Date: Fri 08-Sep-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: AMYD

Illustration: C

Location: A-11

Quick Words:

garden-series-Rajczewski

Full Text:

SUMMER GARDEN SERIES-

MORE PERENNIALS, ANNUALLY

(with photos)

(Editor's Note: This is the fifth installment of an ongoing series about

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

By Amy D'Orio

Stan Rajczewski, Jr., will not admit he likes gardening despite the fact his

home has a stunning display of perennials.

The Bennetts Bridge Road resident said he just wanted to look at something

nice when he sat down at the end of day in his backyard.

He just wanted his children to have memories like the ones he has of his

grandmother's garden.

But for somebody who professes to hate gardening, the results are rather

elaborate.

The flower beds run for hundreds of yards and are filled with numerous blooms

throughout the growing season. He has a grape arbor, stone pathways, statuary,

and he is currently working on a woodland garden.

The first garden to greet visitors is the one along a stone retaining wall

paralleling the driveway. The beds, above and below, are comprised of irises,

Turk's caps, bee balm, phlox and coreopsis.

Giant, old stone steps lead one to the front door, past a colonial garden of

herbs, flowers and flowering trees.

Creeping thyme carpets the paths in this garden, so your walk through it is

fragrant. The colonial garden consists of two major beds. One is filled with

mint, cleome, dill and gooseneck loose strife. The other has basil, bee balm,

Russian sage, chives, malva and, creeping over the fence, morning glory.

Mr Rajczewski is not into bulbs or shrubs, he loves perennials, and his

property is well-suited for this passion since it gets full sun in most parts.

One side of the house has dense shade, however, and Mr Rajczewski was not sure

what to do with it until he noticed moss was taking over a patch of grass.

He cultivated the moss until it covered an entire hillside, using only a few

shrubs and Royal Standard hostas to accent this ground cover.

The backyard contains the most dramatic garden display.

A stone mason in his spare time, Mr Rajczewski has been able to create stone

pathways and retaining walls throughout his property, terracing his backyard

slope with Connecticut stone.

The bed nearest the house contains lavender, butterfly bush, and purple canna,

ornamental grasses and Hens and Chicks sedum.

A cotoneaster spills over the stone wall, which drops down at least five feet

to another bed featuring a Japanese maple.

The other bed near the house is long and filled with cleome, rudbeckia, ribbon

grass, purple coneflower, phlox and thistle, just to name a few. This bed

spills over onto the only unterraced slope, which is filled with day lilies.

In a bed further down the hill, Mr Rajczewski has planted a number of

perennials, but the eye is caught by the combination of purple cannas and

eight-foot tall yellow rudbeckias called Autumn Sun.

Mr Rajczewski has also made room in his backyard for a grape arbor, raspberry

bushes, a vegetable garden, pear trees, peach trees and blueberry bushes.

It has taken ten years to create this backyard vista, and to enjoy it, Mr

Rajczewski has strategically placed two Adirondack chairs to see it at its

best.

"I hate gardening, but it is nice when it is done," he said.