Backyard Havens

Debra and Aaron Lerner
Debra and Aaron Lerner rarely visit restaurants on spring and summer nights. “It’s hard to go out to eat when you have a place like this to enjoy,” Debra says of their backyard in Golden Valley’s Tyrol Hills neighborhood. Yet this paradise was once nothing more than “a wilderness type of garden with some sod and a Jacuzzi,” Debra says. That changed when the couple lost a good part of their yard to a master suite addition. They decided to tame what remained of the overgrown landscape.

With help from Capstone Landscaping and Bachman’s, the Lerners terraced the sloped yard with limestone and added foundation plantings of yews and spruces. “We created a line of vision all the way up the hill,” Debra says. Aaron designed waterfalls that cascade into a 4-foot-deep koi pond. Debra worked closely with Tangletown Gardens to add layers of foliage. “I’m a big fan of yellows, chartreuse, blues, and deep greens, as well as grasses and any kind of fir—anything with a rough texture,” Debra says. “I wanted the garden to have continuous interest with different colors and textures, rather than points when it’s blooming versus when it’s not.”

Gardeners' Favorite: Funkie Gardens The name references the rarely used generic name for hostas, Funkia, and it jokingly suggests that customers not take Diane and Baard Webster's garden business too seriously. Fun display gardens fill the four acres around the couple's 1859 Italianate home. That, plus a fascinating variety of plants for sale (including more than 250 varieties of hostas), is enough to motivate Twin Cities gardeners to make the drive. 618 Pearl St., Prescott, Wis., 715-262-5593

The result is a sanctuary the couple enjoy even when they’re hard at work tending plants. “It’s where we wake up with coffee and have wine at night,” Debra says. “It’s not uncommon for nine o’clock to come around and we haven’t even had dinner yet. We lose track of time back here.”

Gardeners' Favorite: Tangletown Gardens The 1939 Pure Oil station setting provides plenty of charm, but it's the plants grown at Tangletown Gardens' own farm west of Minneapolis that are the big draw, plus the outdoor accessories from local artisans and stylish architectural elements. Full design services, topical seminars, and an annual garden tour (on July 25 this year) have generated many of the best landscape ideas in town. 5353 Nicollet Ave. S., Mpls., 612-822-4769