Yard & Garden

As winter’s Chill Melts Away, Attention Turns to Potting, Planting and Pruning… and Perfecting Outdoor Spaces

By Lisa Gregory

Photography By Turner Photography Studio

For Julie Gaver, the greenhouse at her Meadow Branch Farm in Myersville is a refuge during the bleak winter months.

“When I get down in the cold winter months, I spend time in the greenhouse,” says Gaver. “Like when the snow is falling outside and you’re in this glass bubble. You can see the snow and feel like you’re in the middle of it, but it’s warm inside and the geraniums are blooming.”

Julie Gaver

Society’s craving for nature and being in the great outdoors seems to be growing. Perhaps it is the lingering byproduct of the pandemic’s quarantine restrictions, when one’s yard became one’s world. Or maybe it is a desire for the serenity of the natural world as a cure for the constant chaos of the real one.

But no matter the reason, people are investing time, energy and money into creating magical outdoor oases, from small backyard gardens to tailored landscapes. These spaces can be as unique as the people creating them.

Gaver, for example, moved to Meadow Branch Farm with her husband seven years ago after her in-laws passed away. “They had sheep and cattle and goats,” says Gaver. She had a different vision. “Flowers and gardening have always been a huge part of who I am. We’re still farmers, but we’re farming flowers. It’s a different kind of feeling.”

But in making the area her own, she did not forget those before. She created a pavilion area with special significance. “I wanted to honor my in-laws,” she says. “We have a stream that runs through our property. When you are there, the water is going by and it’s just very peaceful. And everything I’ve planted is white. They call them moon gardens.”

The pavilion has a plaque in remembrance of her in-laws and a pair of her father-in-law’s work boots is placed there. A local artist painted a barn building facing the pavilion with a huge set of wings. “That is probably my very favorite part of the whole property,” she says of the pavilion. “And when I’m working out there, I remember them.”

Passion for Plants

Sharon Hane created her own small patch of paradise right in the heart of the city. “I had always dilly-dallied with plants,” says Hane. But during the pandemic and stuck at home, Hane saw her interest in plants become a passion. 

“I really dived into it,” she says. She was not alone. In fact, 18.3 million people took up gardening during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, it is estimated that 55 percent of American households are actively gardening.  

Hane’s most recent effort was an explosion of joyful yellow in her backyard. Flowers, plants, planters and decorations. “It is my little paradise,” she says. But not hers alone. Hane recalls a visit from an elderly neighbor who was ill. “I wanted to share it with her,” she says. “I knew that there wasn’t a lot of time left for her.”

Hane invited the woman into her backyard with its blooming flowers and plants, chirping birds, scampering squirrels and soft soothing sounds from a fountain. “She said, ‘Can I just stand here?’” Hane recalls. “She didn’t want to leave. It just goes to show you that you can take a little plot of ground, just a quarter of an acre, and make it into your own paradise. You truly can.”

Tracy Grubb has been a gardener for the past 30 years, but like Hane found gardening during the pandemic a great distraction from what was happening in the outside world. “It helped me keep my sanity,” says Grubb, who lives near Jefferson. The mother of three grown sons, “They all came home on the exact same day,” she says of the COVID quarantine. 

Her acre of land provided a place of peace and happiness. “I don’t know what I would have done without that outlet,” says Grubb, who grows flowers, vegetables and has her own greenhouse. “Especially when the world was all crazy and no one knew what was going on, I think it really saved me.”

The gardening industry is still booming, with Americans spending upwards of $48 billion a year. Anne Heavner counts herself among them. “I’m not a person who enjoys shopping for clothes or furniture,” says Heavner, whose one-acre property is just outside of Frederick. “I enjoy going to the nursery and seeing what’s new. I’ve done my own landscaping for the last 36 years. It was a bare lot when I started. Now, when everything is blooming in the spring, it is gorgeous. My yard is my pride and joy.” 

Ponds, Pools and Patios

While Heavner and many others handle their own yard work, there is also a growing demand for professional landscapers. The landscaping industry is growing by more than 5 percent annually, according to the National Association of Landscape Professionals. 

