Date: Fri 25-Aug-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: AMYD

Illustration: C

Location: A-7

Quick Words:

Lasher-Jolly-Hill-Garden

Full Text:

Lasher's Jolly Hill: A Place For Flora and Fauna

(with photos)

By Amy D'Orio

(Editor's Note: This is the fourth installment of an ongoing series by Amy

D'Orio about unusual gardens in Newtown. Stories will be appearing throughout

the summer.)

Jolly Hill is large enough to have a garden for every mood and a setting to

celebrate every season.

There are wetlands, streams, a pond, woodlands, fields and a rolling lawn.

The approximately 20-acre estate in Newtown, home of resident Howard Lasher,

is also home to more than 50 shrub varieties, 75 to 100 types of perennials

and some 8,000 to 10,000 daffodil bulbs, which ensure a glorious spring.

The size is enjoyable, but not overwhelming, mainly because bushes and

ornamental grasses have been creatively used to break up the large space

without destroying the overall sweep and view of the property.

Shrubs, grasses and flowers also provide a natural progression between

different garden areas, which range from a shady, wildflower garden of fern,

Trillium and Jack-in-the-Pulpit to a sunny perennial border of Liatris and

tiger lily.

In back of the house, a crushed stone walkway takes a guest through an herb

garden, a grape arbor and a rock garden. It ends near the pool, which is

surrounded by ornamental grasses and rocks.

Only a short walk from the house is a pond lined with irises and twisted

red-twigged dogwoods. It makes the transition from lawn to field graceful.

Two streams lead into this pond. The one closer to the house has no plantings

around it. The other one, however, has a shrub border of sweet-smelling

Clethra. It puts an end to the rolling lawn that starts by the house and

provides a starting point for a mid-summer, flowering shrub display that

softens a tennis court.

Rose of Sharon, Smoke bush, Butterfly bush and Potentilla are all in bloom,

and, in the midst of these shrubs is a street sign for the corner of Houston

and Suffolk.

Howard Lasher, the owner of Jolly Hill, grew up there, on the lower east side

of Manhattan. The Wall Street trader was not given an opportunity to learn

about plants and gardening until he arrived in Newtown 13 years ago.

It was an enjoyable adjustment, but he soon learned plants take a little

longer to grow than stocks.

Due to his business, Mr Lasher says he is a sideline gardener and leaves

maintenance and planting to landscaper Joseph Keller of The Plantsman in

Ridgefield.

Mr Keller said Mr Lasher loves color and collects flowers, but also wants

things to blend into the landscape and work toward an overall cohesive

picture.

The other challenge is that Mr Lasher wants to keep the gardens in good

condition without leaving the wildlife in bad condition.

Jolly HIll is home to both flora and fauna.

Mr Lasher keeps calm when he sees a hosta has been chopped down by a hungry

deer. And, when he recently found a fawn sleeping in his perennials, he tried

to back away without waking the creature.

He puts out pounds of cracked corn, and has numerous bird feeders and

birdhouses.

Mr Lasher never gets tired of wildlife. The animals are just part of the

experience of living in the country, which, for Mr Lasher, is a tonic for his

busy days on Wall Street.

As he says this, two foxes whiz by his house.

"It is not a formal estate," said Howard Lasher. "To me it is home."