Yard Art
Landscape Designer Makes His Home A Showstopper
By Victor Gordon
There are some gardens in Durham that are so eye-catching they cause drivers to slow down. Frank Hyman’s dooryard oasis in Duke Park makes you want to stop the car, break off a pinch of rosemary and wander through the garden.
There are some gardens in Durham that are so eye-catching they cause drivers to slow down. Frank Hyman’s dooryard oasis in Duke Park makes you want to stop the car, break off a pinch of rosemary and wander through the garden.
It is no surprise that this mix of drought-defiant plants, creative hardscapes, artful containers, and in-season edibles is home base for a professional garden designer and horticulturalist. Nevertheless, Frank and his wife, Chris, enjoy a beautiful view from their front porch that holds inspiration for even the amateur green thumb.
Hyman is good at helping nature take its course. In 25-plus years of gardening, he has killed a lot of plants, a testament to his desire to try new things and twist old ideas. His thriving successes are distilled in the hundreds of gardens he has personally designed across what his Web site calls, “the bungalow neighborhoods” of Durham.
He has not had to drastically change his philosophies towards landscape design because of our epic drought. Smart plant choices, amended soil, wise water application and years of experience have kept his gardens growing. Hyman’s business, Cottage Garden Landscaping, caters to those who, as he puts it, “wish to have innovative and beautiful gardens that do not need babying.” One main reason for his success is a degree in landscape horticulture from North Carolina State University, where he studied under the legendary J.C. Raulston.
The spring landscape of Bayleaf Cottage, the 1926 white brick bungalow that he and Chris call home, shows off several of his favorite plants and creative ideas. Hyman explains, “The overarching theme is what I call the Traveler’s Garden….where I have tried to recreate beautiful places I’ve visited.”
Travels to Europe have influenced his planting of Mediterranean natives he sometimes favors and the English cottage garden-feel that packs his beds with tightly grouped plants (leaving little room for weeds). From a wren’s-eye perspective atop a 15-foot tall Buford holly, his front yard is laid out like a board game of mini-plots, both linked and divided by a gravel path. Collards are rumpled together, only a pebble’s toss away from oregano, lavender, and artichoke. Sword-like profiles of German iris hold promise of bearded blooms while creeping mats of evergreen moss-phlox and candytuft present low growing flowers for early spring. A shady strip of neighboring ground beside a shared driveway holds spring ephemerals such as trout lily, bloodroot, May apple, toothwort and trillium.
Plastic drums can become rain barrels, but as Hyman sees it, so can other things. Under a picture window, a galvanized steel trough from an agri-supply store will hold 300 gallons of diverted rainwater this summer, along with a few goldfish and a water lily. Hyman’s metalworking skills are showcased in an airy copper awning above this water feature. The awning is bare in late winter in order to maximize sun, but an annual summer vine (such as moonflower, scarlet runner bean, or coral vine) will later use it as an undercarriage for vigorous climbing. This foliage will provide welcome shade for his home’s front room window.
Of course, like everyone else’s front yard, this house has a lawn. But the 60-square foot wedge of fescue that his wife coined “a lawnlet” has just enough room for two adults to read, sit and sunbathe. Metal pots, clay pipes and even an old boot hold plants and pique curiosity. Field rocks, paving stones and a simple birdbath make the garden more charming.
Continuing on the plantsman’s tour, the visitor will find that fuzzy, self-sowing rose campion is popping up near the blooming hellebores. Evergreen rosettes of great coneflower (Rudbeckia maxima) will become living 7-foot tall feeders for goldfinches this July.
An eclectic garden fits Frank Hyman. In addition to his landscape design business, he is also a sculptor, artist, stone mason, carpenter, photographer and former elected city councilman. He spends a good bit of time on the lecture circuit and writing for local publications. But on a sunny April afternoon, he may be found outside enjoying his lawnlet or in the driveway tugging at a client’s whiskey barrel turned rain cistern. If you stop to chat with him about his front yard, he will likely engage you since he admits that “talking about gardening is the only thing I like more than gardening.” And in this garden, there is a lot to talk about.
For more information about Frank Hyman and Cottage Garden Landscaping, visit www.frankhyman.com.
the durham flyer.
Frank Hyman's front yard garden is layered with one-of-a-kind containers, seasonal vegetables, and drought hardy plants. By Victor Gordon
Frank Hyman in his dooryard garden. By Brandee Hayhurst
A galvanized rain barrel and rain chain next to a Lenten rose (helleborus orientalis). The rubber duckies' job is to make sure everyone is smiling. By Frank Hyman
