“Builder boring” was the landscape genre the Lietzes encountered when they purchased their
lakefront home in Moneta, Virginia, in 2004. A thin, weedy lawn sloped down to
the front door, and an uninvitingly narrow concrete path ran in a straight line
across the front of the house from the driveway before doglegging at a right
angle to the front door. A smattering of shrubs dotted the space between the
path and the front porch.
Kathy Lietz had a vision for something better. Inspired by the beautiful,
flower-filled gardens belonging to her grandmother and her mother-in-law, Kathy
pictured a seating area in front surrounded by blooming perennials. In addition
to beautifying the front entry, her concept provided an outside-the-box
solution to the couple’s desire to have a spot with southern exposure where they could sit outside on
mild winter days. The question was how to realize the vision. To give herself
the courage to do it as well as get some guidance, she hired landscape
architect Dan Chitwood of Roanoke, Virginia, to draw up a conceptual plan.
Chitwood’s design significantly enlarged the front walkway, making it much more graceful
and welcoming. Beginning at the driveway, it opens wide, embracing arriving
guests and drawing them into the space. The walkway narrows and curves in the
middle as it passes through lushly planted beds on either side, opening into a
circular patio near the front door. A comfortable space furnished with a cafe
table and two chairs, the patio is a delightful place to sit throughout the
year.
Once the plan was on paper, the Lietzes set about implementing it. To create
enough level space, they bulldozed back the slope by a few feet, gently angling
the degree of the remaining incline to create a pleasing sense of enclosure
without having a steep precipice looming over the seating area. The result is a
private “cup garden,” where the plants are presented beautifully on the slope, each shown off to
excellent advantage.
Kathy was concerned that the busy-looking house facade featured too many
different materials, colors, and textures. In addition to gray clapboard, brown
shingle siding, and gray stonework on various wall surfaces, the front porch
was paved with an orange-colored material. To delete one color from the
architectural scheme, she instructed the workers to remove the orange porch
paving and replace it with the same stamped concrete pattern used for the path
and patio. Now the paving material visually unifies the space from the driveway
to the front door.
Once the front area was enlarged and graded, the path installed, and the soil
amended, the fun stage began. Kathy, who is an aspiring artist, channeled the
gardening lessons she learned from her grandmother and mother-in-law as she “painted” with plants on the blank canvas of the empty garden beds. “I liked the idea of perennial plants,” she says, “because they come back.”
Her color palette is primarily blue, yellow, and orange, with the splash of bold
pink from the disease-resistant Knock Out roses. “My personal tendency would be to go for the peach colors,” she says, “but I’ve learned that they don’t give as much bang for the buck in the bright sun in our climate. Orange and
yellow show up well, and the blues look so good against them.”
