LIVING COLOR

Above: A group of towering dawn redwoods provides shade to the landscape and keeps the comfortable seating area beneath them cool.

HOME TOGETHER

The house the pair live in had belonged to Benarcik’s grandparents late in their lives, and the lot had just the standard suburban lawn with a few trees and shrubs when he moved in more than 20 years ago. “There was a Kentucky coffee tree (Gymnocladus dioicus), and I've always admired those,” Benarcik says.

The house sits forward on the lot, making for a short front yard and a deep rectangle in the back. Benarcik began to populate the landscape behind the house with trees and shrubs, most prominently a group of dawn redwoods (Metasequoia glyptostroboides). When he invited Montgomery to move in, he told her, “I don’t have a fortune to tempt you with or a house at the sea or mountains, but I can offer you my garden.” She accepted the invitation but wasn’t sure if he truly meant it. “I don’t know many people who would be generous enough to invite someone into their garden and let them go,” she says, “but he has been true to his word.” They’ve now been married for 10 years and their shared vision is shaping the space.

A tour starts on a path that wanders amid shrubs such as native American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) and Hydrangea petiolaris ‘Firefly’. In spring, native ephemerals come up before the shade creates conditions for a mix of foliage plants to fill in.

The winding path leads to a stand of bamboo (Phyllosthachys aureosulcata) that screens the back end of the property from a public walkway. As the path turns toward the house again, it passes through large and expanding patch of moss that has become a new project for Benarcik. (See “Coming Attractions” for more details.) A small patch of remaining lawn borders a long bed of edibles that yields fresh herbs, garlic, and seasonal vegetables the couple use in their meals. 

The garden is full of uncommon plants, thanks to their many relationships in the horticulture industry. “We have a lot of friends who are plant hunters and plant breeders, so there are always interesting things coming in,” says Montgomery, who now works as an account executive for Garden Media Group, a marketing firm based in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. “Like a lot of gardeners, we try to grow plants that aren’t suited to our conditions, and they often die. But we aren’t sentimental about that.”

What is important to the couple are the people and circumstances behind those plants. “This is a garden of stories,” Benarcik says. “So many funny little stories come with the plants,” Montgomery adds. “Those plants and stories are precious to us.”

SEATING ARRANGEMENTS

While experts might spot the rare varieties, the most noticeable features of this landscape are the places where people can be found. At the sunny southeast corner of the house, the homeowners have created a gravel garden that features drought-tolerant plants, including hardy succulents and a few large agaves that they bring inside during the cold months. An espaliered fig tree adds a living sculpture to the wall, which is punctuated by shelves with potted plants. A low fieldstone wall surrounds the space, where the couple can sit at a small table and chairs to soak up the light themselves.

A few cushioned chairs beneath the dawn redwoods offer a cool seating area for resting in the shade. An excavation project for the house revealed massive granite boulders that now serve as a natural perimeter.

Nine years ago, the couple built a freestanding, screened-in room with a 180-degree view of the garden to give themselves a place to sit outside and eat meals sheltered from swarms of biting insects. The structure, now known as "El Forto," started as a sketch on a napkin. Then Benarcik built a model that they carried around until they figured out the right spot for the space.

“I didn’t want it to be fancy; I don’t need another house to clean,” Montgomery says. It’s a simple building that can be rinsed out with a hose, but it has electricity for lighting and room to seat a dozen or more people at a table. “If we have a party, it doesn’t matter how many people are present, everyone wants to eat in the fort,” she notes. “When our grandkids are here, they want to sleep outside in this room.” (For more details and views, check out the video below.)

JOINT EFFORT

While Montgomery and Benarcik enjoy entertaining and just spending time in their garden, you’re more likely to find them tending it. “When I come home from working in a garden all day, I eat dinner and then just want to get busy in our garden,” Benarcik says. “I probably should have my head examined.”

With all their know-how and enthusiasm, how do these two pros find common ground in their garden? “For the bigger projects, we collaborate, but in the day-to-day labors, we sort of break off and do our own thing,” Benarcik responds. “We both enjoy our private time, and working in the garden a few feet from each other on different tasks lets us have our time but not be apart. I like to say that we work in the garden ‘apart together.’”

“We often do an evening walk in the garden and say, ‘We should do this or do that,’ but we rarely ever follow through,” Montgomery adds with a laugh.

They also have fun trying out new ideas together. “We do a lot of installations for only one year and then see how they turn out,” she says. “Once we took more than 100 tillandsias (air plants), strung them on 10 different lines, and hung them from the dawn redwoods. You could barely see them until you got up close. It was kind of a wonder, a little fairy thing.”

None of this is to say they never disagree. “We give each other a little free rein,” Montgomery says. “For instance, I don’t think he likes annuals all that much and I grow quite a few violas.” She points to a border of Ophiopogon japonicus ‘Nana’ (a cultivar of dwarf mondo grass) she planted along recently installed hardscaping. “I think it really softens the lines of the stones and unites that area with a beautiful deep-green color,” she explains. She takes responsibility for winter protection by covering the plants with burlap. “They can get sunburned in the winter, leaving the tips of the leaves a light brown.”

