Larry Volland admits he’s a perfectionist, but when it comes to gardening, he says that the perfect plot is whatever pleases its creator. With black walnuts providing high shade, and a picturesque pond surrounded by sweeps of perennials, Lockport in Bloom has featured a photo of Volland’s garden to tantalize people to this weekend’s tour of properties.
Starting with a twilight tour Friday from 7 to 10 p.m. and continuing Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., visitors can see the garden gems hidden at private homes in Lockport and Gasport.
Volland and his wife Judy have adopted a classic botanical garden style, featuring mature trees and balancing equal portions of planted space with flowing green paths and sitting areas. The effect of the curves is nearly liquid, with pools of lawn lapping up to stone-edged islands of hostas, ferns, daylilies, and other flowers. The garden’s cool microclimate and visual serenity leave one’s inner primate feeling like they’ve found their forest.
Dawn Lambalzer of the Lockport in Bloom committee said 24 private gardens and six community gardens are on this year’s free self-guided tour. Prior years have attracted more than 1,500 people. Brand new this year are properties on Ernest Road, East Avenue, and Collins Drive.
Tour maps are available at Tom’s Diner, the Lockport Discovery Center, Steamworks, Badding Farm and Garden Center, and Pecoraro Salon. On the weekend, maps will be available at the Kenan Herb Club’s garden shed behind Kenan House.
“People who come into Lockport didn’t know how much it has to offer. That’s what I always hear,” Lambalzer said. “You don’t need a huge garden to showcase what you know and love. I think it highlights the city itself because you go around to different parts than usual.
Lambalzer said people are often surprised at how much can be done with a small space.
“You don’t have to have a lot of acreage to do a nice oasis,” she said. “A lot of people like to repurpose things as planters, and it fits. I’m seeing that a lot more in gardens. One gardener had an old-fashioned sink mounted onto a shed or fence and potted up. You’ve just got to open your eyes and see what can be used.”
Volland has done just that. Although he retired from dentistry two years ago, he’s drilled stones to make fountains. The sedums he sutured into a mossy picture frame will be on display this weekend.
“That’s his masterpiece,” Judy said.
Volland said gardening was a great way to downshift from a day in dentistry.
“All day long I’m working in 2 millimeters of space,” he said. “It felt so good to get out into an open space and dig a hole and get my hands dirty.”
The bridge work Volland did over his pond is the garden’s focal point and a main artery into his private park. The scene expands into surgically edged beds of hostas organized into alternating colors and layered with the smallest sizes in front. Volland said hostas were among the plants that could tolerate living under black walnut trees, and he has developed a collector’s appetite for the plant, labeling all of the wide varieties.
Looking at an assortment of mini hostas with leaves the size of lemon wedges, Volland said, “I wanted the biggest and the smallest varieties.”
So will this weekend’s visitors.