A Glimpse Of The Garden: A Valiant Bush

 

By Nancy K. Crevier

“A Glimpse Of The Garden” is a miniseries focusing on the heart of a gardener’s work — a special spot, an extraordinary plant, a place of respite, or a place that evokes a heartfelt memory.

What is down the garden path of your friends and neighbors? What is down your garden path?

When Vicki and John Boccuzzi moved to Newtown seven years ago, they began adding their personal touches to the landscaping around their home. Mugo pines frame the front steps, backed up by holly, boxwood, burning bush, and red-leafed barberry bushes that wrap around either side of the house. A perennial garden curves out from the foundation, and there can be found in May early hints of summer’s flowers: sedum, chrysanthemums, daisies, phlox, azaleas, and hydrangea.

Coral bells wave delicate stalks topped with tiny, bell-shaped flowers of pink, and nearby, a peony bush threatens to burst into blossom at the next hint of sunshine.

The border of the yard features a decorative Bradford pear tree and arrowwood viburnum, planted by the wetlands at the suggestion of Newtown deputy director of planning and land use, Rob Sibley, said Mrs Boccuzzi. A tiny Japanese maple and a sturdy lilac dot the landscape, and these two trees, along with several other plantings in the garden, have special significance to the Boccuzzi family.

“This is the ‘grandchild’ lilac,” said Mrs Boccuzzi, standing next to a tall and spindly bush filled with deep purple lilac flowers. “Here is my story. It must have been 25 years ago when I noticed the field in back of our house in Stamford. They were building condominiums and in clearing the land, they had half buried a lovely lilac bush with the bulldozers. The lilac was in full bloom. I ran down to the operator and asked him if he would free the bush, and then I planted it in my garden,” recalled Mrs Boccuzzi. “I thought it was a good lesson at the time for my children: you shouldn’t destroy nature.”

That lilac gave the family many years of wonderful flowers, and the family came to call it the “valiant bush.” The valiant bush was eventually divided and the “daughter” bush planted on the property, also providing the family with a wealth of color and aroma.

“We took a baby from the bush when we moved to Newtown. And it is giving us lots of beautiful flowers,” she said.

A Japanese maple is a gift from a friend, said Mrs Boccuzzi, as are many other plants in their garden.

Pouring over the rock wall of the garden are two different chrysanthemum plants that she holds dear. The first is from a cutting provided to her by her sister.

“My mother had this mum in her garden in Madison, 50 years ago. My sister had taken some of it to her garden, and when we moved here, she gave me a piece. It gets huge, dark purple flowers in the fall,” she said.

The second chrysanthemum is a sprawling specimen that started out as a piece cut away from her son John Jr’s chrysanthemum plant.

“It just keeps spreading. I pinch it back until July, and then it is just covered in the fall with light pink and white flowers,” she said.

Within the month, she expects to see the buds on the Siberian iris, also a gift from her son’s garden.

From her sister-in-law, sedum plants add texture to the garden display, and in amongst the astilbe and iris, a tall baptisia plant waves heavy buds, a gift from her late father-in-law.

Although she only recently joined The Garden Club of Newtown, Mrs Boccuzzi said she has always been a gardener.

“I think I got this from my mother. Mom had over 100 varieties of daffodils, and she knew the names of each one,” she said. “I just listen to what people say and learn from that, though,” said Mrs Boccuzzi.

The Boccuzzis look forward to every season in their garden, and enjoy knowing that they have brought a little bit of family history to town.

That is what is down the garden path at the Boccuzzi residence.

(To see more photos from Vicky Boccuzzi’s garden, find this story under the Features tab at NewtownBee.com, where a slideshow has also been posted.)