A small space is bursting with color and variety.
On a tiny patio, a lovely garden grows. Its handful of plants decorates the precious few feet of space in such a way that visitors soon are not even mindful of the small confines of the garden.
Taking advantage of every inch of space, Donna Slavens has filled her garden spot with plants that delight the eye, sounds that tickle the ear and fragrances that please the nose.
"You do what you can with what you've got," she said. "This is my little acreage."
Her little acreage is the cement patio off her Prairie Commons apartment that extends no more than 5 feet by 8 feet. It is bordered on two sides by the structure of the apartment. A 4-foot-high brick wall marks the outer edge of the patio on the third side and serves as both an attractive backdrop for the tiny garden as well as a convenient place to put more plants. Finally, the fourth side is open to the landscaping maintained by the complex.
A water dish on the wall and bird feeder in a more open area attract birds to her garden. Earlier in the year a finch stripped the needles of a fern to make her nest. The nest ended up in a wreath that hangs on Slavens' front door. The finch family grew and left its nest.
"Just about everything in here someone has given me," she said of her tiny garden. A wooden window box is a donation from a friend. Too rickety for hanging off a windowsill, the container is fine on the floor of the patio and easily holds a bounty of flowers. Her son gave her the attractive fountain that adds the soothing sound of water to the garden. It fits nicely in the corner next to her house.
"That's my little water garden," she said. Water trickles down a series of levels. Starting out narrow at the top, it drops into several small dishes as it makes its way to the large pool at the bottom, passing over a watermill and several frogs on the way.
Packed with plants
The tour of the garden pretty much took place while both of us stood in one spot. Nonetheless, a definite partitioning emerges. "I have two sets of plants," she explained. "Shade plants and sun plants."
On the shady side of the garden, dainty yellow and purple pansies are struggling to keep their cool in the heat of late summer. They were the first flowers Slavens planted this year. "I couldn't wait to get something out here," she admitted. Impatiens and begonias also enjoy this shady side.
The sunny side of the garden has more variety. I found that even though this garden is tiny, it is packed with a lot of plants. Tucked under a large fern that hangs at the open end of the patio, hens and chicks are thriving in a sturdy container. The succulent plants fill the pot.
"My hens and chicks are one of the things that bring back memories," she noted. "My grandmother and grandfather had them."
The tiniest bonsai I have every seen perches near the end of the brick wall that encloses the small patio. "I've always wanted one," she said of the bonsai. The diminutive juniper is no taller than 6 inches and is pruned regularly. Slavens demonstrated her maintenance of it by pinching off some new light green growth with her fingers.
A container of rosemary sits on the patio floor at the sunny end. "I love rosemary," Slavens confessed. "I'm hoping to keep it through the winter." She keeps the aromatic herb mostly for its fragrance, easily released by rubbing up against the plant, though she sometimes uses it in cooking.
And cooking is something Slavens knows how to do. She has been the cook for the Independent Living community at Brandon Woods for nine years. That means cooking breakfast for about 30 people and serving lunch and dinner for 70 to 90 people.
She cooks for pleasure as well as work. Slavens recently brought her famous salmon ball to the 112th reunion of her family.
"Everyone has a specialty," she said. And salmon ball is one of hers.
"Mother was an excellent cook," she acknowledged. "Some recipes she kept and passed on." Since cooking comes almost naturally to this gardener, she has plans to enter the Prairie Commons Bake-Off on Oct. 13. I tried to coax out of her what she might enter. "I have a few things in mind," was all she told me.
Both her mother and father also taught her about gardening.
"My parents were dyed-in-the-wool gardeners," she said.
She recalled that her father collected rainwater in a large tub and stored it in plastic milk jugs so he could use it to water the garden.
"When the kids were little, we lived on a farm," Slavens said of her own family. By "kids," she refers to eight of them. With such a large family, she did her share of gardening, including growing many fruits and vegetables that she ended up canning or preserving.
"I probably would have a little vegetable garden," if her gardening space was larger, Slavens said. "Just enough to eat fresh, not to can," she quickly added.
Her current garden is more for looks. A short picket fence, only about a foot high, encloses the open end of the patio garden. It was installed to protect Slavens' granddaughter, one of 12 grandchildren, from wandering off the patio space to an area near the air conditioner. A small garden bench just the right size for a toddler invites the youngster to sit and visit.
Color her world
Even a wee garden such as Slavens' requires planning.
"I kind of have a color scheme in mind," she told me. "This year it was yellow and orange."
Showing me the results of her plan, she pointed to a gorgeous yellow tuberous begonia growing in a wooden container. Its lovely flower is almost hidden by several large, full New Guinea impatiens. "They have created a jungle," she said of the impatiens whose vibrant orange color lit up the corner.
A bougainvillea hangs from a wrought iron rod above the fence. Its branches reach out. Though it is flowerless at the moment, Slavens said it was covered with orange and yellow flowers earlier in the year. "It went with my color scheme," she said.
A lovely rose peers over the brick wall, a bonus from the apartment complex's landscaping. A glowing deep peach colored flower was perfect the evening I visited.
After we looked at her garden, Slavens took me for a walk around the grounds and pointed to several patio and balcony gardens. Geraniums and petunias, salvia and miniature roses peeked out from several gardens. Even a tall tomato plant grew in one, a large green tomato waiting to ripen.
"Not only are they pretty," Slavens said of all the patio gardens we passed, "but they increase your privacy."
The common gardens around the apartment complex are lovely. Groundskeeper Nathon McKinley maintains the communal gardens of Prairie Commons, including a new gazebo. The beauty of the grounds is a credit to his skillful handiwork and attention to detail.
When we returned to her garden, Slavens said, "I'm glad I'm on the east side of the building. I don't fight the sun so much."
I'm glad I had the chance to visit this wonderful small garden. I didn't mind its size at all.
-- Carol Boncella is education coordinator at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. You can send e-mail to her at gardenspot@ljworld.com.
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