Photography by R. Todd Davis
For years, Mary Ott never dug in the dirt. But that was many years ago.
Today, she and her husband, Tom, an ophthalmologist, tend a garden where every tree, shrub and flower in the beguiling landscape has its own story to tell—a legacy of two decades of collecting and connoisseurship. The turnabout came after the Otts became friends with the late Edgar Dennison, their Webster neighbor and a renowned wildflower expert. His horticultural bequests to them include the golden larch in their back yard, grown from the seed of a tree planted for the Chinese exhibit at the 1904 World’s Fair Pavilion; the large-leafed perennial begonia; and the elegant tiered primroses. The Otts follow their mentor’s lead by sharing cuttings, seeds and seedlings. In fact, it’s rare for visitors to leave the Ott garden empty-handed.
Today, their hard work has resulted in a demi-Eden graced with Maxfield Parrish colors. Every single plant and shrub is picked to age with perfection. Plop-itis (where you are tempted to buy that certain something at the nursery but have no earthly notion of where it should fit, so you just plop it in) doesn’t happen here.
The flamboyant azalea border that stretches across the entire front of the house was already established when the Otts purchased their house more than two decades ago. Mrs. Ott presumes the azaleas were planted as “a quick way to cover a frumpy foundation.” The front garden is simple and traditional. Black gum (Nyssa) trees have replaced two very large white oaks that were lost several years ago.
The glories of the Ott garden are only fully discovered as one meanders through the property. Following the driveway, one can choose to proceed toward the playhouse or duck into a little fountain garden, thick with “Carefree Beauty” roses and dwarf lilacs. The fountain feature, centrally placed, is a Chinese rock studded with tiny bronze creatures—amphibious and reptilian—that was acquired from sculptor and City Museum founder Bob Cassilly. The area, contiguous to the screened porch, effectively blocks the view of the driveway—which holds a border garden of masses of peonies and regal candelabra primroses, yet another piece of the Dennison legacy.
The Otts’ garden proper consists of an elegant formal stone terrace and a large lawn edged by a serpentine border of ornamental and specimen trees, shrubs and shade perennials. This is not a symmetrical arrangement. It’s a graceful loop that serves to break the regular confines of a rectilinear suburban lot. Though this property isn’t vast, the views in all directions are of a carefully constructed, tranquil woodland-style setting.
In addition to the Chinese fountain, there are two other water features: one bubbling from an old grindstone, the other literally a water table. The garden is anchored by whitebuds, dogwood and venerable trees like a hickory and that legendary larch (sown from the seed of one planted in Forest Park for the 1904 World’s Fair).
A bulb show starts in late winter with a parade of snowdrops, spring snowflakes (Leucojum vernum), guinea-hen flower (Fritillaria meleagris), and the squirrel-proof Crocus tommasinianus, which are “Tommies” to those in the know. In contrast to the brazenly floriferous azaleas, the denizens of the back landscape are intentionally more subtle. In late April, a haze of Spanish bluebells still waves over a groundcover of aconites, myrtle, lily of the valley and Christmas ferns. With the garden’s restricted color palette (predominately green, white and pastel) and an emphasis on foliage texture over color, nothing jostles your gaze.
For her daughter Molly’s September wedding some years ago, Mrs. Ott added more white flowers—cleome, lilies, tobacco plant (Nicotiana elata) and the Japanese anemone “Whirlybird”—to enhance existing plantings of hydrangea, clethra and ferns. Another perennial used to great effect in the Ott garden is the Lenten rose, which the Otts snapped up years before its current vogue. Hellebores, which bloom some years as early as February (“if we get a mild winter”), hold their rose-like bloom well into spring.
One of the secrets of the Ott garden is a clever use of sequential plantings, which seamlessly evolve from one act to the next. “Ephemerals” describes flowers that vanish after their bloom time, only to reappear the following spring. The spring ephemerals planted in profusion include bluebells, bloodroot, blue-eyed Mary and May apple. Similarly, Mrs. Ott is very partial to fall cyclamen bulbs—Cyclamen coum and Cyclamen hederifolium—“that usually bloom for the solstice.”
While many of the plants are allowed to self-seed and pop up where they may, others are culled. Mrs. Ott tells a story of when she and Tom were first married and living briefly in El Salvador. Her maid criticized her for not using the machete enough—Mrs. Ott had let the crotons get out of hand. She still has a penchant for outsized tropical foliage; pots of elephant ears, clivia, brugmansia and datura ornament the terrace. And there’s not a machete in sight.
While the Otts share a gardening passion, Dr. Ott has taken his own path. Early in his practice, Dr. and Mrs. Ott were in the Philippines. He became intrigued with the study of orchids. What was once a hobby has grown into a serious avocation; a small greenhouse brims with amazing specimens, rare and exquisite blooms that persist throughout the winter months when the garden is dormant.
But the garden doesn’t sleep for long. A few springs past, the Otts received some extra gardening help from a red-tailed hawk and a resident owl. The sky dwellers kept the rabbit population down, and the Otts’ hostas remained plump and healthy throughout the summer.
This is a garden where you can see nature at work in a design honed to perfection.
