A garden for ‘wandering’
Dozens of trees and hundreds of plants convene in a yard of just under a quarter-acre in Westmont.
Rob Thuener strolled through his garden in the May drizzle, pointing out the Zephirine Drouhin, a heavily scented, deep pink, climbing rose, as well as the Lychnis Cornaria, a purple flower with gray-green foliage, and Physocarpus Diabolo, a maroon-leafed shrub with pink-tinged white flowers.
Majoring in Latin in college, Thuener admitted, made it easier for him to learn botanical names for the numerous plants he tends on just under a quarter-acre in Westmont, Camden County.
He uses common names, too, so as not to overwhelm his visitors. The small pink flowers of Oenothera Speciosa are also called evening primrose. His Colocasia Redemption are elephant ears with unusual black leaves with bright pink centers.
When Thuener and his husband, Dave Jones, purchased their arts and crafts bungalow in 2008, the house had been newly renovated. But outside, Thuener said, were only grass, a few shrubs, and five trees.
Now they have 60 trees and several hundred plants and shrubs.
The focal point of the front yard is the tall, purple-leafed plum tree, which was a sapling when Thuener and Jones bought the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home.
Rose bushes flank the front steps, and a flower bed flourishes below the red-shutter-trimmed first-floor windows. Thuener has preserved a narrow strip of lawn extending to the sidewalk. It’s planted with clover, which the bees love, he said.
Thuener, whose other major at Franklin and Marshall College was fine arts, put his talents to use in designing his garden, laying out two bluestone patios, and building a pergola, paths, and seating areas.
By repeating leaf color — especially reds, golds, and variegated greens — he said, “the eye is drawn through the garden.”
While Thuener cultivates, Jones helps with the watering and last year power-washed the patios. A professional chef, he contributed the garden’s palm and a willow arch. Both were left over from events he catered.
Thuener, who is an administrative assistant at the Center for Family Services in Voorhees, also operates Artiscapes, a landscape business he started in the late 1990s after he installed a French drain and brick patio at a friend’s home.
He has planted his own garden for year-round color. In fall and early winter, besides leaf color, there are the dahlias, mums, and Japanese anemones, followed by winter-blooming camellias, which usually last until mid- to late-December.
The new year, he said, starts off with Galanthus (snowdrops) and Eranthis, which resemble buttercups, then there are pale-pink Hellebores in the beginning of February before a burst of early spring flowers such as Crocus and Narcissus (daffodils).
In late May a few crimson peonies are still blooming. Korean dogwood shows off white flowers and pale green and white leaves. Blue clematis and yellow “Lady Emma Hamilton” roses climb a trellis. The redbuds’ blossoms have been replaced with heart-shaped, chartreuse leaves.
Small fruits have emerged on the branches of the pawpaw and the Granny Smith apple trees. There are also two heirloom apple trees.
Thuener hopes he can pick ripe fruit in late summer “if the squirrels don’t get them first.” Rabbits nibble ground cover and a traveling groundhog stops by, so the vegetable patch is screened.
The garden attracts many creatures. Thuener and Davis have counted over 30 varieties of birds and a tom turkey occasionally visits. There are several bird sculptures decorating the garden, including two flamingos and a heron clutching a fish.
The property is so densely planted with perennials, Thuener only has to weed the paths. One of them, made from slanted bluestone slats, was inspired by a path at Chanticleer Garden in Wayne.
Mowing the lawn takes about 15 minutes, Thuener said, and “most weeks I’ll spend about an hour wandering through the garden, pulling a weed here, trimming a branch off the path there.”
This time of year he does have the additional chore of placing large ceramic pots around the garden and filling them with multihued coleus, New Guinea impatiens, begonias, and other annuals for added color.
“Usually though,” he said, “we’re just happily wandering in the garden or sitting reading and watching all the birds, squirrels, bunnies, and chipmunks.”
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