“There are two secret gardens here!” said Jutta Arkan, president of the Prairie Garden Club at the time, as soon as I arrived for a garden tour sponsored by the club mid-August.
Sure enough. Hard to believe, but in the cozy front yard of an Avenues house, there was a spot from which you could sit and enjoy a bit of garden that no one expected existed.
Then, through a massive wood door, down a narrow passageway between the brick house and the high wooden fence, was the backyard and another hidden spot. It even had a table to go with the chair. The secret places were made with homeowner and gardener Amy Connaghan’s young grandsons in mind.
There were a lot of small, artistic touches to see: An interesting flower here, set off by textures of leaves, and over there, leaves set off by an artful collection of rocks and a piece of garden art.
Everything looked so lush. It was hard to believe we’d had a major hailstorm over nearly the whole city just three weeks before. Some of the garden’s lushness was provided by ornamental perennials with large leaves — the kind I steer away from because it doesn’t take much hail to shred them.
And, in the backyard, there was the sound of water falling over rocks, just loud enough to mask most outside noise. Just enough to sound soothing and attract birds.
Every inch of this small city lot circa the 1920s has been thoughtfully landscaped, even the Swedish columnar aspens forming a living wall along the lot line. Other, more compact trees spread their canopies, providing a leafy ceiling, along with a pergola supporting a wisteria vine.
On my return a few days later to formally interview Amy, we sat under the pergola on a comfortable couch covered in weather resistant red upholstery.
I was reminded how delightful it is to sit in a garden on a beautiful day. Garden time shouldn’t be spent 100 percent on our knees pulling weeds.
Amy talked about growing up in Cheyenne as one of 10 kids in her family. She remembers that her dad, as hard as he worked, took time to relax by pruning their cotoneaster hedge.
Amy spent time around flowers with her aunt at the Hutchins Greenhouse and Flower Shop by the cemetery.
But it was some time after her art degree from the University of Wyoming, marriage and establishing a family, that Amy found gardening. For the last 32 years, she has tended this garden. Her son helps her, especially with things like placement of the rocks for the waterfalls. The rocks were from someone who didn’t want them anymore.
But I was still wondering how Amy’s garden could look so lush after so much hail devastation elsewhere. Her secret is that her profession allows her to work at home, and she keeps an eye on the weather, leaning screens over plants whenever the skies look threatening.
Just old window screens, she said. I took a harder look at the windows on the front of her house — no screens? Those screens? Right. With such a lovely garden, who wouldn’t prefer to be sitting out under the pergola in summer instead of in the house to drink morning coffee or eat lunch or just plain relax?
It was so pleasant out there that our interview drifted along for an hour without always addressing gardening. When I got home, I realized I needed to know more about Amy’s plants, so I asked her to make a list of her top 10 favorites. Well, as you’ll see, it became 12. She couldn’t leave anyone out. The comments with each plant name are Amy’s.
Amy’s favorite plants
(Not necessarily in order of best loved.)
Wisteria. Aromatically pleasing, beautiful and bees love it!Hydrangea. It presents an Old World and romantic background.Oriental poppy. They’re vibrant pollinators!Queen Anne’s Lace. Ethereal, lacy pinwheel, smells sweet and the seed pods are prolific.Beebalm. Unusual, beautiful flower and attracts hummingbirds!Miniature hollyhock. Exquisitely dainty and beautiful.Tardy tulip. Brings happiness to the bees in the spring and looks beautiful with grape hyacinths.Grape Lollipop phlox. Amazing with flame shaped celosia and rudbeckia.Verbena. Its vibrancy attracts hummingbirds.Lungwort. I like its otherworldly dappled spots.Willowleaf sunflower. Eccentric, Dr. Seuss plant.Hibiscus ‘Starry Starry Night.’ A showstopper that keeps my hopes up late into the season.
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