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Tricia and Bud Schmitt have lived in their Holliston house in a quiet neighborhood for 34 years. Shortly after they moved in, the septic system failed, calling for an overhaul of their yard. As the site was excavated, local contractor Herb Brockert inquired about what should be done with all of the stones dug out of the ground. The Schmitts wanted them hauled away, but Brockert convinced them that the stones could be used in their landscape. Over the years, those same stones were put to great use by Bud, who developed an interest in stone masonry. His handiwork is evident all through the garden.

After the new septic was installed, the Schmitts were faced with a half-acre blank slate encircled by original trees. Tricia had inherited a fondness for gardening from her father, who supplied some divisions from his New Jersey garden. A magazine article about garden rooms captured Tricia and Bud’s interest, and soon they were dividing their landscape into a series of individual garden spaces. The entry garden is charming graveled courtyard shaded by a mature Japanese maple. Granite steps lead to the upper garden with a pond, ornamental plantings and enclosed vegetable beds. Tricia and Bud collaborate on the garden projects, designing many of the gardens so that they provide lovely views from the indoors, particularly in winter.  

Tricia loves conifers of all shapes and sizes, and her collection beautifully complements the stones that Bud artfully installed. The garden also features a mature stewartia, boxwoods, hydrangeas and Bloomerang lilac topiary. Recently added privacy gardens are planted with 53 new cedars, hollies, rhododendrons and other evergreens. Vegetables are grown in handsome raised vegetable beds created by Peas Love & Parsley. Seating areas and charming accessories create inviting outdoor spaces. The garden is a wonderful outdoor living room for the entire family, including daughter Lauren and two young grandchildren. Lauren also shares a passion for native plants, and works as a horticulturist at Weston nurseries in Hopkinton.

Tricia is a long-time member of the Holliston Garden Club, and is also renowned for her “Schmints”–delicious, chocolate covered mints sold at Superette in Holliston. The Schmitt garden is included in the Enchanted Gardens Spring Garden Tour in May.

By Susan Clark

I have lived for 40 years now on almost two acres that slope down to the Sudbury River. The land is dominated by large white pines, oaks, and hickories, which provide shade to part sun. The soil is pure sand with several inches of topsoil, so it is dry and drains fast. Dry shade is the hardest condition for gardening. Plantings are concentrated on the upper part of the land close to our house. The lower part and the river flood plain are kept mostly wild, full of native ferns, shrubs, and red maples. Lawn and woodland paths tie the various parts together. They provide a meandering loop through cultivated areas, sun, shade and quite wild sections.

This place is a landscape rather than a garden in the formal sense. I have always tried to work with the land and its native flora, rather than bend it to my will. I subscribe to what I now know to call ecological horticulture: organic gardening that considers its ecological impact on wildlife habitats, biodiversity, and ecosystem health. I still have many non-natives and keep acquiring more, but I work to keep a balance even as I indulge in my various horticultural obsessions and impulse plant purchases.  

 A few years back I had over 180 rhododendrons and azaleas and 40 different hostas. Storm damage of wind and snow, catastrophic droughts, and fierce heat and cold spells have weeded out the less hardy or simply unlucky plants. Deer, rabbits, woodchucks, and voles have eaten an endless list of victims, especially hostas and bulbs. My landscape is now a scarred survivor of all of this. I feel fortunate to still have so many plants that delight me through the seasons: 100 rhododendrons, two stewartias, a large Japanese silverbell, several magnolias, a number of witch hazels and their relatives, lots of spring ephemerals, and daffodils. I have a passion for season-extenders with shrubs that bloom right after the winter aconite and snow drops, rhodies that bloom starting in mid-April, summer-blooming azaleas, and a few fall-blooming shrubs.

Susan is a long-time member of the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Rhododendron Society and the North American Rock Garden Society: New England Chapter. Her garden will be open for the Enchanted Gardens Spring Garden Tour in May.