A special feature and treat of this year’s tour will be the inclusion of the brand new Margaret H. Ambrose Japanese garden at the Sandhills Community College. The garden is being dedicated from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. the day of the tour. Those going on the tour are invited to attend the dedication of this living memorial, given by Jack Ambrose in memory of his wife.
A garden such as this was the dream of Fred Garrett, the former coordinator of the college’s landscape gardening program, who reserved three and a half acres for just this possibility. The Japanese Garden may be found between the Sir Walter Raleigh Garden and the Ebersole Holly Collection. Mac Hulslander, a 2001 SCC graduate, and owner of Woodlanders Landscapes designed the garden along with Phil Hathcock of Natural Stone Sculpture in Raleigh.
Tour brochure-writer Virginia Swayne points out the many traditional features of the Japanese Garden: the stone basin symbolic of cleansing, the gentle, soothing sound of the bamboo water pipe, the raked sand of the dry or Zen meditation garden where “stones grow….representing landscapes in miniature----mountains perhaps, or animals.”
Swayne says, “Everything is on a human scale and in sympathy with the moment. The feeling is one of subtlety. Light and dark, form and space, horizontal and verticals, all work around you in the perfect balance of Yin and Yang.”
Simplicity is the hallmark of such gardens where, though obviously just placed, the elements of the garden — its stones, water features, plants and pathways — all look old and weathered. It is indeed an inviting place to rest, relax and enjoy.
Another garden that is steeped in simplicity is the home of Dr. Gary and Michelle Jones at Glen Meadow Court. Here is a brand new design and execution of a landscape plan just a year old. There was little on the lot that surrounded this home. As Swayne writes in her description, “The land laid pancake flat and open on all sides.”
Michelle and Gary hooked up with Colleen O’Connor of Design Co. and together, client and designer worked out how they would handle the challenge. One of the “givens” was the large Deodar cedar that stands to the left of the house. They decided to “emphasize its strength and beauty” by moving the smaller trees around it to another location on the property. Then Colleen “created an elevated garden around the Deodar that anchors the front left corner of the yard and begins to create a natural boundary line down that side of the property.”
The line on the right side of the property consists of an “eye-catching berm” planted with an alternating collection of evergreen and deciduous trees that march to the rear of the property. Here American holly, Steeds holly, crape myrtle, magnolia, dogwood, redbud, Japanese holly and two “baby” Chinese firs will grow to form a completely private enclosure.
The patio out back was built by Gary’s father, and the Joneses love this space where plum-colored loropetalum and ornamental grasses complement the brickwork. Pyracantha are on their way up the chimney, and a fountain “adds a certain formal elegance.”
O’Connor’s company is now tackling a design for the house neighboring the Jones property so Glen Meadows Court may develop into a real showcase in the years ahead.
A third garden on the year’s tour is the imaginative property of Aldena and Jim Frye, “Ampersand Farm,” just down a lane off Linden Road in Aberdeen. Jim discovered this property while driving a school bus. The couple purchased it in 1989.
While actually never a farm, the 30-acre spread was used by a local entrepreneur as a hunt club and party place He built the house in the 1920s. The builder, when he had the time and money, would occasionally and somewhat impulsively add wings to the structure. This may partly explain why the house sports “the only longleaf pine in Moore County wearing a porch and attic!”
Pine trees dominate large sections of this property. Some are very old, perhaps having stood here for more than 200 years as part of the expansive pine forest that ran from Maine to Texas. The terrible woodland fire of 1963 stopped just on the far side of the pool, sparing this unusual structure and its out-buildings.
Aldena is a premiere floral designer in Moore County, and the gardens around her home reflect her style. Trimming is done only for display and “nature is encouraged to run wild.” Her artistry will be evident in arrangements and container gardens spread throughout the gardens.
Fantasy and fun abound in the “found objects” that are exhibited throughout the garden. They include an old garden gate tacked on the wall of her studio; an old sink, retaining its make-up mirror, paired with an old school desk to one side of the well house; farm implements; good luck bamboo stakes; stick brooms for “sweeping the lawn;” and Aldena’s special favorite, an “old helium tank strung with fishing line to support an aggressive wisteria.”
Swayne sees the fountain, surrounded by miniature gardenias and hostas, as the heart of the garden. The paddock area may be seen from the garden, and a “‘Lady Banks’ rose-covered arbor, usually hung with orchids, will lead you to the pool…,” one of the oldest in Moore County.
In the pool area is a persistent “Hummingbird Plant,” white crape myrtles, Ligustrum topiaries, a bouquet of ivy and honeysuckle climbing up the chimney and “an angel, praying for ideal growing conditions, no doubt.”
As visitors come full circle back to the front of the house, they will notice both the lush Boston ferns hanging from the front porch and the bell that is from Aldena’s father’s farm. Its original duty was to summon field hands for lunch, but here it serves as the doorbell.
Virginia Swayne concludes that “This place might well be called ‘Inspiration Farm.’ Fantasy and fun abound. The Fryes are not limited by lack of imagination.”
All monies from the tour will benefit Weymouth Center. The tour costs $15 in advance and $20 the day of the event. The brochure/tickets will be available about Sept. 10 in Southern Pines at The Country Bookshop and the Weymouth Center (Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.); in Pinehurst at The Faded Rose and Post Box Plus, Inc. and in Aberdeen at the Aberdeen Florist and Gardening Center. The rain date is Sunday, Sept. 25, from 1 to 6 p.m.