They do share a philosophy that “everything green stays on the property.” When a tree must come down and it can be milled, Benarcik uses the wood to build unique furnishings, such as a large dining room table (that fits the entire family) and other furniture for their living room, bedroom, and guest room. “From a cherry tree, he made three big charcuterie boards that we used for our wedding,” Montgomery says. “One year he made our granddaughters jewelry boxes, and the boys got slingshots with mini marshmallows to shoot.” Montgomery cuts and brings in flowers for fresh bouquets and dries others for use throughout the offseason. “There’s never been a day without flowers in the house,” Benarcik says.

LOOKING AHEAD

As they grow older, the pair have begun to think about what’s next for them. “We’re going to start simplifying as we’re getting older,” Montgomery says. “We’ve also heard that other people do things on the weekends besides garden.”

In the summer of 2023, they spent a month in Croatia and Italy and realized that they don’t want to be permanently tied to their place. “At some point, we are going to walk away from this garden; we’re not going to try to take it with us,” Benarcik says. “So we have a lot of friendships with young horticulturists and are already giving away rare plants for their collections. When the time comes for us to leave, we’ll say, ‘Take our plants, or better yet, buy the place!’”

Scott Meyer is editorial director of GROW magazine. PHS members can participate in tours of amazing private gardens like this one. Get more details on membership benefits at https://phsonline.org/support-phs/membership.

PRIME CONDITIONS

Fig trees thrive even in poor soil and adapt well to the conditions in cities or suburbs, Forsyth says. Their only requirement is a spot that gets six to eight hours of direct summer sunlight. Fig trees typically survive winter in our region, but the coldest temperatures can damage them. Planting a fig tree near a south-facing wall provides it with lots of bright light during the growing season and shields it from bitter winter cold and winds. You can also grow a fig tree in a large container and move it around to maximize the sunlight during the growing season and protect the plant in winter.

YOUR CHOICES

Many nurseries in our region sell young fig trees in spring. They also are often available at the Philadelphia Orchard Project’s annual plant sale. If you know a gardener with a tree that bears tasty figs, ask for a cutting and get it to form roots by planting it directly in the garden or in a pot with soil mix or placing it in a bucket of water. When you have a choice of varieties, look for ‘Chicago Hardy’, ‘Celeste’, and ‘Brooklyn White’, all of which are winter hardy here, Forsyth says. Mature fig trees typically reach from 10 to 30 feet tall, depending on conditions and the variety. ‘Fignomenal’ is a new miniature variety that grows only 2 to 3 feet tall, so it is ideal for small gardens and large containers.

Unlike many other types of fruit, figs don’t require pollination, so just one tree will produce a crop for you. Once they begin to ripen their first fruit in August or September, many fig varieties will produce fruit continuously through the end of October.  

EASY CARE

Spring is the best time to plant a fig tree, so it can establish a root system before winter. You will need to water a newly planted tree weekly for the first year, but because figs are suited to dry Mediterranean climates, “you may never have to water again,” Forsyth says. One reason figs are so popular with gardeners is that the fruit has no widespread disease or pest problems, except for hungry squirrels. Extended periods of temperatures below 20°F can cause the aboveground growth of fig trees to die back, but the roots typically resprout in the spring. Some growers give their fig trees extra protection from extreme cold by wrapping them in late fall with wire fencing stuffed with leaves, thick blankets, burlap, tarps, or other insulating materials.

PRUNING FOR GROWTH

Fig trees don’t need to be pruned, Forsyth says, but pruning will encourage more fruit production. And since the trees can reach up to 30 feet high, pruning off the top growth will make the ripe fruits easier for you to pick. Botanically speaking, fig plants are actually shrubs (not trees), so they adapt well to shaping and training to fit your space.  

The optimal time to prune figs is in winter, while the trees are dormant. The trees produce their annual crop on new growth, so you can trim and shape them in winter without sacrificing your next harvest. For a healthy, long-lived plant, first focus your pruning on establishing a strong central leader (trunk) and a few sturdy main branches growing away from it. To keep the tree robust and shapely as it grows, each year trim back main branches by about one-third and eliminate smaller branches too weak to bear the weight of fruit. Also, be sure to remove dead or diseased growth and branches that extend toward the core of the tree rather than away from it. This will allow sunlight and airflow into the center of the plant.

HARVEST READY

With some fruit trees, you must wait for years before the first crop, but figs start bearing a crop in their second season. In our region, the fruit generally ripens in late summer to early fall (depending on the variety). The process from fruit formation to full ripeness can take up to two months.

When fig fruits are ready to pick, they tend to droop from the branches and are a bit squishy to the touch. Forsyth harvests them when they first start feeling soft to prevent squirrels from eating them as they ripen. The figs will finish softening and turning sweet in a few days at room temperature, but you can slow the ripening process by storing them in your fridge.

Eleven years ago, Forsyth took home a cutting from a fig tree he found in a front yard in West Philadelphia. He nicknamed it ‘Larchwood’ for the street where he collected it. In 2022, the now 20-by-20-foot tree yielded more than 40 pounds of fruit, which he shared with lucky friends and family. When the fig tidal wave is upon him, Forsyth will freeze the fruits whole in plastic bags and make jam with them at a later date. You can also preserve your homegrown fruits by drying them in a food dehydrator or a low-temperature oven. But the best way to enjoy a luscious fig is to bite into one when you pluck it from the tree.

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