Lesson Plans in an Iowa Garden
Working through 30 years of summer breaks and then retirement, two Iowa teachers molded an empty backyard into an A+ landscape. Strolling through their gardens offers lessons in creating a great yard with a limited budget and lots of patience.
Taming the slope
After a second riding mower incident convinced them they needed professional help, the Lippolds became students of Jane Timm of Zone 5 Designs and Steve Herndon of Des Moines Seed and Nursery, in what turned out to be a long-term collaboration. Jane sketched out a master plan to replace ties with stone and integrate the new space, and Jim built a clapboard garden shed as its centerpiece. Additions of boxwood hedges, native grasses and a pond have given the yard an eclectic style.
Here, a canopy of trees shades stone terraces filled with hostas and ferns flanking the stairway.
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