Above: The driveway leading up to Cathy Rosenhaus' Farmington Hills home — once a stop on the Underground Railroad — is lined with eight original stately pear trees.
Eighteen years ago, when Cathy Rosenhaus first saw
her home — the original house in its Farmington Hills
subdivision — it was love at first sight. "I grew up in
Maine, and this house reminded me of Maine," she
says. "I loved the heavy doors, the plaster walls and the
character. It's a fun family house."
The home, a wood-frame farmhouse constructed on
an old stone foundation, is a registered historic structure,
with a basement built pre-Civil War; documents attest
to its status as a stop on the Underground Railroad. In
1916, a wealthy Detroit banker built the current 5,000-
square-foot house as his family's summer home.
Upon moving into her new find, Rosenhaus imme-
diately set to work on creating a home for her family
that honored the house's history, filling it with antiques
and art while performing only modest renovations. The
garden, however, was another story. While there were a
B 1 6 • APRIL 2009 • ,F_\ platinum
few mature trees, what Rosenhaus calls "good bones for
the landscaping," there was little else on the one-half
acre property.
Her desire to install landscaping that would enhance
her home was abetted by Rosenhaus' own education
and experience: She has a master's degree in gardening
from Michigan State University and a bachelor's degree
in textile design; for several years she has worked with
landscape clients at Great Oaks Landscape in Novi
and recently founded her own firm, HomeGreenHome
Outdoor Housekeeping in Farmington Hills.
Among the mature trees already on her property
were eight pear trees that lined the driveway leading up
to the farmhouse, to which Rosenhaus has added a cor-
nucopia of flowering fruit trees, including apple, cherry
and additional pear trees.
A large area of her side yard is a hosta garden, with
a wide variety of hosta plants offset with a beautiful
array of other shade plants: fairy candles, elephant ears,
autumn joy sedum, a variety of rhododendron, Japanese
tree lilac and epimedium, a ground cover with a lovely
spring flower.
"I like going to different growers, finding different
variations of plants and seeing the nature of the plants
as they grow," says Rosenhaus.
A brick motor court beneath the home's front portico
is offset by English cast iron urns filled with tree gera-
niums, creating an elegant entranceway. To the back, a
private and quiet reserve has been built around an exist-
ing pool. Rosenhaus had it gutted and rebuilt, adding a
hot tub with glass block tile and inserting whimsical tile
inserts into the concrete surround.
"Six Scotch pines and cedars were here. I added
everything else," she says. Lots of mature hydran-