Delight in nature at Batavia garden club walk
The whole acre that Dee and Bob Raimondi live on inspires their green thumbs. Columbine and succulents are among the myriad plants that volunteer in any crevice. Redbuds, like most of the couple’s choices, started with three seedlings and now seem to be everywhere.
The only problem, says Bob Raimondi, is that his wife won’t throw these fledgling plants away, insisting on digging them all up and finding them homes.
Perennials cascade down the couple’s rolling back yard, creating a riot of color to accompany their ponds, including one where they can swim with the koi.
Their Blackberry Township garden is among eight that will be open Saturday, June 25, for the Batavia Plain Dirt Garden Club walk.
In a second garden in Geneva Township, Byron Ambrose has made a miniature teahouse to hold the pump for the water feature he built in a yard that serves as a wildlife refuge. And not far away, Tom and Luann Fitzpatrick happily talk about their collection of dwarf conifers and how to propagate their favorite plants.
One explanation for the fertility of the Raimondi’s yard is that they brought in 20 truckloads of soil when they built the house 23 years ago. They also mulch extravagantly with wood chips, and this spring in honor of the garden walk Bob Raimondi broadcast fertilizer.
“Over there is a golden rain tree,” said Raimondi, an engineer. “Technically they’re not zoned for this area.”
Like multiple other plants, the tree does not seem to let a little weather zone issue bother it.
Visitors will see fruit trees: apple, two cherry and a peach; white and pink spiderwort, which unlike the blue are not invasive; coneflowers; hardy hibiscus; witchhazel; butterfly bush and sundial plants, which look like sunflowers.
Indigo buntings are among the birds that stop by, and traditionally a pair of hummingbirds came every summer. But a nearby business that used to feed those charming birds closed, and now this back yard is a “free for all.”
A new Kentucky coffee tree seems to be doing well amid the raspberries and blackberries. Roses and lilies should bloom for the walk, and even the ground cover is blooming thyme. Check out any shady area for hellebores, and the ponds for water lilies and lotus. Dee Raimondi, a network administrator at Elgin Community College, also hopes her hardy cactuses by the front door bloom in time for the walk. And many plants have moved from the couple’s sunroom to join their hardier friends outdoors including orchids, oleander and bougainvillea.
Byron Ambrose knows a wildlife refuge must provide food, water and habitat. So as one of his water sources, he built a pondless water feature with weathered limestone and a miniature Japanese teahouse. The stone is indigenous to the area, but he warned that anything that leaches lime would not work with a koi pond.
Wildlife that benefit from the refuge include cedar waxwings, who love the cotoneaster fruit and the service berries, and the hummingbirds that feast on the bee balm.
Ambrose has years of experience as a golf course supervisor and is considering starting his own consulting and design business for gardens and landscapes. His wife, Lori, is a project manager for a large law firm.
The 100 species of plants in Ambrose’s yard include many varieties of hostas, such as Guacamole and Empress Wu, which will grow to be huge; ferns, Japanese miscanthus, hydrangeas, spiderworts, grasses, sedums, Joe Pye weed, and salvia. Visitors can walk through a cozy shelter under white and jack pines and see lush English boxwood nearby.
The fact that many blooms are as much as three weeks late this year should make for a colorful garden walk, said Ambrose. It’s possible his red weigela will still be blooming.
While Ambrose is dedicated to creating a refuge, the Fitzpatrick’s pride and joy are their dwarf and weeping conifers. They will show their yews, spruces, pines and creeping junipers in a special area, while cedars and junipers meander across their 1.5 acres. And Tom Fitzpatrick doesn’t even want to talk about how the poplars spread.
Tom Fitzpatrick is fond of his arborvitae, too, including the Blue Arrow and Gold Lace. The couple’s successful propagations include dogwoods and Diablo ninebark from one in the front yard, but while the parent’s leaves are red, some of the children have orange or yellow foliage. Ferns do well in the gardens, but the Japanese ones are more difficult to propagate because they grow slowly, he said. Strolling through the yard visitors will see a garden of hybrid tea roses.
Nearby, an area of special delight is the perennial garden, reached through an arch blooming with clematis. Day lilies, pink swamp rose, Annabelle hydrangeas and weeping river birch are among the treats, while fans of weeping trees will appreciate the pussy willow.
The huge smoke bush was in the yard when the couple bought the house, but they planted a few extra as companions. These might be doing so well because they are protected from the Northeast wind, said Tom Fitzpatrick.
The Fitzpatricks did leave a swath of grass for sports considered plant-friendly, such as disc golf and whiffle ball.
And yes, Tom Fitzpatrick, an engineer at Fermi lab, brews beer, but the main reason he and Luann, a special education administrator, grow hops on a 10-foot-tall trellis is for the beautiful flowers.
If you go
What: Batavia area garden walk
When: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, June 25
Tickets: $13 in advance at Batavia Park District, 327 W. Wilson St.; $15 day of the walk at The Holmstad — A Covenant Retirement Community, 700 W. Fabyan Parkway, Batavia.
Information: Email melissa.hyams@att.net, call (630) 879-9638 or visit the Batavia Plain Dirt Garden Club on Facebook.com.
Extra: Complimentary tea will be offered at The Holmstad.