Date: Fri 04-Aug-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: AMYD

Illustration: I

Quick Words:

garden-York-series-

Full Text:

York Garden Feature

Note: This is the second installment of an ongoing series by Amy D'Orio about

unusual gardens in Newtown. Stories will be appearing throughout the summer.)

B Y A MY D'O RIO

Jim York does not talk to plants, he listens to them.

Before he prunes, he waits to be inspired by a particular slant or turn of a

branch. But, once the design is apparent, Mr York turns into the plastic

surgeon of the plant world, concerned more with bone structure than bloom or

berry. On Mr York's six-acre property in the Taunton Hill area of Newtown,

some shrubs soar straight up in girdles, while others take more twists and

turns than a moving snake.

Shrubs look like trees, and trees fan out like shrubs.

While there are obvious hints that Mr York's property is unconventional - the

whimsical sculpture and the use of stacked newspaper as borders, for instance

- the real difference stems from the way he sculpts plants.

" I don't do anything by the book. I prune too much, grow too much and cut

willows off at the base and let them start again, " he said, laughing. " I

think I just shoot from the hip. "

Currently, Mr York is conducting a willow experiment.

He has chopped a willow tree to its base so it will send up suckers. He hopes

to turn it into a willow bush.

The outcome is uncertain, and he admits he has killed his share of plants.

The willow may die or just look bad, but the yard is filled with success

stories. For example, he has a beautiful rose of Sharon arch that he created

years ago for a little girl who told him she wanted to get married there.

Not many brides have such an arch to get married under. While the little girl

had her wedding elsewhere, others have made good use of it.

The arch is a gateway to the garden, which was once an overgrown, cedar-strewn

thoroughfare for cows.

Now, stone pathways wind around the hillside property past beds of hostas,

lilies, bell flowers and butterfly weed. Amidst the flora are bridges,

gazebos, a folly, purple chairs, and one human-sized tin man that doubles as a

gas tank.

With such a creative bent, it is hardly surprising to learn Mr York spent two

years at art school. He left after concluding he could not paint and became an

art representative instead.

Mr York may not be able to paint, but he certainly can sculpt.

When he first picked up on gardening, he was living at the home of Newtown

artist Leslie Randall. Just for fun, he mowed her fields and took care of the

property. Discovering he liked such work, the Manhattan city slicker purchased

about six acres in 1969 and started to design his own home and property. He

never turned to a gardening book for help, relying on his own sense of how the

place should look.

For his first project, he chose to do a rock garden of miniature trees and

shrubs. This is where his pruning career began.

His skill grew with the garden, and has, perhaps, outgrown the garden.

He has trained a conifer to climb the stairs to the patio. As if exhausted, it

hangs over the handrail.

Others have distinctive geometric shapes, and the Japanese maples have

branches like fine scroll work.

Mr York is an avid collector of plants. He has a vivid blue spruce and a rare,

red-bark Japanese maple. While he can name some of his purchases, don't ask

him to remember names in general.

Usually, he said, the name leaves his head as soon as he is asked.

In the last four years, Mr York's garden has taken interesting new turns.

Nearly all of the 2.5 acres around his house have been tamed, but not always

with flowers or shrubs.

One bed contains just wishbone-shaped tree limbs and trunks which closely

resemble the human trunk. He puts little belts on them and calls them his "

Audience. "

Next to the " Audience " is a wood folly built from three dead elm trees that

perished from a blight. He and landscaper Emil Racenet removed the bark and

found a delicate etching all over the bare wood. The disease left eerie, but

beautiful scars.

The art has also been a late addition. It started when Mr Racenet carved a

mushroom out of wood with his chain saw.

A 15-foot tall giraffe overlooks the lilies and a silver horse rests by the

hostas. Mr York's garden has become so vast, he said, he spends most of his

time just maintaining it. It has gotten to the point where he can't even

stroll through it without taking a snip at something.

" I am a control freak, " he said, grinning widely.

His yard is certainly the more beautiful for it.