Southport Garden Club – Yard of the Month

In all seasons, a SPT icon draws us in with its hardy perennial plantings, pops of seasonal color and homey areas for relaxation.  This time of year, though, it lights up our town and is even more watch-worthy.

The SPT Garden Club fittingly spotlights The Christmas Shop as its December Yard of the Month. Thanks for making our holidays merrier!

One of the wonderful things we see in Southport is homes, properties turn over from one family to another.  What some might term as old, becomes new again. New life comes in.  That’s just what’s happened for the Garden Club’s November Yard of the Month; the home and property at 216 West West Street — purchased and refurbished by Brian and Allyssa Larrabee — took on a new life, a new yard.

We’ll all get to see the new plantings fill in:  there are hydrangeas, azaleas, and Wintergreen/Baby Gem boxwoods, white vinca, ornamental cabbage and Wizard Velvet Red Coleus blended together in new beds at the front of the house.  Iceberg Red roses and Encore Azaleas now grace the yard’s street/border beds, blending with some of the heritage azaleas kept from the prior owners.   In those border beds are also Soft Caress Mahonia and red Drift roses.  A large camellia – with strong and sturdy roots – was kept from the clear-out and reinstalled at the front porch corner; it’s already showing buds for the cool season.

The old brick driveway was taken up, with new pavers installed.  But don’t worry: the old bricks (along with others repurposed from older properties in town) were reused to create a charming patio and playscape for the kiddos, flanked by Vintage Jade Distylium Evergreen and Dark Green and Soft Touch Compact Holly to create privacy.  The driveway is now flanked with Iceberg Red and Knockout Roses to create a striking and fragrant entry. Seasonal mums blend in the home’s perimeter beds; they’ll give way to the perennials that will show themselves come Spring. Chicken egg baskets are hanging in the trees to hold mums – another nod to new life coming from old.

Older town residents remember ‘Barrel Hill’, on the extension of this property: Southport’s children would play on this elevated area many, many years ago.  Overgrowth now cleared away and the area sodded for future children’s play, there’s a rose garden installed on the slope to bring color, scent and a natural property line.

Included here are ‘before’ pics of the property – it was lovingly cared for then, too, but had become overgrown and unruly.  As a Club, and local gardeners, we love to see the possibilities of the ‘afters’ of hard work, these beautiful transformations.

Passersby and visitors are treated to the potted plants and seasonal decorations shared this month by the Larrabees. Like baby girl Haven that they’ve recently welcomed, the November Yard of the Month speaks to the new life that’s come to this property, eager to grow and show us all. Ride by and enjoy, wishing the yard — and the family — well.

October’s Yard of the Month (2024) from the Southport Garden Club offers a calming, seasoned yard that is a well-honed mix of both shade- and sun-gardening.

At 2000 Pete’s Camp Road in Marsh Creek (a part of Smithville Woods) is the home of David Watts.  David prizes his yard plantings and has come over time – as do we all – to ‘watch’ the sun and canopy tree growth to plan his garden areas.  Tropicals fill in some yard beds, and Purple Heart Plants and multicolored Lantana invite butterflies and bees.

He has perfected the use of fern varieties to fill in shaded areas and created even more texture with cast-iron plants; the depth of greens in the walkway plants cause a deep breath on the way to the front door.  A gated courtyard is a great home for unusual fern hangers, and larger ferns and other potted plants.

The back yard is just as soft and serene. These photos were taken mid-morning, highlighting the difference the sun’s height made in different planting areas.  Creeping Fig ground cover and fatsia are still showing vibrant greens now, but camellias are awaiting their turn to shine in the cooler months.  And the garage is made a focal point with more shade plantings and a water feature.  What a treat it’d be to sit on this porch or patio and enjoy the fruits of labor in this beautiful yard.

The Southport Garden Club’s September 2024 Yard of the Month is an example of then- versus- now.  When Robin and Patrick Smith bought their home at 6206 Pebble Shore Lane, the yard had ‘new construction landscaping’. The last two pictures here are the ‘befores’.

