2011 Most Beautiful Flower Garden Contest Winners

All photos courtesy Vicki Kauffman TheMount Vernon News' Most Beautiful Flower Garden contest, co-sponsored by the Owl Creek Conservancy, once again provided several enjoyable afternoons of judging for Carol Hess and Marsha Wagner of the News and Vicki Kauffman, consultant for the Conservancy. The judges would like to thank everyone who shared their gardens this year and encourage anyone who enjoys their outdoor spaces to invite us to visit during next years' contest. Details will be available next spring in the News. Enjoy the second-hand tour!

First Place Tracie Weller, Bellville At first glance, Tracie Weller's yard appears to be all about one plant, but once you've absorbed the amazing sea of hostas, a lovely assortment of other flowers register. Dahlias, lillies and impatiens are Tracie's other favorites, but she doesn't stop there. Her expansive, beautifully kept lower yard has a stream running through it and is home to multiple flower beds filled with sun-lovers. Tracie chooses to devote each sun bed to either "hot" or "cool" colors, which is very appealing. Tracie told us the afore-mentioned stream flooded three (!) times in the spring, and she and devoted nieces and nephews hand-cleaned the hostas after the stream subsided the last time. Now, that is attention to detail!

Pulling into Tracie's driveway is a jaw-dropping experience. We'd never seen so many hostas, inside or outside a nursery.		Tracie's shady home is completely surrounded with hostas. There are so many varieties and the beds are so ingeniously executed that the scene never becomes monotonous.

The view from the lower yard shows the hostas to their best advantage and gives a glimpse of a newly planted bed of white impatiens in the foreground.		Tracie points out the hosta that started it all, a gift from her mother.

Blues, purples and pinks blend marvelously in one of Tracie's "cool" beds.		Lilies and dahlias make friendly "hot" color companions.

A garden bench provides a place to rest and take it all in. We suspect that Tracie rarely uses it for the purpose intended!		Wave after wave of vibrant hostas suggests movement.

Mounding the bed before planting gives the hostas height, which they would not otherwise have, increasing the visibility and enjoyment of each.		A garden statue demands attention against a backdrop of hostas. The steep hillside makes the hostas appear to have been woven into a pattern.

...more snippets of Tracie's amazing yard.

Second Place Jenny Marston, Mount Vernon Jenny Marston's small in-town yard gets a lot of use, and no wonder! Jenny's landscaping style is equal parts charm and visual appeal that pulls you in and makes you want to linger. Every surface, whether vertical or horizontal, is an oppportunity to beautify, either with flower or tasteful ornamentation, and every corner and curve is filled with healthy, happy plants. Jenny seems to instictively know where things will look their best. Like every gardner, she has plans for more in the future, but to our eyes, there is little room for improvement.

A wooden bench elevates a pot of blooms above the ferns and hostas.		Jenny has adorned the garage with salmon impatiens in windowboxes and a working clock.

A shade tree at the corner of the house provides cover for Japanese painted ferns, impatiens, coral bells and others.		Jenny repurposed a porch post into multiple homes for birds.

The little playhouse is adorned with beautiful lavendar petunias. Note the tiny blue mailbox on the porch post that Jenny uses to send "mail" to her children.		A foundation stone brought from Jenny's parent's farm is the perfect spot for these Gerbera daisies.

Third Place Bob and Kaye Ohde, Mount Vernon There was a lot to see and enjoy at Bob and Kaye Ohde's lovely place, but what what captivated us was the layout of the front yard flower beds. The curving lines encouraged us to meander, and hid delightful scenes and plant combinations from view until we happened upon them. The layout also made the beds appear larger than they were. We regret that Bob and Kaye could not be home for the judging - we would have enjoyed meeting them and hearing the story of their gardens.

This curved bed rests in dappled shade. Following every bend brought us to pleasant new displays of foliage plants, flowers, shrubs and ornaments.		These fairys and their fairy house nestled among the hostas and the snow-on-the-mountain were a cute surprise.

A blue spruce, a peach daylilly and and a tall grass waving in the breeze is just one of the planting combinations that we loved.		A generous helping of white lilies sets off a pot filled with pink, purple, and a dash of golden yellow.

Bob and Kaye's large water feature is right by the deck, providing relaxing falling water music.		Ivory, lavendar, blue and pink all live on one lovely hydrangea.

Honorable Mention Carma Kauffman, Danville Carma Kauffman has the most beautiful bucolic setting for gardening that anyone could ever want. We'll confess, with glossy cows in a green pasture and a sharp-looking red barn across the road, not all our photos were strictly of flowers! However, it was no hardship to tear ourselves away from the scenery to enjoy Carma's gardens. She has a knack for color combinations, which we noticed time and again, and also for container planting. What a lovely place to be able to come home to.

We enjoyed Carma's choice of containers as well as her lovely plant combinations. This one looks as if it might have been an ammunition box.		A clematis makes itself right at home on the bell post.

The bright red of the bergamont is gorgeous with the faded red of the springhouse.		White daisies glow against the rough rail fence. Sometimes, simple is best.

Honorable Mention Marvin Page, Mount Vernon Marvin Page's front yard is attractive and well-manicured, but, even so, his backyard took us all by surprise. Most folks might put a sidewalk between the back door and the garage out back, but Marvin has made the short trip an event. In a relatively small area, he has walkways, a gazebo, a rail fence, a water feature, multiple flower beds, ornamentation, all topped off with a fluttering flag. With so many pleasant distractions, we wonder how long it actually takes him to get to the garage.

Marvin's backyard has it all.		Red bergamont is a lovely match for Japanese barberry.

Multiple shades of blue pansies with just a touch of yellow. So pretty!		This is so clever - the trailing ivy is planted to look like water falling from the pump.

Our Other Entrants We so enjoyed visiting the yards of all who entered. Judging is very difficult, so we thought we'd give you a glimpse of the other places, so you can see for yourself what we were up against. Many thanks to all who entered. We were honored to be invited.

		Frank and Elinor Bartlett Mount Vernon

		Sharon Cookman Mount Vernon

		Shawn and Amy Dailey Mount Vernon

		Jim Dally Howard

		Angie Trowbridge and Ty Harris Mount Vernon

		Duane and Debbie Hurlbert Howard

		Stephen Leppla Mount Vernon

		Ron Meharry Mount Vernon

		Pam Parker Mount Vernon

		Patricia Robbins Mount Vernon

		Sara Schaff Utica

		Sue Ann Simon Howard

		Dixie Wallace Mount Vernon		OwlcreekconservancyOwlcreek

		Linda Winegardner Mount Vernon