It is a huge leap over land and sea from a tiny garden plot in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England, to a .4 acre, waterfall-accented landscape in University City. Christine Mackey-Ross has done that with such agility and water wings that the Missouri Botanical Garden selected her welcoming, color-accented front yard and serene, architectural back yard to be displayed as part of the organization’s 2020 garden tour. It is a gardening achievement she calls “above and beyond.”

The first time they walked through the front door of the Webster Groves home they have now lived in for 14 years, Linda and Allen knew it was the right house. They looked to their left and immediately saw a sitting room with French doors to a patio. Directly ahead, looking through the house, a wall of windows provided a more expansive view of the extensive patio and framed the mature garden beyond.

The homeowner’s driving directions could not be more simple. To discover Top of the Hill Farm, you just keep going. Down the one-lane road, past every turn-off. When you can go no farther, you have arrived.

    It all began with the land; a five-acre tract in Hillsboro, where Mary and Rich Patterson loved living and raising their two daughters, Sydney and Stella.

For a BIG birthday, many women would long for some bling or a trip to an exotic locale. This Town and Country homeowner requested some rocks of a different kind. Specifically, she wanted a rocky waterfall, more water in her backyard pond and more fish.

There are not many gardeners who could handle the challenge of taming a two-acre, hillside landscape. But then there are not many gardeners with the talent, knowledge and dedication of Laure Hullverson. Laure holds an Associate in Applied Science in Horticulture degree from the well-regarded program at St. Louis Community College-Meramec and also has a background as an interior designer.