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closelocal roots: Neighborhood notices changes over the years
Nancy Draper / guest columnist
Deloris Ludden’s circa 1900 house has been her home for 48 years — a home she shared with her late husband Jerry and where they raised six children. The Luddens were busy in their early years, as owners of a hardware store on Sumner’s Main Street, an easy walk from their home. All six of the Ludden children worked alongside their parents. But as her children married and moved to homes of their own, Deloris had the time to begin transforming her yard into a beautiful and inviting space where neighbors stroll past and admire her wide array of plants, especially her many beautiful roses, from the sidewalk beyond her fence.
“I’m proud of what I’ve done with my yard, and I am really happy when people stop to admire it,” Deloris said. “I’m on a corner lot, and I like it that people can see my back yard. Many tell me how nice it looks, and I enjoy hearing that.”
Over the last 10 to 12 years Deloris has put a great deal of effort into this project, and she feels that it has really taken a nice shape. She dug out additional curved and oval-shaped beds by taking out grass and turning the sod to create a raised planting area. She also painted the side of her garage and then added some hanging art pieces to the wall, which faces into her garden. This acts as a backdrop to her rose and perennial beds.
She built a new walkway around and throughout her garden, laying each brick by hand. Deloris also built her garden gate to finish the look of the arbor which leads from the front to back yards.
In addition to the nearly 60 roses, Deloris has filled her beds with many hostas, in colors ranging from blue to green to variegated varieties, which she enjoys dividing in the early spring to share with friends and family. Her beds are also filled with astilbe, heuchera, ferns, iris, peonies, wegeilia and dogwood.
Deloris has a garden space for her tomato plants and starts these and many of her annuals from seed, setting trays in a sunny garden window in her kitchen, long before warm weather arrives.
“I love to be in my garden, but I’m a fair weather gardener. This spring has meant a slow start to enjoying this yard.”
The sunny windows looking out from Deloris’ kitchen and living room provide a great spot to enjoy her beautiful garden on rainy days, but sitting in one of the two Adirondack chairs in the middle of this welcoming and beautiful space assures a relaxing and pleasurable visit to Deloris’ well-tended garden.