The Islander - Clear Lake Shores Civic Club

Yard of the Month
By Judy Young
Standing in front of Judy Boh and
Jacinda Blossman’s yard at 311 Oak,
words like jungle, natural, or non sculpted
might possibly flow through your mind.
However, if you get a feeling that beyond the part facing the
street are many lovely surprises, you’d be right.
Upon a tour of the entire yard, your mind will transform those
words to new ones like relaxed design, and artistically unique
which is not surprising since Judy and her daughter, Jacinda,
are both extremely talented sculpture artists. And, of course, a
number of Judy’s sculptures are intermingled throughout with
the plants. Before we move on to the plants, for those on the
Island who don’t already know, every year an art sale is held at
their place. It will be the week-end after Thanksgiving plus the
following Saturday. They have a wonderful studio located right
there in the garden where they create some really lovely pieces.
As for the plants, there is no possible way they can all be
named in this column. I can truthfully say of all the yards I’ve
written about, this one has by far the largest variety of different
plants. So we’ll just cover a few of the most unusual. Plus,
Jacinda seems to share the same philosophy as many of our
CLS gardeners, including me … if you like it, if it looks good,
if it grows here, plant it and enjoy it. Remembering the name is
not of primary importance unless you plan to eat it.
Starting from the front center, the relatively draught tolerant
yard is planted with foxtail and yarrow ferns, yellow bulbine,
pride of Barbados, a row of Barbados cherry, a bay tree,
jasmine around the mailbox, purslane, vitex, both pink and
white salvia, butterfly bush, ginger, cuphea (flowers look like
candy corn), plus a few unknowns including the pretty
flowering vine growing up the light pole right in front which
Jacinda designates as simply ―a nice vine‖. Okay… that’s what
you can see from the street.
On the right side is what Jacinda calls the sedum/succulent
section which, along with other various succulents, includes per
Jacinda some ―funky‖ yuccas with sharp points. Then there’s a
dwarf magnolia and a livestock watering troth filled with reeds.
All of this is bordered by a wood fence Jacinda built herself
which is covered with jasmine, Hawaiian bridal flower vine,
Rangoon creeper and fronted by two eucalyptus trees.
A path constructed by Judy and Jacinda of alternating wooden
walk, paving stones and small wooden decks bordered by large
decorative stones which serve both as decoration and water
conservation takes you through the planted areas from the front,
around the back and returns to the front. There is no grass to
mow. The entire yard is garden. Growing behind the house in
the back are crepe myrtle, something Jacinda calls a ―fern shrub
with thorns‖, fig ivy, ornamental pear, a large leaf palm, tiny
maple tree, more ginger, Mexican flame vine, philodendron,
beauty berry, weeping willow, rosemary, red Turks cap, plus a
plant Jacinda seems particularly fond of since she actually knew
the name and how to spell it as well – a Lingularia bearing
very large leaves which blooms yellow flowers in the fall. And
then there were the two tall Norfolk pine trunks. The pines
froze but Jacinda likes the trunk bark so only the limbs were
removed and the trunks remain as garden decorations.
Coming back around to the front left side there is a small
vegetable plot with an okra plant bearing very large okra. Since
waste nothing creative artist Jacinda doesn’t eat okra, she plans
to dry all it bears and make Christmas ornaments.
The last plant Jacinda shows me is one she says is a bat faced
cuphea. The small flowers look like a dark purple face with a
little white nose and red ears. They actually look pretty much
like tiny bats.
ADULT
CHRISTMAS PARTY
DATE: Friday
December 2
TIME: 8 PM — Midnight
PLACE: Club House
LIVE MUSIC PROVIDED BY:
Spiny Norman
Tickets: $10.00 Single
$15.00 Couple
Dress in Festive Casual Wear
Bring Your Favorite Finger Food!
INVITE ALL YOUR FRIENDS
FOR A NIGHT OF LIVE MUSIC,
DANCING AND FUN!!
The Suds Tub with
Keg & Margarita Machine
Will be on hand
Extra Seating on the Deck!
The Islander page 18 November 2011