 |
|
Nearly
every square inch of Barbara Nickel’s yard is filled with
plants and flowers.
|
Barbara Nickel’s husband, Duane,
generally has a few extra hours in his weekend each week. That’s
because unlike many homeowners, he doesn’t have to mow his lawn. His
wife’s plants cover nearly every inch of their city of Waukesha lot.
Filled with day lilies and
complementary plants, Nickel’s blooms are legendary. She willingly
shares plants with those who stop and admire her handiwork.
"Whether they like the way I garden or not, people come away with
ideas and plants for their gardens," says Nickel.
Obsession is probably the most
appropriate word to describe this master gardener’s floral passion.
After having run out of gardening space in the backyard, Nickel began
planting along the driveway and finally took over the front yard.
There are a few grassy paths through the various beds in the backyard,
a little circle of grass in the front yard and a piece of green
between the sidewalk and the road for Duane to mow.
"I consider myself a cottage
gardener," she says, "anything goes. You don’t have to
worry about doing it the wrong way. And I like the fullness and the
beauty that goes into a cottage garden."
 |
|
Recycled
items, such as this old pail, are used for plants.
|
Tucking fennel, milkweed, parsley and
other herbs in between the sweet Williams, delphiniums, peonies and
hollyhocks, Nickel utilizes every inch of dirt. There’s a tiny bed
filled with cacti and succulents. She grows lantanas into topiaries
for the butterflies. "They’re a magnet for butterflies,"
she explains.
The only space still available to grow
anything appears to be vertical so she’s added clematis and climbing
roses, which wind their stems up old gardening implements and other
"junk art." An old hubcap has been transformed into a
birdbath. She’s tied old shovels and hoes into teepees to support
her clematis. A wooden chair with the seat removed supports a pot of
herbs. And Duane does his part by making birdhouses out of recycled
pieces of wood. "I like things old and rustic looking," says
Nickel.
But it’s her day lilies that steal
the show. Originating in Asia, the plant has really taken off in the
United States because of its hardiness, variety and versatility. Of
the potential 58,000 cultivators available, Nickel has more than 300
in her backyard. That number doesn’t include the ones located in one
of her three, 30-foot by 30-foot garden plots that she rents from the
city near the Huber facility.
The day lily bug bit when a friend gave
her some of the old-fashioned orange blossoms. Because of their
resistance to disease and hardiness, she continued to add to her
collection. "There’s such a variety of color and form,"
explains Nickel. "Some are repeat bloomers; some have ruffled
edges." There are varieties that are as small as six inches in
height; others grow to six feet. "If you’re a new gardener,
they’re very easy to grow," she added. And they’re good
companions to other annuals or perennials.
 |
|
Barbara
Nickel has more than 300 day lilies in her yard. She mixes
other plants in and around the day lilies creating a
kaleidoscope of color.
|
Day lilies come in any color but blue.
They can carry a color theme and can be grown from seed although
Nickel purchases dry roots from catalogs. It takes two to three years
to grow a blooming plant from a seed. And to get the best out of the
plant, day lilies require at least six hours of sun.
Her two favorites are "Always
Afternoon," a purple variety with a greenish throat and a
different colored edge and "Ruby Spider," which is red and
yellow with big, open petals. And she dabbles in hybridizing, or
creating her own varieties, learning the techniques from members of
the three day lily clubs she belongs to.
Many of Nickel’s plant choices are
the result of her decision to go organic. She prefers to plant things
that don’t require any chemicals to make them bloom, hence the
climbing roses rather than the hybrid teas. She mulches everything to
conserve water, uses soaker hoses to direct the precise amount of
water to a specific area and recycles newspapers by putting them in
between the rows to keep the weeds down.
At the plots she rents, Nickel grows
vegetables, raspberries, perennials and seedlings from her hybridizing
experiences. This summer she plans on taking some of her old species
from her yard and transplanting them to one of the gardens across town
and then moving some of her perennials back to her house. She also
intends to start a strawberry garden in one of the plots.
"Gardening improves your
life," says Nickel. "It gives you energy and exercise. It’s
a wonderful obsession with me."
|
