The Country Hills Garden Club is pleased to honor Joyce and Len Skoglund’s landscape at 3415 Country Hill Drive as the November, 2018 Beauty Spot of the Month. As a Gardening Consultant, Joyce is familiar with the elements of good landscape design and the plants compatible with Virginia soil and climate. The Skoglunds have used this knowledge to create spectacular year-round views of flowers and foliage outside their windows.

At the end of the growing season, curving garden beds bordering house walls and walkways feature dramatic differences between plant forms and textures. Prickly needles of upright cactus and conifers are juxtaposed with delicate arching fern fronds.  Symmetrical evergreens overlook shape-shifting ornamental grass. Silvery green sword-like blades of iris and yucca contrast sharply with dark green, oval leaves of camellia and azalea.

Nighttime chills followed by daylight warm-ups bring the panoply of autumn color to the yard. Dogwoods with ruby red leaves shimmering on gracefully posed limbs lure visitors nearer for a close look at garden accents and seasonal transformations. Arbor arches and yard art harmonize with natural shapes and shades. Reddish-purple pods hang from a hyacinth bean vine. Gold-brushed leaves glow on a witch hazel shrub. Bronzed florets crown sedum stems and Joe-Pye Weed stalks.  Yellow and copper chrysanthemums, ornamental cabbages, and pied pansies will brighten urns and borders through the Thanksgiving holiday.

Does this striking landscape inspire you to consider adding something new to your garden? It’s not too late to display a fall-themed wreath or to plant spring-flowering bulbs!

Respectfully submitted,

Anita Johnson

The Pumpkin

BY JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER

Oh, greenly and fair in the lands of the sun,
The vines of the gourd and the rich melon run,
And the rock and the tree and the cottage enfold,
With broad leaves all greenness and blossoms all gold,…

The Country Hills Garden Club has chosen Susan and David Pepin’s unique yard at 3413 Park Hill Place as the October, 2018 Beauty Spot of the Month. A change of seasons makes an exciting show at this address. Throughout the summer, holly and azalea shrubs along the house walls provided a verdant green backdrop to lavender and pink floral sprays filling blue containers. Although September’s weekly rains have strengthened stems and coaxed new growth, harbingers of the fall harvest season are the main attractions of this October garden. Mother Nature has applied bold brush strokes from her rich autumn palette. Dogwood leaves are edged claret red. Branches of a stately spruce tree are laden with glossy green needles and umber cones. Orange ribbed pumpkins and yellow star-shaped flowers peek from a tree skirt of curling vines and leaves. Susan claims she does little to nurture the prolific “Pepin Pumpkin Patch.” She credits luck with favorable soil and weather. Whatever the charm for garden success, this colorful yard puts us in the mood for family fun at Oktoberfests and Halloween celebrations!

Respectfully submitted,

Anita Johnson and Joyce Skoglund
Country Hills Garden Club

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