The final garden we visited during the Winghaven Gardeners Tour was that of Liz and Walker Simmons, whose home was built in 1967 as a replica of homes seen in Williamsburg, Virginia. Having grown up in Virginia, they were inspired to create an outdoor space filled with boxwoods, magnolias, camellias, dogwoods, and azaleas.
The couple worked together with Living Color Gardens and installed trees, shrubs, and various perennials that included some of the couple’s favorites: tulip magnolias, viburnum, hydrangea, columbine, and ferns as yet another ode to the gardens they grew up with.
I adore peonies, tulips, and irises, and we have made copious use of them. My favorite time of year is when the mountains of tulips on the pool deck give way to the peony and iris bed that faces the vegetable garden, where we plant seasonal greens and herbs.
Liz & Walker Simmons
Peonies, foxgloves, and alliums
Peonies will forever be my favorite flower.
Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris L. var. cicla in the Family Chenopodiaceae) is a type of beet that does not produce an edible root. Also known as silverbeet (mainly in New Zealand and Australia), chard is a biennial plant grown as an annual for its rosette of big crinkly leaves and/or wide crunchy stems.
Wisconsin Horticulture
