Simply Spectacular

Four years after beginning construction on their custom waterfront home on Smith Mountain Lake, Judy Smith began to get cold feet. She started creating excuses for why she couldn’t move from her home in Forest to the lake house. Perhaps the most unusual was that she could not leave behind four large trees she had grown from saplings.
    Her husband sprang into action, consulting with landscape architect Cabell Crowther, who suggested they move the trees to the new property in The Waterfront Country Club community. So, on a cold day in January 2005, five workers from a local landscape company arrived in Forest with heavy equipment to unearth the trees, wrap the root balls in burlap, transport them to the lake and replant them.  
    “It took five guys 5½ hours to dig up one tree and wrap the roots,” said Steve Smith. “The root ball was so heavy, the back of the front-end loader rose in the air. Five 200-pound guys had to stand on the back of the machine as counterbalance.”
    Those four trees, which would have cost far more to replace than to move, are key to the Smith’s garden design, which won this year’s Lovely Laker Landscape Contest.
    Now at least 25 feet tall, the coral bark Japanese maple (Acer palmatum ‘Sango-kaku’) is a focal point at the front entrance, adding year-round interest with its vivid coral-colored branches in winter, lime-green leaves in spring and summer and golden autumn foliage. The maroon hue of the ‘Bloodgood’ Japanese maple softens the opposite corner. A third Japanese maple provides shade to the exercise spa while the relocated lace leaf maple graces a corner in the side garden.
    Moving the specimen trees was just one of the many house design and landscape hurdles. Although the property has 550 feet of shoreline, the lot is long and skinny, presenting challenges to both architect Danny Goins and landscape architect Crowther. Each had to figure out how to fit the house and garden onto the lot, adhering to the Franklin County and Shoreline Management Plan setback codes, while still providing ample living space. Both designers rose to the challenge.  
    “The house literally could not have been an inch bigger,” said Judy. “There are all sorts of odd angles to accommodate the lot, and the entire house is pointed toward the Peaks of Otter view.”
    The garden is terraced to create level areas. The stone retaining walls have serpentine curves to reduce the impression of their height and length, also adding a delightful sense of mystery because the curves obscure the view from one end to the other.  
    In a garden of this size, it would have been an easy pitfall to fill it with hundreds of different plant varieties. Instead, the Smiths realized the importance of making a large statement with swaths and ribbons of one plant. Groves of Heritage river birch flank the driveway. The ornamental grass Miscanthus sinensis follows the arch of the sandy beach.     Large-leaf hydrangea soften the house foundations on the shady side, while a mass planting of the sun-loving Annabelle hydrangeas fill a sunny spot. Judy’s latest idea is a layered row of hydrangeas combining the long-flowering, 8-foot tall ‘Limelight’ behind ‘Little Lime,’ a new dwarf introduction that tops at 5 feet.  
    Judy chose her shrubs for their suitability to the lake environs and their diverse seasonal interest: rhododendrons in spring, St. John’s wort for early summer, different types of hydrangeas, Knock Out roses for long summer interest, and evergreens such as ‘Kleim’s Hardy’ gardenia and the compact ‘Soft Touch’ holly. Carefully positioned trees provide needed shade at different times of year.
    Deeply involved with the care of the garden, Judy walks the property daily, noticing which plants need a little feeding, a little pruning, a bit more water, giving the care as needed.
    “I have a feel for plants and their watering and feeding needs,” she said. “You just have to be observant and look at them. When we started, we also had our soil tested, which helped me to learn what was needed.”  
    When she does fertilize, Judy said she is careful to use the minimum required to meet the plants’ needs without causing leaching into the lake.
    “Too little fertilizer is better than too much,” she advised.
    Now happily settled in their home, Judy laughed when recalling her qualms about the move. In addition to her passion for the garden, both Steve and Judy are actively involved in the lake community. Judy is a member of both the Moneta and Smith Mountain Lake garden clubs and volunteers at the Southern Virginia Child Advocacy Center in Rocky Mount. In her spare time, she draws and works in pastels. Steve is an avid golfer and an accomplished duplicate bridge player. They are supporters of the Roanoke Symphony, and you can catch Steve performing with the Smith Mountain Lake Harmeneers barbershop chorus.

    As winners of Smith Mountain Laker Magazine’s fifth Lovely Laker Landscape Contest, the Smiths will receive $1,000 in credit to use on plants, materials or anything else available at Lakescapes Nursery.

Judy Smith’s 13 Favorite Plants

• Coral bark maple (Acer palmatum ‘Sango-kaku’): I love the 4-season interest: coral branches in winter, lime green leaves in spring and summer and golden fall foliage.
• Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’: It has huge, spectacular blooms that change from white to apple green. It’s great for dried flowers, and since it blooms on new wood, I can cut it back in winter.
• ‘Kleim’s Hardy’ gardenia: They are evergreen all year, and have white, fragrant blooms from spring until frost.
• ‘Natchez’ crape myrtle: They have a classic look in the landscape and provide late summer to fall blooms. They can be pruned, but do not lop off the tops of the branches. That kind of pruning ruins the shape of the tree.
• American yellowwood tree (Cladrastis kentukea, aka C. lutea): A Virginia native, it has beautiful branch structure and white wisteria-like blooms in the late spring.
• Chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus): I love the shape of this tree, which reminds me of [the movie] “Out of Africa,” and the spiky lavender blooms from spring to early summer.
• Cryptomeria japonica ‘Yoshino’: This is the most beautiful evergreen I have ever seen.
• Viburnum plicatum tomentosum ‘Summer Snowflake’: An upright viburnum with layers of white blooms in the spring that last for many weeks, the deer will not eat this shrub. Viburnum ‘Shasta’ is another favorite that is more horizontal in habit than ‘Summer Snowflake.’  
• Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Alice’ (oakleaf hydrangea): When planted en masse, it’s absolutely stunning. The cone-shaped white blooms are 12 inches long in spring, and it has beautiful fall foliage.
• Bald cypress (Taxodium distichum): A deciduous conifer that is absolutely beautiful in all seasons.
• Bloodgood’ Japanese maple:  I love its branch structure and the beautiful leaf shape and color.
• Dwarf maiden grass (Miscanthus sinensis ‘Adagio’): This grass is gorgeous in all seasons and grows to only 3-4 feet.
• Sedum ‘Vera Jameson’: A ground cover sedum that blooms purple-pink in late summer.