C
athy Deutchman never planned to create her own private woods. But
. when she and her husband Jim found their lot in Franklin years ago, it
was populated with dense walnut trees and wonderful wildflowers. It
became the inspiration for her gardens, which today are a rich thicket
of tall trees, unusual wildflowers and brilliant perennials surrounding her home.
Other than the trees, and a profligate of wild phlox, all of the other wildflow-
ers and perennials were added to create color and intrigue. Cathy approached
the late Francis Hughes, owner of Hughes Gardens in Southfield. With his help,
Cranbrook House Garden sales and directed wildflower digs, Cathy naturalized
and colonized a plethora of garden favorites — bloodroot, squills, May apples,
snakeroot, false Solomon's seal, jack-in-the-pulpit, trillium, Virginia blue bells,
yellow wood poppies, ligularia, wild ginger, giant alliums, wild geraniums, lady
slippers, many different varieties of lilies, hostas and astilbe.
"I added a little bit every year, and I would transplant plants to colonize
them; the birds pick up the seeds and help to scatter and colonize the plants
as well," says Cathy.
Cathy willingly shares transplants, and descendents of her garden are flourish-
ing in many neighboring yards. But maintaining her natural woods "takes an
enormous amount of time," she notes. Gardeners help her to maintain and man-
age her wildflowers and perennials. "It's always like I'm on a treasure hunt when
I'm in Cathy's garden, finding wonderful things growing," says master gar-
dener Karen Dandurand of Belle Fleur Garden Service in Rochester.
Sixteen years of shaping her environment later, Cathy is
delighted with her own private woods. "I love sitting in my
Cathy
living room and looking at my show in the spring," she
Deutchm*
says.
a ks'amon
It's the best of northern Michigan right in her back
of black-
usans.
yard.
ii
--Lisa Brody )1
One of only two native
lilies in the western
Great Lakes region, the
Turk's-cap lily provides
brilliant color.
AA.
4.111%
• •
1 44, 4 46
410111160,
rple astilbes
nd erect
ith featherlike
flower spikes.