They’ve taken the front yard to what we’re calling Hydrangea Heaven — to the point, striking Limelight Hydrangeas. While these burst into bloom, the shrubs and plantings in the side yard are meticulously trimmed and maintained. Blooms of Purple Fountain Grass, and transitioning Crepe Myrtle leaves will soon usher Fall in the front.

In the backyard the Smiths wanted a bit of the tropics, so they’ve installed palms and low-growing perennials easily tended and ready to feed butterflies and hummingbirds. They’ve incorporated heritage hosta from Patrick’s mom’s 1950s Maryland home; they’ve been dividing and transplanting them from house to house for more than 50 years!

They’re started work now now on a ‘Parents’ Garden’, using plants that were favorites of both their families.

Enjoy a ride through The Landing, seeing Fall slowly emerge and imagining the Smiths’ ‘before’ while you view their gorgeous ‘after’.

When you include 20- foot Crepe Myrtle trees in your initial yard design, your gardening ambitions shine!  Annette and Tuck Masker say they were fortunate enough to purchase their nearly-complete home in 2020 just as it was nearing the landscaping’s staging. Even with a smaller lot, she had a vision for how she wanted color contrast for the home’s hues, and a more traditional, structured design for the front yard. That’s achieved with the liriope that lines the curves of the planting beds and the colorful pops of both annuals and perennials that blend into oversized pots of asparagus fern defining the front yard’s edge alongside the beautiful white Crepe Myrtles.  Sago palms and ornamental grasses add texture and height.

The lushness of the side paths and boundary hedges and shrubs almost makes you forget they’re there to shield the property from another home and a condo unit.  Fatsia, hydrangea and palms flourish in the dappled morning sun that transitions to full afternoon warmth.

In the back, the owners have added an entertainment pergola to the garage for enjoying nights in their mini-paradise.  A deck – with a cutout for a thriving birch tree – blends the seating areas under stars, under the pergola lights, and under the trees.  A bench saved from a State Park renovation offers a respite from Annette’s daily yard duties.

Ride by the Southport Garden Club’s August Yard of the Month at 610 Mackenzie Circle and see how the Maskers’ blend of vision and vigor has brought a relatively young garden to maturity and beauty.

When you’ve created so inviting a space so that passers-by will stop and speak, or you’re on the porch and neighbors and friends will stop and ‘sit a spell’, then you know you’ve done a good thing.  That’s what’s happened in the Southport Garden Club’s recently appointed Yard of the Month, found at 207 North Caswell.   This beautifully maintained yard and home – already bedecked for their patriotism and our Fourth visitors – belongs to Randy and Lynn Meekins.

Though the Garden Club YoM selections are not meant to focus on the home, one cannot help but admire the beautiful restorations completed in 2019 to the homestead of Bill Furpless, owner/operator of Southport’s historic Amuzu Theatre. (Our State magazine highlighted the love put into the restoration of both the home and the Theatre in its March 2024 issue.)

The Meekins brought family treasured items with their relocation from SC – Lynn’s mother’s fountain, her grandmother’s wagon cart – and incorporated them into their planting areas. They call the fountain ‘The Crow Bath’ since the black crows deplete it of its water several times a day!

The front porch is caretaker to a massive fern that Randy says ‘almost effortlessly’ survives winters, shielded by the porch depth and the fern’s big pot that aids in its hardiness.

Classically Southern hydrangeas, heat-hardy vinca, and sago palms line the front beds and walkways to the steps and wraparound porch. In the side yard under a shade tree sits a bench Randy made from ironwork-remnants from NY’s Central Park, an area they’ve enjoyed visiting in the past.

As the home renovations began, the Meekins discovered that two big oak trees in the back yard had to be removed due to disease and age. Knowing how Southport loves its trees, it was an easy decision to mitigate with a live oak and a birch; Randy and Lynn look forward to seeing those ultimately be shade for their screened porch.  Much of the back – ‘a work in progress’, Lynn says – will evolve as they watch the growth of these new trees. (Gardeners know that changes are made as Nature shows us what will grow where with changes in light- and breeze- directions.)

