Larry and Linda Park’s garden

Our property is situated at the end of Mirror Road with South Harrison Lake skirting three sides. The beauty and privacy of the unique setting adds a great deal of pleasure to my gardening experience. 

Larry hired landscape designer Dean Schertz in 1998 to shift his traditional yard to an environmentally friendly space. The lawn was removed to eliminate mowing , edging, turf fertilizers, and pesticides. Emphasis was placed on pebble paths, rocks and boulders, ornamental grasses, perennials, and ivy ground cover, accenting the plantings of bushes and trees beneficial to a variety of birds. 

In 2005, our garden once again evolved, merging Larry’s zen-like simplicity with my love of colorful flowers, vegetables, and fruit. This created even more textures, variety, and scents, with seasonal shifting paths of color. I do container gardening growing herbs and edible flowers in pots and lettuce in hanging baskets. Vegetables such as cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, greens and eggplants are grown in Earth Boxes. 

I enjoy wintering plants as well as germinating seeds and propagating cuttings in my 8 x 10 greenhouse. Plus, I dig and store cannas, dalias , elephant ears, and sweet potato vine tubers. Coleus, with its many varieties of color, leaf forms, patterns, and textures is one of my favorite plants. I grow over a dozen different coleus cultivars. 

Maintenance is kept to a minimum with the use of mulch and a built-in sprinkler system. I also use organic fertilizers such as liquid kelp and bat guano.

Gardening is a true pleasure for me. I enjoy the process with the various seasons. Being involved with nature is fun and brings a great deal of peace.

Larry and Linda Park's garden is at 9347 W. Mirror Road

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