Wonderland awaits Barrington Garden Faire visitors

When people like Peggy and Eric Olsen spend 20 years turning a Barrington Hills estate overgrown with buckthorn into lush gardens, you really should go see them.

The opportunity is the Barrington Garden Faire, Friday, June 17, and Saturday, June 18.

Woods Walk, the Olsens' name for their home because they cherish their evening walks after a day of gardening, presents many dramatic gardens including an expansive yard down to a pond dotted with graceful beds as well as creations like the Wedding Arch garden where daughter Elizabeth really did walk under clematis and roses to her groom. And the Mirror Walk, inspired by Kensington Gardens, presents azaleas on one side and bleeding heart and lobelia among others on the opposite, all trimmed with hostas and set under towering oaks.

But visitors might fall in love with a small, secluded space like the Leo Lion Garden, one of the first on the path.

It's a formal garden reached from a flagstone path through an aged metal arbor. A two-tier fountain trickles invitingly, and the single bench makes it obvious the space is meant for quiet contemplation. Giant arborvitae protect all the wonders, including roses, dwarf evergreens, ferns, weeping birch and a specimen beech. Don't miss the pink and yellow dahlias, some of the variety Fascination with bronze leaves. Large lion urns give the garden its name, inspired by a beloved cat named Leo.

The gardens are designed by the Olsens, including Elizabeth and her husband, Andrew Wolfgram, who own Avant-Gardenscapes, a design, installation and maintenance company.

“We wanted the design to flow through the gardens,” said Eric Olsen. “We tried to create interest with the path hidden so you would want to see what's on the other side.”

When the Olsens transplanted themselves from California 20 years ago, the 15 acres they bought were choked with buckthorn and other pests. But the land did have its assets. No one can plant 300-year-old oaks, and more than 80 red, bur and white ones call the estate home. Another treasure is the acre pond.

The Olsens pride their garden on its color in every season, and indeed many of the 1,200 roses in 60 varieties should be among the glories blooming for the walk.

The fussier roses, including classics like Mr. Lincoln and Peace, get the attention they need with showy companions by the pool where the pergola is new but the hydrangea climbing its corner is 35 years old.

The roses that brighten the other gardens are mostly English and shrub roses. One, Grand Canyon, was not doing well, and Olsen estimates he moved it 10 times. It was so notorious for disease that nurseries quit carrying it. But this is a story with a happy ending: Grand Canyon has been happy for five years now, although Olsen can't figure why its current spot is so much better.

Eric Olsen knows his thousands of plants by name: Milwaukee's Calatrava does not suffer from the blossom rot that besets many white roses. Viburnum Doublefile blooms so brightly and grows so full then presents bright orange berries; Arctic kiwi vine actually produces fruit as it smothers a fence.

Eric Olsen, a senior partner with The Boston Consulting Group, only misses California between October and April.

“Spring fever in Chicago is like nothing anywhere else,” he said.

It's Peggy who tells the great stories about how she must watch what she wishes for when talking about the gardens. If she muses that “every space should have a built object,” the next thing she hears could be her husband and his saw creating a new trellis or arbor.

Then there's the story of the pond.

“My husband was talking to the former owner when we were buying the property, and Eric said, ‘Some day we're going to be able to see that pond from my house.'”

The other man was skeptical, but “now we have a pond view.”

A lot of buckthorn, scrub trees, thistles, weeds and vines had to be cleared to achieve this, just part of the property's colorful history, written by Peggy Olsen.

Richard Work, renowned in the area and architect of the nearby Barrington Hills Country Club, designed the brick Georgian in 1922. The owners were Pauline Belle Hart and her husband, Evan A. Evans, members of the Hart family, early residents of the area. The couple named their 60 acres Mid Oaks, and spent holidays and weekends there. In the early 1930s they installed formal gardens that were part of a garden tour Evans arranged in 1940 to raise funds for the American Red Cross.

After World War II the property fell into disrepair and became the neighborhood party house. “Members of the Barrington Hills Riding Club actually galloped through the front door, down the great hallway and out the back door.”

In 1959 Hinsdale residents Joan Ferris and Bruce Alexander Pope bought the home and restored it. Their parents were so horrified when they saw the place they not only dubbed it the “White Elephant,” they offered the couple $10,000 to walk away from the wreck! Fortunately for the Olsens and their guests, the Popes persevered and made a great home with horses and bow-and-arrow range for their four children. The youngsters' contribution included maintaining the grounds, and it's reported that mowing alone took eight hours.

And the stories continue with the Olsens and other current residents, such as the wildlife that live in and near the pond with its weeping willows and angel trumpets under a grove of cottonwoods. Some creatures are more welcome than others.

“The muskrats seem to go over to the (nearby Barrington Hills) country club during the day, and after a day of golf come back here to our bank,” said Peggy Olsen. “We call Eric Elmer Fudd because he is determined to get those muskrats.”

If you go

<b>What: </b>Barrington Country Garden & Antique Faire

<b>When:</b> 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday, June 17, and Saturday, June 18

<b>Tickets: </b>$40 if bought by Sunday, June 12; $50 thereafter.

<b>Early buyers: </b>$75 allow early entry on Friday starting at 8:30 a.m.

<b>Attractions: </b>Visitors can stroll three estates in Barrington Hills, shop (including an upscale flea market) and attend workshops and a cooking demonstration.

<b>Benefits: </b>Hands of Hope, helping women and children in Africa. About $3 million has been raised in 11 years.

<b>Where:</b> Shuttle buses depart Friday from Barrington High School, 616 W. Main St. and 800 Hart Road (across the street); Saturday they will leave from 800 Hart Road only.

<b>Information and tickets: </b>handsofhopeonline.com or (847) 381-7367