TAKE 2 By Mary Lahr Schier | Photos by Tom Roster
A veteran gardener creates a new landscape for the next phase of her life.
T
rish Johnson spent more than 25 years designing, plant-
ing, and caring for the grounds around the unusual
earth-bermed home she shares with her husband, Bob,
in rural Dakota County. Not surprisingly, she felt both panic
and nostalgia as she watched heavy equipment smash the
firepit where her toddlers made their first s’mores. Workers
yanked out the bridal wreath spirea her daughters often used
to make flower crowns, along with hundreds of shrubs, trees,
and perennials Johnson had carefully planted and cultivated
over the years.
“Having an existing landscape removed in its entirety is a big
move, visually and psychologically,” says Trish, a Master
Gardener. “Except for what I potted and saved, it was gone in a
Trish Johnson’s new landscape
complements her home and
the countryside around it.
20 www .northerngardener. org
matter of days.” Despite the upheaval, Trish would do it again.
By starting over, Trish and Bob got a fresh landscape that will
take them into retirement and beyond. They have reshaped
the outdoor spaces around their home into a series of decks
and gardens that feel comfortable whether it’s just the two of
them having coffee in the morning or a crowd of 60 for a back-
yard barbeque. Their new landscape gives them a cabin-like
retreat without the drive, and expands their living space enor-
mously for at least six months a year.
Moreover, the new landscape complements and
enhances the appearance of their distinctive home, and
most important to Trish, it blends seamlessly into the
countryside around them.
Starting Over
Trish and Bob bought the property in 1979, and over two
years, built the passive-solar, four-story house. Though mod-
ern in design, the home’s use of natural materials gives visi-
tors the sense that it simply rose from the rolling fields around
it, like a rock outcropping or a bluff. In the 25 years they have
lived there, Trish and Bob have purchased land around them as
it became available, returning cropland to prairie and woods.
Currently, they own 100 acres. A few years ago, Trish and Bob
decided to remain in the house after retirement. That decision
and the aging of the landscaping Trish had installed over the
years prompted the choice to start from scratch.
They contacted several landscape architects to help them
with the project, which they knew would be large, complicated,
and expensive. After interviewing several, they settled on
Jordan-based landscape architect Herb Baldwin. Trish immedi-
ately sensed Baldwin’s sympathy with the property. “He didn’t
look at the house and say, ‘well, you need this or this.’ He said,
‘this is a beautiful piece of land,’” Trish recalls.
As a gardener with 30 years experience, Trish was a knowl-
edgeable and opinionated client. She loved Baldwin’s affinity
with the property and his scheme for making the most of it,
but had her own ideas as well. “Gardeners want one of every-
thing,” she says, “while landscapers have a vision. They are
thinking about masses of colors and shapes and forms. Herb
had strong opinions and ideas, but I never felt he was brow-
beating me to do something.” Trish vetoed certain plants: no
Tollefson’s juniper or Amur maples were allowed in her garden.
(A compromise allowed five—but on probation.) She endorsed
Baldwin’s idea of a lower-maintenance landscape with fewer
Changes in hardscaping and plants indicate changes in function.
A plexiglass window over the cabana lets light in and keeps rain out.
types of plants and a more dramatic use of water and rocks. “It
was hard to say good-bye to 30 peonies and 45 daylilies, but I
wanted a garden that was a little easier to keep up,” she says.
Big Plans, Lots of Dirt
After deciding to go ahead with the landscaping project in
early 2005, the Johnsons and Baldwin spent the next six
months planning. Trish saved all of Baldwin’s fluid drawings of
the planned garden, reminders that from the mud and debris
around her something wonderful would emerge. Demolition
on the property started in fall of 2005, with decks added that
fall. The rest of the work was completed from April through
November 2006, with some finishing work done in early 2007.
Trish recalls that early in the spring of 2006 the foreman from
Landshapes Inc., the Minneapolis-based contractor that did
the landscaping, came to her door. “Hello, Mrs. Johnson, I’ll be
with you for most of the next year,” he said. Says Trish, “One
thing that kept me going was I never felt I had been aban-
doned. They always had somebody working on something.”
Trish takes a rare break. Bottom: Rugged materials enhance the kitchen.
January/February 2008 21
take 2

Clockwise from top left: Karl Foerster grass; Liatris spectata ‘Alba’ from Trish’s white garden; copper-capped pillars add a vertical accent to the water feature;
wooden grates provide a geometric element to the deck and can be expanded as the trees grow; perforated copper leaves create sound and reflect light.

