Yard of the Month September 2022

The Junius Heights Historic District Yard of the Month award for September goes to 726 Lowell. Rod and Isabella Russell-Ides moved into their 1915 Craftsman bungalow in 1995, at that time It was a reddish-orange brick house with a flat dirt yard begging for love. A clean slate waiting for this couple’s artist touch. Isabella said, “It was like adopting the orphan on the block.” Much has changed since then. With Isabella’s green thumb and attention to detail and Rod’s interesting and unique sculptures, the house is certainly worthy of a walk-by. Rod built the retaining walls and curved walkway embedded with quarried stone. At first the couple planted St. Augustine grass, bordered with magenta phlox – very elegant, very D-magazine. Then Isabella began to mull the eco-impact of gas mowers, so she switched to a hand-push mower. Dripping sweat one summer, it came to her that the St. Augustine had to go. Little by little, Isabella replaced the lawn with native plants and lots of drought-resistant rocks. Rod is a landscape designer and a sculptor, so there’s always leftovers from his installations: rocks, rescue plants, broken pots. The side yard features a leftover piece from the replica of the Lourdes Grotto Rod built for a church in Houston. Recently, the couple added his tree sculpture “Ova I,” after it was shown at the Bonafide Barbershop art exhibit. For the first time this summer, Isabella planted cucumber vines, as an experiment in integrating veggies into the scene. The green sign on the front lawn, “Bienvenidos a Trescabras: pop 400”, was not stolen. It refers to a fictional town in Isabella’s novel, The Godma’s Daughters. It took many years for the garden to become the eclectic and constantly changing landscape it is today, reflective of its idiosyncratic art-making owners.

The Russell-Ides received a $20 Gift Certificate from Redenta’s, one of our 2022 Yard of the Month Sponsors.

Want to submit your yard or a neighbor’s yard for consideration? Send info to JuniusHeightsHD@gmail.com

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Sponsored by Garden Cafe (https://www.gardencafe.net/) and Redenta’s (https://redentas.com/)

Story by Ella StClair and photos by Ella StClair and Isabella Russell-Ides