UpDate - Vol. 11, No. 39, Page 3
August 20, 1992
Cottage garden; Fayerweather shines with award-winning flowers

     A small bit of England has been transplanted to Wilmington in a
flower-filled garden, less than a block from the busy thoroughfare of
Pennsylvania Avenue.
     The head gardener is Linda Fayerweather, director of the
University's Small Business Development Center, who won first place
last year in the Wilmington Garden Center's flower garden category for
her "perfect cottage garden," according to the judges.
     A profusion of plants and flowers delights the eye in the front
yard from the cottage porch to the sidewalk. A walkway leads to the
focal point of the garden, dogwood, surrounded by impatiens, and
circled by a brick walkway. Along the driveway, an herb garden
thrives.
     A wooden walk, next to the beginning of a wild flower garden,
skirts the side of the house to the back where decks and benches are
edged by raised wooden planters, accented by tiles decorated with
vegetables. The planters don't hold the traditional petunias and
geraniums, but squashes, tomatoes, peppers and beans.
     The only thing missing is grass-there's not a blade to be seen.
     Fayerweather has planned her garden on her 30-x 150-foot lot so
that there is something blooming from the snowdrops in February to the
mums in November. In winter, holly trees, studded with bright red
berries take center stage.
     Spring bulbs are the first to bloom, followed by primroses,
bluebells, foxgloves and iris. Coral bells, columbines and lily of the
valley come next. In summer, a variety of daylilies, coral bells and a
climbing rose add their color. In late summer, black-eyed Susans, a
butterfly bush, pink turtleheads (a native wild flower that
Fayerweather got from the Delaware Nature Society, Inc.), spider
flowers, phlox and some favorite annuals, such as marigolds and
zinnias flower forth. Autumn crocuses, English daisies, blue beards
and magenta asters round out the garden in fall.
     Fayerweather's husband, William, who is with the Du Pont Co.,
does the construction work of decks and planters, while she does the
gardening. The couple have two children, a basset hound--plus Roger
Rabbit and friend, who live in a hutch in the back garden and are
great recyclers, feasting on dandelions leaves, yarrow and other weeds
and cuttings from the garden.
     Fayerweather has entered the Wilmington Garden Center contest
again this year but in the container category. Tubs of begonias,
vegetable planters, hanging baskets filled with blooms have been
judged, but the winners will not be announced until the Wilmington
Garden Center's Harvest Festival in the fall.
                                        -Sue Swyers Moncure