A special spot in the back – seen from the street – is an installed swing and garden house. This area is highlighted with additional hydrangeas and annuals for color.  It’s a squirrel favorite!

The Meekins’s yard is a feast for the eyes, an homage to Southern and family heritage. Take a stroll or a ride by to enjoy the love that’s been put into this yard. And if you luck out to find Randy and Lynn on the porch or in the yard, know that they’re always open for small-talk or a wave… what Southport’s all about.

Tucked beautifully among some of Southport’s majestic oaks is the home of Jim and Sharon Lightbourne, whose yard at the corner of W. West Street and Clarendon Avenue has been named the Southport Garden Club’s May Yard of the Month.

Hedges well-trimmed, oaks bedded down and ready with night-lighting, steps adorned with planters, and flags fluttering … Southern, Southport, and stunning!

They have lovingly prepared the side yard as their primary garden area — we’ve dubbed it ‘Verbena, Vivid and Veggies’.  Sharon says that she’s named the corner, sun-filled garden ‘Ed’s Garden’ since this area is planted exclusively with purchases from Ed’s plant stand in Boiling Springs (a plug for a local small business!). They’ve just recently acquired and restored a bench for that garden (originally manufactured for someone’s gravesite remembrances); its design fits so well with the yard’s fencing and character.

The side-yard also has their vegetable plantings, perfectly positioned to soak up ample sun.  Butterfly bushes are strategically placed to bring those beauties into the garden plots, and the bricked driveway is highlighted with vibrant Knockout roses.

Take a drive past 316 W. West Street, turn onto Clarendon and take in the beauty the Lightbourne yard lets us enjoy in May.

The Southport Garden Club is happy to announce their choice for our April Yard of the Month.  Lisa Tragemann’s beautiful new home at 215 E. Leonard St. is a great example of what lawn and landscape can do to enhance curb appeal.  The Azalea’s and purple verbena, are bright and eye catching against the navy blue of the home.  The placement of the shrubs and ground cover is a perfect setting for the great wrap around porch, with rocking chairs to rock the time away while you enjoy the views of the park across the street as well as her own yard.

Please drive by and admire.

For December 2023, the Southport Garden Club has chosen 109 N. Rhett Street, the home and gardens of Bob and Lisa Lofton, as its December Yard of the Month.  Admittedly, one of the selection criteria for Yard of the Month is that the committee concentrates on the yard, the garden areas. But with this residence, one cannot help but be drawn into the many unusual ‘nooks-and-crannies’ of the home’s construction.  Indeed, the separate 2-car garage was built around an old cinderblock home of one of Southport’s former curmudgeons and commercial fishermen so that his home wasn’t disturbed. How’s that for homage to history??!!

The owners designed and built an unusual portable fence system for their two Scottish Terriers when they first moved in, but now that system provides convenience for cordoning off areas for get-togethers and workspaces.

This yard shows how natural hedging can bring privacy to a home close to very public areas in town.  The Old Brunswick Jail is just next door and the Smithville Burying Ground is across the street, but nestled in the Wax Leaf Privet along the front porch, one can still enjoy a book and beverage while taking in the majesty of quintessential Southport:  the Live Oak with Resurrection Ferns; landscaping lights put this beauty on display at night for all to enjoy.  An equally huge Cedar, and Azaleas and Heavenly Bamboo complement the sprawling limbs of the Live Oak.  White Ginger Lily, Spiderwort and Yaupon Holly add aroma and texture to the front.

Holly trees line form a perfect border down the front drive.

Azaleas, Bottlebrush, Cedar and Crepe Myrtles fill areas of the side yard and are being trimmed and readied for Spring’s coming out parties.

Visitors to the Old Jail often meander up this home’s second drive on Nash Street, curious to see the massive Cedars standing sentry in the back yard; the owners are gracious to their gazes.

