Little Rock -- Ruthie's Garden

12 digital images and 1 folder.

The owners purchased this tree-shaded parcel of less than one acre in 1968, and had the one-story wood, glass and stone house built with cut-outs in the roofline and overhangs for nearby mature trees. Additional hardscaping was added over the years using indigenous rocks collected by the owners. Raised garden beds were built above walls of rocks or stacked railroad ties; plants were selected that would thrive under the shade of pine and oak. Soil had to be added and plants switched out: the zoysia lawn did not thrive in the shade and was replaced with hand-planted mondo grass. Native hawthorn and mahonia, yaupon holly, magnolia transplanted from a childhood home and holly fern are planted next to the house. A curving rock wall near the carport supports a bed planted with forsythia, iris, nicotiana, arum lilies, allium and columbine. Another low rock wall borders a koi pond; a serpentine stream winds between boulders. Eighteen inches of soil were added to the rear garden before it was planted with azaleas, ferns, hellebores, hydrangeas, dogwoods, and Japanese maples in addition to the oak and pine. The raised garden above the railroad tie wall has a perennial flower bed with a rock border growing iris, hellebores, coneflowers, hardy strawberry ground cover and two boxwood. The space between the house and the retaining walls is paved with native river stones collected by the owners, with one red stone from another childhood home. Within the house there is an open air atrium that divides public and private spaces. It contains a sculpture of a cattail plant, a sweet bay magnolia, holly ferns and more river stones set as radiating sunbeams. Persons associated with the garden include: Wiley T. Jones, Jr. (1914-1991) (landscape architect, 1968-1991); P. Allen Smith (landscape architect, no dates given); Gene Withrow (architect, 1968); Cissy and Reg Coghlan (sculptors, 1973).