Gardens, Pools & Spas
A Leap of Faith
Ladue homeowners jump into the challenge of transforming an ordinary yard into an extraordinary garden retreat.
BY
Lucyann Boston
PHOTOGRAPHY
Michael Jacob







Karen and Kermit have a lot in common. First, there are the initials: Karen Frimel; Kermit the Frog. Then, there’s the affection Karen has for Kermit’s warty, web-footed kin. At last count, a couple dozen of the frog reproductions, ranging from wonderfully whimsical to touch-to-be-sure lifelike, decorate her one-acre Ladue garden.

She also can sympathize with Kermit on the occasional difficulty he encounters in being green. When Karen and her husband, dentist Greg Frimel, purchased their home 14 years ago, the backyard needed help. The mature trees were a plus, but the undergrowth of invasive honeysuckle coupled with an excessive amount of gravel was not the kind of green Karen, who loved gardening, sought.

In what proved to be a perfect partnership, Greg began clearing the land and, as space became available, Karen concentrated on what to plant. “We pushed the gravel back – we literally took it out in pails – and kept pulling the garden back,” explains Karen, noting that the first plants she added were hosta.

“They were the only thing I knew how to grow in the shade,” she says with a laugh. “Then I started putting in different things to break up the expanse of hosta.”
The exterior perimeter of the garden she lined with woodsy oak-leaf hydrangeas, rhododendrons and dogwoods. Along gravel and stepping-stone pathways, azaleas and ground-cover forsythia now provide garden structure and spring color. “I keep columbine to the back of the garden where it can seed freely,” she notes. In the fall delicate, orchid-like toad lilies provide interest. Where sun splashes through the shade, daylilies provide shots of summer color. “I go to the Missouri Botanical Garden sale and look for daylilies with early, middle and late (summer) bloom times so something is always flowering.”

A variety of ground covers including ajuga, lysimachia and ferns add texture at ground level. To the side of the garden, the couple added a swimming pool as a focal point for their three now-grown daughters. Designed specifically with a dark, blue-green Pebble Tec finish, it has the feel of a woodland pond rather than an aquamarine pool.

While the plants are lovely and well sited, what gives the Frimel garden its special charm is the wonderful selection of artifacts that Karen transforms into dividers and planters.
Six wrought iron gates, collected at various times and from different places, separate the landscape into several garden “rooms.” They also cause visitors strolling through the garden to pause and view each area separately.

Karen’s ingenuity can transform almost any object into a planter, be it a table without its glass top or an ice cream parlor chair with a hole in the seat just large enough for a flowerpot. Tall planters even get topped with decorative birdhouses.

Tired of hauling water in the heat of summer to the containers around her pool, she transformed several shallow birdbaths into succulent planters that thrive with only occasional moisture.
Then, there are those frogs. “They seemed like a natural thing to add to the garden,” she says, recalling how she first began her collection. “My husband likes the more whimsical ones, while I tend to buy the more realistic ones. I like them because most of the frogs are low to the ground. They make people stop and look down; people even think some of them are real. I want people to be surprised as they walk through the garden.

“Each fall I bring them in – usually in the face of freezing temperatures and a sleet storm,” she adds. “In the spring I take time to look at the frogs and think about where to place them.

“The garden is like one big art project to me,” Karen continues. “I’ll see something that looks interesting and buy it on the spur of the moment. I don’t even know what I’m going to do with it. It’s a leap of faith.” Leaping; that’s another thing Karen and Kermit have in common.

KAREN’S GARDENING TIPS

One of Karen Frimel’s goals in designing her garden is to have it as maintenance-free as possible. Here are some of her tips toward improving your garden and making it work for you.

•    If something doesn’t work one place, try another. Don’t give up.

•    Try for mass coverage. There’s not as much work if the ground’s covered.

•    Top containers with mulch to preserve moisture.

•    When selecting plants, think about how the garden will look year-round. Don’t forget trees and shrubs that provide winter color; coral bark maple, red twig dogwood, river birch with its cinnamon exfoliating bark, and oak-leaf hydrangea, which has late fall color and interesting branches and bark.

•    Be sure to include some plants with white or cream-colored flowers that can be seen at night from a patio or deck.

•    Keep your eyes open for new gardening ideas. “I like to get ideas for shade gardening by driving around tree-filled suburbs like Webster and Kirkwood or going down to the Missouri Botanical Garden in different seasons to see what’s blooming and looks good,” she says.

•    Join a gardening organization. They present speakers, share ideas, trade plants and tour members’ gardens. It’s a great way to learn.