By December in the back yard, the planter-pots and seasonal blooms have faded and been impeccably trimmed but these owners are already looking forward to the intoxicating smells of Spring with the walled Confederate Jasmine on the back property line, and Summer in the sunroom, when the Gardenia’s scent beckons windows to be (however briefly) flung wide open.  A full Podocarpus hedge provides yet another natural fence to an adjoining property; truly, peace and quiet can be found and enjoyed in this backyard.

The Club invites you to take a slow ride by (or an enjoyable walk on a warm day!) to see what you may have missed on one of our town’s beautiful side streets.

Like so many of us like to do Southport’s yards go dormant for needed rest, gathering strength and resurgence for warmer days.  Rest well, see you in Spring!

November – 2023

The Southport Garden Club is happy to announce their choice for our November Yard of the Month.  This beautiful garden and home belongs to Ronda & Sam Watts, 1003 Fairley St. in the Smithville Woods section of Southport. The front porch steps, and fountain are filled with pumpkins, leaves, and Mums reminding us all fall is a long season from Labor Day to Thanksgiving and  these homeowners understand it better than most. The fountain is filled with pumpkins, dried grasses, a real work of art and love.  Take a drive by to admire this work of art.

October – 2023

All yards fall back a bit in the Fall – we watch as our plantings prepare for Winter hibernation. The Southport Garden Club’s October Yard of the Month – at the home of Mary Grace and Tony Mandaro, 715 E. Longleaf Drive — is no different. The hydrangeas are a bit less vibrant but the yellow Lantana and Sunshine Ligustrum work hard to make up for it. Crape Myrtles are meticulously trimmed, and pains have been taken to fill the garden areas adjacent to the house with plantings that attract butterflies and hummingbirds and provide cuttings for inside the home.  The back porch is made for sitting, dreaming of projects for the future.

September – 2023

Jason and Kristie Disbrow’s home at 5131 Prices Creek Drive, in the Harbor Oaks neighborhood of Southport, was chosen to be the September Yard of the Month. The drive is beautiful with its natural stones breaking up the concrete, and the placement of shrubs and perennials a perfect setting for their wonderful, welcoming porch.

Please drive by and admire.

August – 2023

Literally at the end of the road is the August Yard of the Month, owned and maintained by Jeanne and Robert Potter at 315 Burrington Avenue in Southport.

The Southport Garden Club is happy to highlight the hard work that goes into meticulously maintained front areas that leads one’s eyes down the drive to the whimsical garden in the back.  Heritage plants shared from some of Southport’s older yards, and plants gifted from family line pathways to the fun-but-functional garden house.  Robert’s copper art works pop up throughout the planting areas.  And what better spot to enjoy supper than a screened porch decorated with more plants and Robert’s paintings, custom-painted comfy furniture and a babbling fountain situated inside another garden spot?

Take a walk to the ‘short end’ of Burrington and look at the Potters’ botanical work of art…who knows, you just may see their friendly pup Scout keeping watch over all.

July – 2023

What more fitting selection for the Southport Garden Club’s July Yard of the Month than that of Ms. Ginger Harper at 105 E. Bay Street.  Though Ms. Harper’s porch is one of the premier river-watching spots in town (imagine the July Fourth celebrations, Christmas Flotilla, cargo ships in transit, and flag-lowering ceremonies), the care for and preservation of the heritage trees and the indigenous plantings done during the extensive renovation of the home completed in early 2021 shows an appreciation and respect for this historic property — two of the original 100 lots of Southport.  Ms. Harper’s love for Southport and its visitors shines with her patriotic decorations for July, and her welcoming yard all year long!

June – 2023

Amy Russo & Tom Nourse of 506 Quarter Master Way, Jonas Creek neighborhood of Southport, have been chosen to be Southport Garden Club’s Yard of the Month for June.

This home and garden are masterpieces of color and art. The owners do not neglect a space where Tom has mixed his vegies in amongst Amy’s flowers. If you have a moment to drive by and admire you will not be sorry.

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