Nuts for Native Gardening & Golf!
- Nuts for Natives
- Oct 1
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 2
What happens when you combine a passion for the links with plants.
The backyard of this mid century rancher has been transformed into a native habitat with a putting green - seriously! Gardener and golfer Robert has been on quite the gardening journey. The first garden of his I remember involved building three tiers with railroad ties to level out a steep backyard slope behind a townhome. Once level ground was created, Robert showcased a variety of impatiens. Fast forward to this home outside of Baltimore where he has added more and more native plants and the result is unique and involves lots of birds and pollinators - more every day he says!
Robert's side garden was featured in an earlier post. The plants are now well established and the effect of both the elegant curves of the path and the plantings is ethereal. It's really quite beautiful and very easy care. A limited palette of plants give the 75' long side garden a very cohesive feel.
With all this free space it could be tempting to fill it with all sorts of plants. Keeping to a small number of types of plants give the garden its organic but not overgrown look five years in.
The side garden features repetitions of oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) shrubs and a steady stream of bluebird smooth asters (Symphyotrichum laeve var. laeve 'Bluebird') and heuchera 'Autumn Bride' (Heuchera villosa 'Autumn Bride'). Green and gold ground cover (Chrysogonum virginianum) is layered in and gives your eye a chance to rest.
At the rear garden end of the path, the opening is flanked with a river birch (Betula nigra) on one side and cultivar of nine bark (Physocarpus opulifolius 'Summer Wine') on the other. Love it!
And then there is the golfing! Robert is nuts for golf and so much so, he has built a six hole putting green in his backyard. Is it helping his golf game? Yes, he is posting his best scores ever. Is it helping his garden? It seems it is. Robert has extended his native plant gardening to surround the putting green. Once again, Robert is using a very restrained plant palette to great effect.
This island bed features a redbud (Cercis canadensis) underplanted with a mix of heuchera 'Autumn Bride,' coreopsis (Coreopsis), asters and creeping phlox (Phlox subulata). The heucheras and asters are a repeat from the side garden and tie the areas together. Here, the heucheras, typically recommended for part shade, get much more sun but seem to hold their own. On the far side of the green, Robert planted evergreen American arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis) as a screen and continued the heucheras.
Speaking of screens, Robert created a massive screen to the rear of the garden, starting with a river birch, a repeat from the side garden, more American arborvitae and taking advantage of a row of existing mature white pines (Pinus strobus).
The more formal shapes of the trees are offset by a delightfully rambling trumpet (Campsis radicans) vine on a fence in the foreground that is a hummingbird magnet.
There are many things to love about this garden. First, Robert has taken his own more formal style and chosen native plants that fit his own aesthetic. Second, it could be quite challenging to create an integrated and calm space with a patio, pool and putting green but Robert has done it. Both the scale and height of the tree choices and the repetition of plants make it work. Last, he is so incredibly delighted with all of the pollinators, birds and volunteer plants he encounters. Build it and they will come. Oh wait, that was baseball!
Golfing and gardening -- seems like a hole in one...
Happy Gardening.
