The third in a series highlighting each of the six private gardens featured on this year’s Mount Airy Blooms Garden Tour scheduled for Saturday, June 8. The tour is presented by Mount Airy’s three garden clubs. Proceeds will benefit a variety of charities. Ticket-holders will have a bonus opportunity to drive through the Healing and Prayer Garden at Northern Regional Hospital. Tickets for the Mount Airy Blooms Garden Tour are available at Eventbrite.com, the Mount Airy Visitors Center and at each garden site on the day of the tour. Advance tickets are $20 while tickets on the day of the tour are $25, cash only. For more information contact mountairyblooms@gmail.com.
Blanton Youell is well aware that the property on which his family’s home sits on Old Springs Road is steeped in history. Katharine Smith, who later married tobacco magnate R. J. Reynolds and was the driving force behind Reynolda House in Winston-Salem, grew up in the original house and played on the grounds. Much has changed since Katherine was born in 1880.
Gail Richard Hower, who lives in Mount Airy, recalls that her father, the late Dr. Ivan Richard, purchased the house in 1946 when she was just a year old. Fire destroyed the original house in 1960 when she was in the ninth grade. Dr. and Mrs. Richard built a new house on the property, with a slightly different footprint. Not only did the new house serve as home to Gail and her two brothers, but the basement housed Dr. Richard’s chiropractic offices.
Gail and her husband, Dr. Rob Hower, also a chiropractor, bought the house in 1980 and lived there with their two daughters until 1994. Gail recalls that her family felt their home was out of town since it was the last home before Riverside Drive. She even kept a horse in an old barn which stood on land which is now Woodbury Lane. Gail remembers that the barn, part of the Smith property, was said to have housed slaves in the second story, prior to the Civil War.
The Youells purchased the property in 2011 and have been working on the gardens ever since, while also parenting three young children. Dr. Lauren Youell is a pediatrician and Blanton Youell is a DJ, as well as a school and community volunteer.
Visitors to the Youell property today are struck by the Jeffersonian brick serpentine wall creating a barrier between the yard and street. Blanton says he understands the wall was originally installed to protect the house from dust kicked up as a horse and buggy passed by. Gail Hower remembers that her father extended the wall when he purchased the property. By the time the Youells purchased their home, the wall was covered in ivy which Blanton worked hard to remove.
Blanton’s gardens offer the visitors an eclectic mix of perennials, annuals, trees and shrubs. Whimsical garden gnomes dot the landscape among the flowers. Lenten roses, hostas, bleeding hearts (Dicentra), peonies, and snap dragons are just a few of the beautiful and interesting flowers in the Youell gardens.
The back of the house features an expansive brick patio, accented by a large pergola held up by square white raised-panel columns sitting atop brick foundations. A dining table and chairs are perfect for an outdoor meal or conversation with friends. Nearby, the wall of the garage of the original house helps to outline the patio. The wall features a recessed fountain plus a built-in-barbecue and wood storage area. Climbing hydrangea climbs up both sides of the entrance to a shady outdoor room underneath the original house.
A koi pond in the back yard features dwarf iris, red dwarf maples, and a chameleon plant, all guarded by a friendly concrete garden gnome. Nearby, whimsical garden art appeals to children and adults alike. A wooden play set invites children to enjoy hours of climbing fun.
Unique to the Youell home are solar collectors in the yard, atop the roof of the original garage. Blanton has incorporated the collectors, which he says provide about 80% of the family’s electricity, into the landscape. A strategically placed concrete “extraterrestrial being” reclines in front of the collectors, inviting visitors to take a closer look.
Well-established Southern Magnolia, large boxwood, Chinese Privet, crepe myrtles, grapes, rhododendron, and trumpet vine offer beauty along with cooling shade on a hot day.
A side yard leads directly to back gardens of Kathy and James Wagner on Robin Road whose home is also on the garden tour. The Youell children are frequent vistors to the Wagner home.
In the back of the property sits a small shed used by the Youell children as a playhouse. A fence around the playhouse corrals five chickens who provide the family with fresh eggs.
The Youell gardens truly offer “something for everyone.”
Note: Garden tour participants will park on Robin Road and tour the Kathy and James Wagner home first before walking through an archway to the Youell gardens. Parking on Old Springs Road is limited.
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