Country Gardens – July 2019

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COUNTRY GARDENS // FA LL 2019

TOP The gardens outside the back door can be enjoyed through the sunroom windows in any weather. ABOVE LEFT Elizabeth

fell in love with growing perennials while studying to become a Master Gardener in 2001. “What fascinates me is to see what

makes it through the winter,” she says. ABOVE RIGHT Pink Drift roses bloom nearly nonstop.

bushes and groundcovers, killing weeds, removing

a stone path that led to nowhere, and amending the

soil—all while restoring the home to create a gracious

guesthouse reminiscent of days gone by.

By the time Elizabeth was finished taming

the yard, only a rose of Sharon, a lilac, and a few

nondescript trees remained. But an abundant oasis

soon took root as the 20-year gardening veteran began

planting an everblooming emporium of perennial

delights patterned after the storybook splendor of

English country gardens. “I’ve been blessed to travel

to England many times, and I fell in love with the

rambling gardens in the quaint countryside,” Elizabeth

says. She fashioned her own idyllic version by

enveloping the lawn in curvaceous flowerbeds richly

planted in layers to showcase each season’s offerings.

Roses galore, brick paths, stepping-stones, Victorian-

style benches, and dovecotes accentuate the garden’s

English influence.

With a more-is-better approach to color, Elizabeth

enlisted a host of hues to bring her garden dreams

to fruition. “I totally looked at this landscape as an

open palette,” she says. “I wanted color all the time,

so something is always popping.” Her carefully

timed choreography of plantings ensures a constant

show of blooms from early spring through autumn.

M

any homeowners may have been intimidated

by the long-neglected house and yard that

greeted Elizabeth Schwartz Bohlman when

she moved into her ailing 1902 Victorian in Johnstown,

Ohio, 10 years ago. But the property was a welcome

challenge for the empty nester with an exuberant vision

for bringing both back to life. “The house was already

zoned commercial and I love people, so I thought why

not turn it into a bed-and-breakfast,” says Elizabeth,

who approached the backyard—little more than weeds

and overgrown shrubs at the time—with the same

gusto. (She has since closed the B and B.) She kicked

her can-do attitude into high gear, tearing out unwieldy