Bold combinations garden of the month
“We wanted things to look big, mature and established; like they have been here a long time.”
It was this simple wish from avid gardeners Lorae and Jeff Sims that led them to create a garden rich with bold plants in extraordinary combinations at their Hillyard home. That garden was brash and bold enough to earn them the August Garden of the Month Award from The Inland Empire Gardeners.
It’s hard to miss this garden from the street. Who needs house numbers when 10-foot-tall clumps of Japanese feather reed grass wave to you from a block away?
Once the ornamental grasses have drawn you in, the rest of the garden grabs your attention. An unusual Camperdown (weeping) elm offers its bold architectural branching and dark foliage as a compliment to the airy grasses.
Island beds in the front yard are filled with more grasses and six-feet cannas that were topped with flaming red flowers, Joe Pye weed and tall phloxes. Cannas are a favorite of Jeff’s and he uses them liberally. Along the neighbor’s fence are tall spruce trees, shade plantings of bishop’s weed and hosta. An arbor covered with scarlet runner beans and clematis invites you into the backyard where the Sims really get serious with the gardening.
Vegetables and herbs share space with dozens of different perennials and grasses. Tomato plants bask in the sunniest spot while winter squash vines spill out into the driveway. A giant feather grass towers above the house eaves.
Jeff, a graphic designer, created playful yard art from junk and found items, including the vintage metal letters he used to create signs around the yard or to decorate several large arbors. Bowling balls in various colors are set around the garden like gazing globes.
“He likes the finding part of the process as much as the building. The first bowling ball we found on the side of the road and it went from there,” said Lorae Sims.
Their yard wasn’t always so lush. Ten years ago, it was an empty lot with a small house perched atop house-moving timbers. “Everything was big huge mounds of dirt,” said Lorae. “We moved the house from Francis and Market.”
“The first spring we planted grass and everything was lined out in little rows,” said Lorae. That didn’t last long. Pretty soon she was out making curved beds.
“Jeff and my son would cringe every time I got the hose out (to mark off more curves),” she said.
A garden tour six years ago changed all that.
“Jeff got really excited,” said Lorae. “And we started doing more. It has gone nuts now.”
The final product is exactly what the couple wanted.
“This year was the first year that we were kind of awed of the whole thing because it looked like someone else’s garden,” laughed Lorae. “It had the bigger, more mature look, and that was cool.”