Hamilton
SUSAN HAMILTON AND TOM GROSS
116 Southlake Road
This garden on Southlake Road radiates with color in every season with a plethora of trees, bushes and perennials. The centerpiece is a re-circulating stream that meanders through the beautifully terraced garden before flowing into Lower Spring Valley Lake. Tom loves his trees and you’ll see a Coral Bark Japanese maple, which is prettiest in the dead of winter, Forest Pansy redbud, and a flowering cherry that nicely complements the footbridge and lanterns scattered through the landscape. A Morello cherry tree, which makes the best sour cherry pies, many maples and oaks made Susan’s choice of favorites difficult but she managed to select the Susan magnolia as her favorite.
In addition to its creative design, this garden contains some unusual plants. Colorful perennials predominate, but don’t miss the Thompson seedless grapes that hug the second story deck in the backyard and the muscadines that grow on a trellis around a shed. Citrus trees produce lemons, oranges and grapefruit, nice morning accompaniments to the blueberry offerings in the summer. You could be stranded here and survive nicely. Knockout roses and clematis vines punctuate the landscape with punches of color.
Wear your sturdy shoes to explore the paths, ponds, bridges and rocks in this yard created to be quiet, yet lively. Relaxation time for this family could be time in the hammock, a canoe ride on the lake, a float in the pool or simply enjoyment of the shade and variety of fruit and ornamental trees.
This is a yard and garden created for and with the input of a large and active family. While Susan and Tom enjoy the ambience and beauty of the landscape taken as a whole, we suspect their children have special affection for the Basketballus Hoopiensis, the strong vertical element at the top of the driveway! Rebounding skills are requisite…of course retrieving the ball from that peaceful lake on a hot summer day wouldn’t be a major penalty!
