Garden Symphony
Alan Christensen, a teacher and long-time gardener, takes a break from gardening in a hut he created to grow gourds on. Long and Short-handled Dippers hang down from the canopy that has grown over the hut. (Gazette staff photo)
Bountiful Harvest
For Alan Christensen, autumn is a bittersweet time.
“A garden is always changing and you know it’s not going to last forever,” Christensen said. “On one hand it’s sad to see it go but on the other it’s a relief because it’s so much work.”
As Christensen wanders through his nearly acre of property, he stops to pick bell peppers while his grandson, Jacob, follows closely behind, eating an apple his mother, Anna, picked from a tree in the back of the garden.
French Marans and other exotic fowl peck at excess and over-ripened vegetables in a coop at the northern edge of the garden. A black cat trots between rows of cucumbers and tomatoes, patrolling for rabbits.
Along the northern edge of the garden, vines supporting a myriad of gourds reach towards the light, growing over the fencing into the neighbors’ Russian olive trees. These vines make up the most intriguing part of Christensen’s garden: his gourd tunnel and hut creations.
Read entire article: A bountiful harvest rewards west-end gardener
Tina Muller has run Tina and Daughters Iris Garden for 13 years, with the assistance of her daughters. (Gazette staff photo)
Explore the world of irises
It’s not difficult to understand Tina Muller’s fascination with irises, once you see her gardens. Thousands of blooming iris flowers display a rainbow of colors shimmering in the mid-morning sun. Delicate, crinkled petals gently drift back and forth in the spring breeze.
Muller operates Tina and Daughters Iris Garden, located in south Billings, with the help of her four daughters. The family cares for as many as 25,000 plants in the spring and summer, then digs bulbs in the fall and ships them to customers around the country.
Read the entire article: Explore the world of irises
Ruth Amdor's home on Constellation Trail in the Heights is surrounded by flower gardens. (Gazette staff photo)
A Garden Symphony
When Ruth Amdor was young, her mother saved a special spot in the garden just for her. Amdor, now 74, has carried that love of gardening and a green thumb with her ever since.
“Gardening feeds my soul. I don’t know any better way to describe it,” she said. Amdor took a break from gardening to “grow kids” but dove headlong into an ongoing gardening project that began in 1995 when she had a home built in the Heights.
Read entire article: A Garden Symphony
Small outdoor space bursts with style
Al and Mona Anderson have lived in their home at 1616 St. Johns for 47 years. The original house was 1,000 square feet, and over the years the Andersons have added a family room, extended the kitchen, added a screened-in porch and built an outdoor patio area and deck. The backyard has sense of informality with plenty of character, and is full of stunning flowers in all shapes and colors.
Al and Mona Anderson enjoy their backyard at 1616 St. Johns Ave. (Gazette staff photo)
“It’s just like our little bit of paradise without having to go to Hawaii,” Mona said.
Enormous hibiscus flowers add a Hawaiian flair in varying shades of pink, yellow and orange. A trumpet vine with brilliant orange blooms grows up a trellis off the patio. Clematis, a vigorous climbing plant with brilliant periwinkle blooms, hangs over another trellis leading into the backyard. A second clematis is preparing to bloom with delicate snowflake-like flowers that make an appearance starting in late August.
Read entire article: Small outdoor space bursts with style
Judith Knudson shows her garden at 2540 Virginia Lane. The gardens are composed of a multitude of perennials and annuals, including a variety of vines such as morning-glory, black-eyed Susan, and clematis. (Gazette staff photo)
Homeowner channels the metaphysical, imaginary and fanciful in her gardens
Judith Knudson has a natural approach when it comes to gardening. “Giving back to the earth is what the garden is all about,” she said.
She has been gardening since moving to Billings in 2001 and purchasing her property at 2540 Virginia Lane. The house, set back from Virginia Lane, is a modest abode, unassuming from the front. Around the back of the home unfolds about a half-acre of lush gardens filled with climbing vines, ferns and blooming flowers, surrounded by mature trees.
Her garden was featured on the Garden Tour in late June, sponsored by the Billings Preservation Society for the benefit of the Moss Mansion. At that time, she mentioned the garden was a bit slow this year, due to the cold weather. But by August, her gardens have matured into what she describes as a fairyland.
Read entire article: Homeowner channels the metaphysical, imaginary and fanciful in her gardens
DanWalt Gardens has a parterre garden. This parterre, a French word for partitioned earth, features several small trenched flower beds, a fountain and a multitude of blooming annuals and perennials including lilies and petunias. (Gazette staff photo)
Plant Paradise
Dan Jellison and Walt Williams discovered it’s difficult to keep three acres of blossoming flowers under wraps. Their gardens have bloomed into a tourist attraction, wedding facility and special event venue on Billings’ south side.
Nearly 10 years ago Jellison and Williams opened their property to the public. They began by hosting three weddings that summer at the DanWalt Gardens. This year that number has grown to 43 weddings.
“I didn’t set out to create this – it has evolved,” Jellison said.
This spring, Jellison and Williams planted 30,000 annuals on the property, and maintain more than 250 different perennials, in a multitude of planter beds. A serene setting, grapevines wind over trellises, broom corn swishes in the wind, giant cacti and sunflowers tower overhead and double tiger lilies bloom near the hearty hibiscus. It’s a wonderland of flora and even includes a exotic frog collection.
Read entire article: Plant Paradise