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The 2009 Home and Garden Tour in
Watauga County will spotlight six homes and their gardens, including a
30-year-old spacious remodel, with English perennial border and koi pond; a
600-square-foot cottage directly on the banks of Goshen Creek in one of the
county’s earliest tourist retreats; two historic properties once owned by some
of Boone’s pioneer gardeners, now graced with newish homes; a custom-built,
architect-designed dwelling originally built for a practicing artist; and a
charming mountain lair that grew like topsy, from its first incarnation as a
woodworking shop, into a showcase for rustic whimsy.
The tour, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on
Saturday, June 27, will be self-guided and go-at-your-own-pace. The ticket
price ($25 in advance, $30 on the day of) includes a box lunch. Lunches will be
served at the Jones House in downtown Boone, one of the town’s premier
preserved historic properties. A plant sale will also be held at the Jones
House as a part of the tour, which is sponsored by the Watauga County
Democratic Party (www.WataugaDems.com).
The home designed by Claus Moberg
for artist Peggy Polson follows simple lines with shades of Asian inspiration,
solar features, and many custom interior details. The present owners have an
extensive art collection of their own and have especially appreciated how the
home is flooded with light. The long, wide driveway was recently redesigned and
installed with porous pavers to minimize run-off. The central garden walk is
flanked by massed displays of two varieties of spirea, Hydrangea paniculata, summer sweet clethra, turtle heads, daylilies,
exotic
dogwoods, and two cultivars of Weigela florida, among other
specimens.
The vintage garden structures at the
historic Mabel Bingham Brown family “park” (now owned by Nan and Saul Chase)
and the Cora Pearl Jeffcoat home and garden on Grand Boulevard (now owned by
Judy Humphrey and Terry Taylor) offer some of the most mature landscapes in the
town of Boone, featuring (in the first example) a huge outdoor fireplace and
wall of native stone with picnic pavilion and (in the second) stone terracing
with handcrafted gates, fences, koi pond, gazebo and a formal English vegetable
garden.
A house and garden dubbed “Takoma”
by its owners was given two extensive remodelings in the last decade to add
entry foyer, dining room, garage, two decks, master bathroom, and exercise
room, among other amenities. The work of master gardener Tom Normand accounts
for extensive specimen plantings with both a vegetable and a cutting garden and
borders of flowering shrubs, perennials, and annuals which Tom raises in his
own greenhouse. The crowning garden feature is a well situated koi pond outside
the dining room, graced with a five-foot waterfall.
The Tommy Light cottage dates from
1970 and is located in what was called Dexter Hills
in the 1950s, renamed Holiday Hills in the 1960s when Piedmont tourists began
building small second-home getaways. The Light cottage sits directly on the
banks of Goshen Creek, with a private pond flanking it on the opposite side. It
features a pergola made of reclaimed cedar, a tiny guest house, a covered deck,
and specimen perennials, Japanese maples, evergreens, and shrubs.
The Tilson home seems to prove the
adage that “Necessity is the Mother of Invention.” The house began as a
woodworking shop, but circumstances soon turned it into make-shift living
quarters that over 16 or more years developed into one of the more charming
homes in the county. Beginning with sawmill lumber, recycled windows, some
doors found in dumpsters, the house now features a double detached garage, a
master suite and office, a sunroom, guest room and sewing room, several decks,
all decorated with a collection of artwork and crafts. The garden is a series
of raised beds, rustic fences, and a pond. Extensive trails poke out into the
surrounding woods.
Ticket
information: Tickets are available at the Appalachian Antique Mall in
downtown Boone (631 W. King St.)
and every Saturday morning through June 20 at the Watauga County Farmers
Market. Tickets may also be obtained on-line through PayPal: www.WataugaDems.com. On the day of the
tour, tickets will be available only at the Jones House in downtown Boone.
Plant
Sale: A
sale of plants dug from county gardens, including many rare and unusual
perennials and shrubs, will be held at the Jones House, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m., on
the day of the tour. Among some of the rarer plants available for purchase are
a native bush honeysuckle (Diervilla
sessilifolia), Acanthus, Filipendula, Ligularia, named varieties of Hosta,
and many other plants, both common and rare.
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