22 www .northerngardener. org

 Landscape with Art
Trish Johnson’s garden is
exciting to see even when
The scope of the Johnson project demanded that kind of nothing is blooming. One
attention because it involved reshaping parts of the land reason is the art she has
around their home. The biggest change in the property was arranged throughout the
the addition of a 1.5 acre pond south of the house. The area landscape. Trish buys from
had been a field, and the Johnsons had always wanted a individual artists—she has a
pond. Fortunately, they needed fill to raise the elevation of pieces by Peter Woytuk,
the land around the house to create lawn spaces as well as Bruce Mainquist, and
water features that link the house to a new pool area about Andrew Carson. She also
100 feet away. After taking soil borings around the proposed commissioned Minneapolis
pond site, the Johnsons found a location with heavy clay artist Holly Vrieze to design
soil. A second well was dug to fill the pond and provide and create metal sculptures
water for irrigation. The pond is tapered to 15 feet deep in that are part of the pergolas,
the center, and with only a slight addition of Bentonite, it arches, and buildings in the
holds water well, Trish says. The pond’s interior has ledges of new landscape. She buys from catalogs and garden stores, too.
rocks and upturned stumps from the landscape removal, creat- Whatever it is, though, the art is likely to be iron.
ing the ideal environment for the 700-plus fingerling fish Bob “Sometimes my kids ask me if we’re growing plants here or
added in October. A small island in the pond was planted with rusty iron,” jokes Trish. “I love sculpture in the garden. You get
red-twig dogwood and Siberian iris. Trish uses a john boat to the vertical element and sculpture works in places that pots
get to the site to perform maintenance. don’t. It also adds winter interest and I’d rather look at a sculp-
The fill from the pond raised a portion of the lawn 6 feet, ture than brown plants.”
enough to give Trish a broad expanse of grass in an area that Art can also solve design problems. The brook that travels
had held the family’s swimming pool. (The old pool was buried from near Trish’s house toward the pool more than 20 feet lower
in the process.) In addition to the major excavation of the needed a vertical element. The solution Trish and landscape
pond, the landscape plan called for the addition of limestone architect Herb Baldwin found is inventive yet perfectly natural
retaining walls that connect the dramatic water features, within the scene: stone posts topped with copper caps. —M.L.S.
plantings, and stonework around the house and pool.
At the top, near the house, sits a copper reflecting pool. It
holds 11 copper leaves, created by Anurag Art in Stillwater.
The perforated leaf sculptures allow water to drip onto the Planning a
pool surface, creating soft sounds and patterns of light. From Big Project?
the reflecting pool, water appears to move down a stone-lined Trish Johnson offers sug-
brook, next to a path leading to the new swimming pool. gestions for homeowners
Finally, the water falls over a limestone ledge and into the considering a major
pool. Though the feature appears seamless, it’s three separate landscaping project.
systems, each with its own pump. That’s not the only artifice • Do your research. To
around the pool. Two large stones overhanging the pool are know what you want,
not stones at all, but poured concrete that stone artisan visit other gardens,
Michael Hancock colored and shaped to mimic the look of the look at magazines, and
Cannon Falls limestone around the brook and pool. watch what other peo-
On the other side of the pool is a new outdoor kitchen and ple grow. Study hard-
cabana designed by the Minneapolis architectural firm of scaping options, too.
Yunkers Associates. The large cooking and dining area is under Trish visits the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum several times
an octagonal shaped roof with a skylight in the center. As a year to observe plants she may grow in the future.
impressive as the property is, Trish has a practical streak. The • Get help. For a major landscape renovation, consulting with a
burnished-block building behind the kitchen contains a bath- professional will prompt new ideas. Even if you plan to do
room, changing area, and mechanicals for the kitchen and most of the work yourself, consider having a designer look at
pool. This structure was built much like those found in state your property or do a rough sketch. (See page 28 for more on
parks. “I wanted to be able to come out, hose it down, planning a landscape.)
squeegee it off, and be ready for the season,” says Trish. • Work with people who understand that the project is a collabo-
ration between your ideas and theirs. Check references.
Creating Zones and Gardens Interview several before making your choice.
Creating a massive landscape requires that it be divided and • Expect dirt. Ripping up a landscape will be messy, possibly for
defined. “I like the subtle emphasis on space transitions that months.
Herb has incorporated,” says Trish. “He creates textural change • Know your budget. Know your budget and share it with your
in the hardscape to indicate a chance in the landscape use.” landscape designer to make sure the plan is in line with what
Sections of the landscape are defined by stones, wooden decks, you can spend. You may be able to reduce costs by doing
and crushed rock. Ambience also changes from space to space. some work yourself or by stretching the project out over more
than one season. —M.L.S.

January/February 2008 23
take 2
The areas around the entry to the house are more formal and
shaped, using New York blue stone or wood decking material
with trees growing through geometric slats. Iron work, art and
a large iron-adorned pergola give the areas winter interest and
formality.
Farther away, the look gets more informal, with rocks inter-
spersed with naturalistic looking plantings of shrubs and
grasses. Near the cabana and its kitchen sits Trish’s vegetable
garden—six neat raised beds separated by crush rock paths.
This garden, where she grows berries, green beans, lettuces,
tomatoes—“just the things we’ll eat”—is also convenient to
Fill from a newly dug pond helped raise the property’s elevation so hardscaping and plantings could be added.
24 www .northerngardener. org
Clockwise from top left: Sedum grow around flag stones;
the family fire pit; trees to grow through the deck; a copper
frame and bright pots create a charming sitting area.
the house and its east-facing deck. “The idea is to
be able to walk down in your slippers and pick
raspberries for breakfast without getting your feet
wet,” says Trish.
On the other side of the cabana, Trish nurtures
an orchard of apple, apricot, and plum trees.
Another hillside is covered with American plum
and below that serviceberry. Trish wanted to create
“huge swaths of shrubs and trees that will be a
visual and green barrier,” she says. Then finally,
the landscape goes positively wild with the pond
and prairie plantings that surround the main house
and gardens. Where the planned landscape and
prairie merge, she has planted a mix of no-mow
fescue and taller grasses to add texture, as well as
habitat for birds and animals.
Around the west side of the property are several
smaller, distinct gardens. An herb garden sits just
outside Trish’s greenhouse, surrounded by heat-
absorbing, dry-laid stone walls. Beyond that is a
formal garden, edged with Korean boxwood, then
an arbor covered with roses, honeysuckle, trumpet
vine, and kiwi, and finally, a white garden filled
with lilies, liatris, and other white plants.
With the new landscaping in, Trish has vowed to leave it
alone for a year or two, to let the landscape develop without
meddling. After that, who knows? She’s a gardener who likes
to experiment, trying shade-loving plants in sun, pushing
zones, looking for new ways to shape her environment. For
now, though, she is blissful about her new landscape.
“We would do it again in a heartbeat,” she says.
Mary Lahr Schier is editor of Northern Gardener. Read her blog
at www.mynortherngarden.wordpress.com.