old-fashioned perennials, hostas, and delicate foliage. They all thrive in just 4 hours of sun a day. Flowers in soft pastels, including yellow, purple-blue and pink columbines, pink Asiatic lilies and lemon-yellow daylilies, complete the restful setting. Annuals such as impatiens and dusty miller add contrast andcolor.
An arbor that Jerry built last year and painted white stretches over the path. On it, wisteria and clematis shade a rock garden planted with violas, trillium, ferns and sweet woodruff.
Around dusk, Dottie and Jerry like to head for their retreat, just about the time a tree frog begins its serenade.
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