The Middlebury Garden Club has announced the winners of its annual Roadside Attractions Awards. These accolades recognize gardens cultivated by people around the county who are not members of the club. The winners for 2017 include Holly Fulton’s gardens at 18 Brookside in Middlebury, Manjula and John Bombard’s gardens at the Mill at Lewis Creek in Starksboro, Dave Furney’s gardens at 39 Garfield Street in Bristol, Ian and Lindsay Hart’s gardens at 3 Springside in Middlebury and Frances Hall’s garden on Washington Street in Middlebury.
 
Ian and Lindsay Hart Gardens, 3 Springside, Middlebury
The neighbors say that there is something going on throughout season at No. 3 Springside in Middlebury. The Harts’ yard is a symphony of color in three parts. The front beds are mixed with willow, hosta, ajuga and red roses. The side garden holds up an embankment with yellow daylilies, nepeta, Sweet William and Japanese primroses. A wooden stairway bracketed by ninebark and lace-cap hydrangea, echinacea, lobelia and star-gazer lilies, and then tomatoes, leads from there up to a quiet, shady patio with a bench and pots of impatiens – a great place to read.
 
Dave Furney Garden, 39 Garfield Street, Bristol
Dave Furney has designed a set of very private “rooms” in the garden at the back of his property on the corner of Garfield and Mountain streets in Bristol. Being on his back deck feels very much separate from the neighborhood, protected from the street by a “screen” of Dutchman’s pipe, bougainvillea, morning glories and strategically placed pots of Royal Velvet purple petunias, red geraniums and bright pink begonia. Urns of grass and sculpture create surprise throughout, and in the southwestern corner is a fenced vegetable garden behind a stone pagoda.  Hidden against the back of the house is a small patio with café table and a wall fountain – perfect for a quiet morning coffee or a glass of wine in the afternoon.
 
Frances Hall Garden, Washington Street, Middlebury
The flower garden in the dooryard of Frances Hall’s place on Washington Street is bursting with life and color this time of year. An abundance of green foliage is complemented by Zenias in all of their warm colors — reds, oranges and a variety of vivid pinks. Lower-growing white flowers and climbing green vines add the effect of effervescent life everywhere.
High above the beautiful plantings in the courtyard is a porch with several beautiful clumps of red flowers, petunias, perhaps, accented with a few pink blossoms (geranium?) and some green tendrils cascading down toward their siblings in the main garden below. Chairs on that porch offer the perfect spot for a quiet respite with a first-class view.
 
Marjula and John Bombard Gardens, 442 Prison Hollow Road, Starksboro
Just off Route 116 at 442 Prison Hollow Road, rising high over the Lewis Creek, is the c. 1799 Hoag Millhouse, once an operating grist mill. The Bombards (John and Marjula) now operate it as a bed and breakfast and have made clever gardens around the stone walls and pathways that surround the building. A patio for sitting, red roses, driftwood sculpture, and hanging baskets of pink and purple petunias frame the entrance, while peach-colored daylilies lead the eye to the stone walkway meandering to the back deck over the falls. It is a truly spectacular spot, and the sound of the water falling into the gorge below is magical.
 
Holly Fulton Garden, 18 Brookside, Middlebury
Holly Fulton’s gardens at 18 Brookside in Middlebury contain a surprising variety of plants — some of which are not common to many perennial beds in our area. Early in the season and partially under the shade of a large maple and a white pine which anchor her front yard, are penstemon, the sumac ground-cover “Gro-Lo”, and along her fence, sweet magnolia vine. In August there is still an extensive show of color: rodgersia, Black Beauty lilies galore, daisies, blue thistle, yellow daylilies, joe-pye weed, monarda, dwarf comfrey, dwarf-bush honeysuckle, and balloon flowers, to name just a few. This display is punctuated by large clumps of tall Tardiva hydrangea, smoke bushes, lilacs, and Bottle Brush buckeye. And that is just the front garden.