2009 Homes and Gardens Tour
For additional information, contact J.W. Williamson, jww@boone.net or 828-262-5119

The 2009 Home and Garden Tour in Watauga County will spotlight six homes and their gardens, including a 30-year-old spacious remodel, with English perennial border and koi pond; a 600-square-foot cottage directly on the banks of Goshen Creek in one of the county’s earliest tourist retreats; two historic properties once owned by some of Boone’s pioneer gardeners, now graced with newish homes; a custom-built, architect-designed dwelling originally built for a practicing artist; and a charming mountain lair that grew like topsy, from its first incarnation as a woodworking shop, into a showcase for rustic whimsy.

The tour, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 27, will be self-guided and go-at-your-own-pace. The ticket price ($25 in advance, $30 on the day of) includes a box lunch. Lunches will be served at the Jones House in downtown Boone, one of the town’s premier preserved historic properties. A plant sale will also be held at the Jones House as a part of the tour, which is sponsored by the Watauga County Democratic Party (www.WataugaDems.com).

The home designed by Claus Moberg for artist Peggy Polson follows simple lines with shades of Asian inspiration, solar features, and many custom interior details. The present owners have an extensive art collection of their own and have especially appreciated how the home is flooded with light. The long, wide driveway was recently redesigned and installed with porous pavers to minimize run-off. The central garden walk is flanked by massed displays of two varieties of spirea, Hydrangea paniculata, summer sweet clethra, turtle heads, daylilies, exotic dogwoods, and two cultivars of Weigela florida, among other specimens.

The vintage garden structures at the historic Mabel Bingham Brown family “park” (now owned by Nan and Saul Chase) and the Cora Pearl Jeffcoat home and garden on Grand Boulevard (now owned by Judy Humphrey and Terry Taylor) offer some of the most mature landscapes in the town of Boone, featuring (in the first example) a huge outdoor fireplace and wall of native stone with picnic pavilion and (in the second) stone terracing with handcrafted gates, fences, koi pond, gazebo and a formal English vegetable garden.

A house and garden dubbed “Takoma” by its owners was given two extensive remodelings in the last decade to add entry foyer, dining room, garage, two decks, master bathroom, and exercise room, among other amenities. The work of master gardener Tom Normand accounts for extensive specimen plantings with both a vegetable and a cutting garden and borders of flowering shrubs, perennials, and annuals which Tom raises in his own greenhouse. The crowning garden feature is a well situated koi pond outside the dining room, graced with a five-foot waterfall.

The Tommy Light cottage dates from 1970 and is located in what was called Dexter Hills in the 1950s, renamed Holiday Hills in the 1960s when Piedmont tourists began building small second-home getaways. The Light cottage sits directly on the banks of Goshen Creek, with a private pond flanking it on the opposite side. It features a pergola made of reclaimed cedar, a tiny guest house, a covered deck, and specimen perennials, Japanese maples, evergreens, and shrubs.

The Tilson home seems to prove the adage that “Necessity is the Mother of Invention.” The house began as a woodworking shop, but circumstances soon turned it into make-shift living quarters that over 16 or more years developed into one of the more charming homes in the county. Beginning with sawmill lumber, recycled windows, some doors found in dumpsters, the house now features a double detached garage, a master suite and office, a sunroom, guest room and sewing room, several decks, all decorated with a collection of artwork and crafts. The garden is a series of raised beds, rustic fences, and a pond. Extensive trails poke out into the surrounding woods.

Ticket information: Tickets are available at the Appalachian Antique Mall in downtown Boone (631 W. King St.) and every Saturday morning through June 20 at the Watauga County Farmers Market. Tickets may also be obtained on-line through PayPal: www.WataugaDems.com. On the day of the tour, tickets will be available only at the Jones House in downtown Boone.

Plant Sale: A sale of plants dug from county gardens, including many rare and unusual perennials and shrubs, will be held at the Jones House, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m., on the day of the tour. Among some of the rarer plants available for purchase are a native bush honeysuckle (Diervilla sessilifolia), Acanthus, Filipendula, Ligularia, named varieties of Hosta, and many other plants, both common and rare.