“People are willing to spend the money,” says David Hawkins Jr., owner of Hawkins Landscaping. “People with disposable income spending $50,000 to $100,000 on their backyard is not quite a big deal.”

These outdoor living spaces can be elaborate and include patios, fire pits, swimming pools, recreational ponds, landscape lighting and even outdoor kitchens. “I think what COVID did was make society realize that it’s not always possible to travel safely with your family,” says Sean Bartz, owner of Bartz Landscaping. “It sheds light on the possibilities that people can have in their own backyard. Instead of spending $10,000 or $5,000 on a vacation twice a year, they’re putting that value into their home and their family. A lot of people are choosing to bring the party and the vacation to their own backyard.”

For those beginning the landscaping process, Bartz has some advice. “The first thing that a homeowner needs to consider is what they want to accomplish,” he says. “And that leads me to the number one mistake I see people make. They choose form over functionality. A lot of times people will put in what they want and not what’s actually good for their yard and sustainable.” How to avoid easy mistakes? “Putting the right plants in the right place and not planting invasives,” says Bartz.

The benefits of native plants are that they have already adapted to the local climate and soil conditions. These plants also provide nectar, pollen and seeds, serving as food for native butterflies, insects, birds and other animals.

“A lot of people like plants because of how they look, but what will happen is they’re popping up all over the forest,” says Bartz. “I could take you on a walk and point out at least 10 different invasive species that popped up all over because someone planted it in their yard and now it’s choking our natives in our forests.”

Plants such as the burning bush, which is native to China, Japan and Korea and turns a fiery red in the fall should be avoided, according to Bartz. “People love to plant burning bushes,” he says. “You see them everywhere.” However, the shrub can completely take over a natural area, replacing large amounts of native vegetation and reducing biodiversity.

A good alternative? “One of my favorites is the native viburnum,” says Bartz. “That’s a fantastic plant.”

Bartz adds, “The benefit of planting a native is you’re not only going to feel good about promoting plants that are native to your area, but you’re going to thank yourself later. A native plant thrives in the wild with no human interaction. And when you put it at your house and it gets some human intervention, it is going to be so much easier to maintain and take care of.”

Back to Nature

Like Bartz, Jan Knox is a big proponent of native plants. Her lawn isn’t immaculately manicured but serves a greater purpose in its more natural state. “You’re helping the environment,” says Knox, who created a Facebook page called The Pearl St. Garden where she shares her journey of creating a native habitat.

More and more people are embracing these efforts to help preserve the environment while making different choices for their lawns, such as avoiding the chemicals in pesticides. “Environmentally, we are declining,” says Christina Wright, owner of Design-A-Scape, which specializes in native plants and sustainable landscape solutions. “We are seeing these climate issues and overdevelopment. We walk outside and we don’t see trees anymore. Where does all the wildlife go? People are becoming more aware.”

Frederick resident Casey McCagh’s yard is Chesapeake Bay certified. “The whole goal is to not use chemicals and not have runoff,” she says. “You don’t want to have anything running into the Chesapeake Bay. So, being Chesapeake Bay certified means we are trying to protect the bay. And along with that trying to protect the bees, the animals and everything else along the way.”

Susan Ledford, who also lives in the city, has joined the effort and says she is working toward a “no mow” landscape. “Getting rid of a grass lawn is healthier for the soil, our water systems, the Chesapeake Bay,” she says. “It’s healthier for nature.”

Although committed to the process and its positive affect on the environment, Knox wasn’t initially sure how her neighbors would react to her more natural lawn. “I thought to myself, ‘Ah, man, I’m going to get a lot of flak because this is way different than anybody else in the neighborhood,’” she recalls.

Not to worry. Her lawn may be a bit different but no less lovely to those passing by. “I have people stop and tell me how much they enjoy it and that they re-route their way to the market to go by my garden all the time and see what is blooming,” she says. Adding, “I had this older gentleman stop by. He’s like, ‘I just had to tell you that you have kissed the community with your garden.’”