DIY Network

The Flotemersch's: Their Plan, Costs and Products From "Garden Sense" episode DGAR-110

Meet Joe and Tina Flotemersch. They have two children, Emily and Adam.
Joe is a research biologist for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Tina is a stay-at-home mom.

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They closed on their 1920s Craftsman-style home in April of 2002 and after much renovation, moved in December 2002.
Before Walter and the Garden Sense crew arrived, Joe and a couple friends created a front yard with a new curved sidewalk, a retaining wall (to alleviate drainage problem) and a new paver driveway.

• The new curved sidewalk better shows off their 1920s Craftsman-style home.
  
• The retaining wall solved the drainage problems.

Gardening Challenge

Before

After

We started from scratch and concentrated on creating an Arts & Crafts-style garden. Our challenges:

• To achieve a more finished, landscaped area to blend with their historic home.
  
• To plant materials that will show off the house, not hide it.
  
• To add color, especially seasonal color in the form of perennials.

Required Project Time
The Craftsman Style project took us about six hours

Project Details

This project required Walter to create a new free-flowing bed to blend with the new curved sidewalk and to keep with the Arts & Crafts style of gardening. In an Arts & Crafts garden, the plantings and landscape design must look natural-like it's always been there.

• To help achieve that goal, we planted perennials in a cluster of three-not in a straight line.
  
• In response to the homeowners' wish to tend an environmentally-friendly, low-maintenance garden, the trees, shrubs and perennials are disease-resistant, drought-resistant
  
• We added a new pine tree not only for some color but to add balance to the front yard.
  
• We planted two different junipers - each low in height to add color and accent the architecture.
  
• We spread mulch as we planted because using a wheelbarrow in this small garden space could damage the plants.
  
• We added some sod to the landscape, but basically alleviated most of the lawn.

Sensible Tips for Creating an Arts & Crafts-style Garden

• Create gentle, natural curves in the beds
  
• Landscape should be less formal, less symmetrical
  
• Choose low maintenance, drought-resistant and disease-resistant plants
  
• Use an appreciation of nature such as adding the birdbath
  
• Less turf means less watering

Gardening by Zip Code If you're looking to start a gardening projectbut don't know your gardening zone—visit the National Gardening Associations's USDA Hardiness Zone Finder. Enter your Zip Code to identify the proper zone.

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