With a number of different features, this Aurora Avenue garden is a growing showcase of cultural influences
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Shelby Reynolds’ and David Bartley’s backyard garden on Aurora Avenue probably has more “rooms” than there are in the couple’s home.
And as with most rooms in a home, each one of their garden rooms has a theme or motif, all loosely tied together by an overriding concept.
For Reynolds and Bartley, that idea is a celebration of different cultures. Some of the most prominent features and nooks in their highly stylized backyard are heavily influenced by the tastes and fashions of people from around the globe.
“It’s our around the world tour,” Reynolds said.
The first thing that will catch a visitor’s attention is the ornate water fountain sprouting out in the middle of the yard. Reynolds says the feature is reminiscent of an European, especially Italian, couryard.
Encircled by the only patch of grass in the whole backyard (and front yard, for that matter), Reynolds says they don’t have to do much mowing.
“That was part of the original plan,” he said, “to get rid of the grass. So I just have one of those little spiral push mowers.”
Reynolds has lived in the house since 1987, and for the first 15 years, Reynolds says the couple had a typical backyard – a flat, rectangular plot of grass with some trees and some simple landscaping. But after the space was decimated after the 2003 ice storm, they decided they would give their yard a considerable facelift after a very considerable cleanup effort.
The garden was assembled on a “room by room” basis, as time and effort would permit. As the seasons progressed, a number of plants began to make appearances, such as climbing hydrangea, a weeping Norway spruce, rhubarb, pom pom junipers, arundo grass, rosebush, boxwood and bonsai.
Some of the more durable bonsai are planted in the ground during the colder months of the year, pot and all, and unearthed when the weather begins to warm. Other plants require regular upkeep, but Reynolds and Bartley have tried to select varieties that don’t require so much attention as to take away from their fondness of working outside.
“When we first redid the garden, it was extremely high maintenance,” Reynolds said, “but we’ve gotten rid of a few things trying to make it less so. But it’s still a daily thing. Especially with the fish.”
The koi pond, at the foot of the “pagoda” and ipe wood deck holding the hot tub, contains a number of impressive specimens, including a few koi well over 10 years old, and, along with the pagoda, is one of many features in the garden with an Asian emphasis.
Another is the cafe-style sitting area, marked with two large orange circles and covered with a long arbor.
As one of the co-owners of Morningside Woodcrafters, a custom furniture and restoration company located just a block away on National Avenue, Reynolds constructed a number of the wooden features, including the arbors, in the backyard. (Click here for a feature on Morningside Woodcrafters.)
Along with objects in the garden, Reynolds and Bartley built the adjacent sunroom and kitchen in the back of their home, both offering as many views of the backyard as possible.
But not everything in the backyard is of Reynolds’ device, such as the wooden porch swing under the pagoda – the most recent addition to the space. “Sometimes I just have to order it to get it, because if I were to make it, who knows when we would get it,” Reynolds laughed.
Open Gates to Bluegrass Living Garden Tour
Shelby Reynolds’ and David Bartley’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.