Want a peek behind the garden gates in Bolton Hill? On June 27 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., the Bolton Hill Garden Club is sponsoring a free garden walk featuring eleven gardens in the northern part of the neighborhood. Tickets and maps will be available on June 27th at Maple Leaf Park, accessible from the end of Bolton Street.
With June in full swing, Bolton Hill is full of greenery. A number of gardens are visible from the sidewalks, such as the gardens and koi pond near the corner of W. Lanvale and Bolton streets. Unseen by passersby, however, are backyard gardens and urban oases, lovingly tended by homeowners. These are the hidden gardens of Bolton Hill.
Jake Boone’s garden behind his house in the 200 block of Lafayette Street is awash in blue, white, and pink hydrangeas, purple petunias, pink and white impatiens, variegated ivy and hostas, lush green ferns, fiddle leaf figs, and palms against a backdrop of architectural elements and urns. Boone’s garden is exuberant, beautifully textured and layered, creating a pastiche of an impressionist painting.
“It is the size of a postage stamp, but you don’t need a big space to make a big impact,” he said. “I have always been a gardener, and when spring arrives, I get the itch. Bolton Hill’s microclimate allows me to start well before Mother’s Day.” Boone hits the plant stores early and builds his garden entirely with containers. “The earth in my backyard is totally rootbound. I work with the architectural elements and the lattice fence, layer in the plants, and punctuate the beds with color. Adding mirrors provides more light for the plants and increases their visibility,” he adds. At the end of the season, Boone donates his containers to willing neighbors who plant them in their yards. Asked why he gardens, Boone says, “I open my back door in the morning, and my garden makes me smile. Harry Winston has nothing on what incredible visuals Mother Nature bestows on us.”
Behind the 1300 block of Bolton Street, Jennifer Troy’s secret garden is filled with native flowering plants and shrubs, creating an inviting habitat for pollinators, insects, and birds. “Plants and trees are a delight for me,” says Troy, “but they feel two-dimensional unless birds and insects are present.” She continues, “We are so lucky in Bolton Hill to enjoy so much nature. Right now, the chimney swifts are capturing my attention each evening.”
Troy is looking forward to the return of the fireflies this summer. Since she doesn’t have trees in her backyard, she has tucked leaf litter donated by a neighbor into her back flower bed to protect the firefly larvae, which live underground for 1 to 2 years. “The needs of pollinators have increasingly become my gardening guide. The Xerces Society (xerces.org) is one of the many helpful resources that I rely on. I have always cared about insects, and now I worry about them a good bit more.”
Donna Palumbo and Joe Tremper’s house in the 1600 block of Bolton Street has a large backyard by Bolton Hill standards, with room for several distinct garden areas. Palumbo tends the 12-by-14-foot vegetable garden plot close to the downstairs kitchen. “This year I planted beets, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, and herbs. Marigolds are sprinkled in to limit pests. I used to have a plot in Druid Hill Park, but with the garden here, I can pick the vegetables, and within no time, eat them for dinner.”
Behind the vegetable plot is a 10-by-17-foot koi pond that Tremper built six years ago. “The koi have really grown. We now have about 40, and many are nearly a foot long,” says Palumbo. The entire garden is lined with daylilies that bloom all summer, and near the house is a succulent garden containing fossils from Tremper’s extensive collection, which he found himself. Clematis plants climb trellises attached to the garage. Seating areas are located at the front and rear of the yard.
–Sallye Perrin
