1936 5th Ave. – Yard of the Month (February 2016)

February’s Yard of the Month is 1936 5th Ave. and the homeowner, Rebecca Guttery, is a three-time winner of Yard of the Month (circa 2009 and 2006). Rebecca’s garden was also featured on the Garden Conservancy tour in 2014 and is one of the most admired yards in Fairmount.

Rebecca bought the Craftsman style house in 2006 and estimates that it was built around 1915. Inside the house has graceful large rooms and wide pine plank floors although Rebecca laments “not much is left that is historical.” Fortunately for us, we will all have an opportunity to see the interior and to observe Rebecca’s eclectic mix of traditional and cutting edge décor this spring by purchasing a Home Tour ticket.

Prior to Rebecca’s ownership, the house has had only four listed owners: the Friese family, the Lipsetts, the Kings, and most recently Benjamin and Shoshanna Isgur. After the Frieses and the Lipsetts the home was a flop house in the great Depression and a duplex during WWII. The house has survived a fire in the attic and has had a lot of attentive love and care since 1995 when it was renovated.

Formerly painted lilac and accented by a periwinkle front door, 1936 5th Ave. was recently painted gray with undertones of amethyst. It now has a raspberry front door stenciled with “Peace on Earth” and the windows are trimmed in turquoise which reflects the turquoise painted house with purple sashes next door. Under the arched entry one of Rebecca’s favorite plants, Sweet Autumn Clematis (clematis paniculatis), covers the columns. She reports that one of the plant’s best viewing times is in the fall when white star-shaped flowers turn into silvery seed pods.

When Rebecca bought the house it had traditional small flower beds near the porch with sod filling in the front yard and Rebecca pulled the grass up to have room for more beautiful blooms. Taking advantage of a central wide brick path put in during the 1990s, Rebecca has staged the front yard around four main beds — within them, she plays with height, depth and color in complex compositions. At the back near the porch are vinca, nandina and canna lilies — the cannas are one of the few garden elements Rebecca kept from the previous owners. In the spring the garden is a pleasing palette of white, pink and purple. Neighbors know Rebecca’s yard by its many large Angel trumpets (datura), pink and white phlox, alyssum and larkspur. This winter Rebecca has planted more than three dozen ornamental cabbages and kale (brassica oleracea) in shades of white, violet and magenta which have striking hues that complement the tints used to paint the house. The yard also features many herbs such as creeping thyme, Russian sage and rosemary. Rebecca favors Archie’s for plants, Whiz Q for stone and mulch delivery and Architectural Digest for inspiration.

Our thanks, and a Gift Certificate to C. C.’s Touch of Nature, go to Rebecca Guttery.

The YOTM committee is Susan Harper and Bonnie Blackwell