This Rabbit Run backyard garden is a woodland delight
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Having lived in the Rabbit Run neighborhood for almost 20 years, Mike and Janet Braun’s backyard garden has evolved as the shade from three trees – two cherry and one elm – has continued to encroach across their yard through the years.
Mike remembers when this family couldn’t even bear to be on their back deck in the summer because it was just too hot. Now he says it’s a very pleasant place to sit in the warmer months because of the trees’ shade.
Always fans of gardening, as the shade in the backyard became more prominent, so did the extent of the family’s woodland garden, which now extends many yards from the back patio.
“A lot of people just throw their hands up when they have shade. They don’t know what to do. They think, ‘I can’t have a garden if I have shade, I don’t have any sun,’” Janet said. “Our attitude is, if the world gives you shade, plant what likes the shade.”
The Braun’s woodland garden includes many varieties of plants and trees that flourish in shaded areas, such as hosta, astilbe, ligularia, fern, coral bells, anemone, camellia, hydrangea, pachysandra and box wood. A short stone wall, the most recent addition to the garden, lines the edge of the garden adjacent to the deck, and a discreet stone walkway path, which leads to the grassy area of the yard beyond the shade, sections the garden into two areas.
Nearly all the plants in their woodland garden are perennials, so the couple doesn’t have to spend time each year planting new specimens, but the couple laughs when asked if their backyard garden is high maintenance.
“It wouldn’t have to be,” Mike chuckled. “We like to work out in the garden.”
But they both agree that they like sitting on their back deck, in the shade, in the warmer months, enjoying the view of their garden much more than working in it.
“It’s just such a beautiful time to be in Kentucky,” Mike said.
The Brauns are members of a gardening club called Gardening Angels. In 2011, the couple’s garden won a first place award in the Lexington In Bloom contest for the front yard category.
Open Gates to Bluegrass Living Garden Tour
Mike and Janet Braun’s garden will be open to the public as part of the biennial Lexington Council Garden Clubs’ “Open Gates to Bluegrass Living Garden Tour,” held 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. June 1 and 1 - 5 p.m. June 2, which will celebrate 10 diverse gardens throughout Lexington.
The tour is a fundraising event to provide grants to the community and scholarships to University of Kentucky students who are majoring in horticulture and allied fields. Grant recipients from the 2011 tour included a butterfly garden, a rain garden, a memorial art garden, a community vegetable garden and watershed improvement.
Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 the day of the tour. Tickets may be purchased at a number of local businesses, as well as at garden sites on the days of the tour. This is a rain or shine event. For more information e-mail lcgcgardentour@gmail.com or visit www.lexgardenclubs.org.