he designs and he maintains. Seems a perfect working rela-
tionship to create a bountiful perennial garden.
Carol and David Blatt, partners for 25 years in marriage,
bring a similar commitment to their West Bloomfield garden.
Sitting on their patio, amid pink coneflowers, clusters of phlox and
fading loosestrife, the couple speak of their eight-year love affair
with perennials.
"We built an addition to the house eight years ago, and designed
the garden at the same time," says Carol, a nurse on the midnight
shift at Beaumont Hospital. It has evolved year after year, embel-
lished by meandering pathways, garden sculptures, an arched trellis
and a burbling fountain.
She is smitten by hollyhocks, he by gooseneck loosestrife. But
both of them scour the Royal Oak farmer's market and Merrittscape's
Perennial Farm in Waterford for colorful new species to add to their
gardenscape.
Morning glories wind around the trellis; hollyhocks tower over the
grandmothers' garden; zinnias and foget-me-nots cluster along the
pathways; pink hydrangeas mass along the home's back wall; and
fruit trees and hostas provide a lush green backdrop.
"I spend many a morning in the garden with a cup of coffee, and
neighbors often drop by for tours or to trade , ftOwers," says
Carol. She often brightens the hospital corridors with bou-
quets of fresh flowers from her garden.
David, a teacher in the Walled Lake school district,
dedicates his summer to garden projects. "I'm the
maintenance guy," he says.
It's a match made in hollyhock heaven.

—Linda Bachrack

A vibrant pink

coneflower
reaches for the
sky in the Blatt

garden.

and David Blatt

in a field of phlox.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN

1 0 • SEPTEM