
Some folks get into expanding or gardening due to the fact of a particular variety of plant, these types of as roses or orchids. Others are drawn to the hobby as a calming, meditative exercise. For Bob Bobrow, the enterprise started 18 many years ago as a way to catch the attention of hummingbirds into his St. Matthews yard.
Setting up compact
“The garden started out compact in 2004 and step by step grew to fill our whole great deal,” Bobrow informed The Courier Journal. “Every enlargement was prompted by discovering a new plant or plant type that we required to incorporate in the backyard garden or a need to bring in wildlife — hummingbirds, goldfinch, butterflies, and dragonflies, for example.”

Right now, the immaculate garden consists of every thing from primary flora like daylilies, irises, peonies, hostas, and roses, to a lot less-frequent plants these types of as crossvine, lady slippers, spigelia marilandica, toad lilies, Turk’s cap lilies, Canada lilies, cup crops, and a selection of peonies. The house also boasts a sizeable selection of significant rocks, as properly as 20 types of Japanese maple.
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A tree commencing
“(I) got began … on the Japanese maple kick when I was about 9 or 10 several years outdated,” Bobrow defined. “My uncle … had an orchard and … some ornamental trees, and I remember him taking me out one particular day and showing me this tree that experienced crimson leaves. In 1969 … they weren’t that widespread around here.”

A long time afterwards, Bobrow and his brothers inherited the land — and he remembered the tree. With a whole lot of effort and many supporting fingers, he was in a position to transfer the maple to his front garden, in which it even now sits to this day.
Other elements of the yard are also Japanese-impressed, including the smaller koi pond, as effectively as the birdbath set on the side of the driveway.
“The birdbath is wabi-sabi design and style,” Bobrow defined. “The notion (is that) that you really don’t want one thing perfect. You just want a organic glimpse.”
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Itoh peonies — hybrids from a tree peony bred with an herbaceous peony, developed by Japanese horticulturist Dr. Toichi Itoh — are sprinkled all through.
“I love peonies,” Bobrow exclaimed. “You can not actually get significantly prettier than that. … The (Itoh peonies) have a yellow cast to them regular peonies don’t … and there’s a great deal additional shade variation to them.”
Preferred florals
Bobrow’s yard boasts a myriad of plants, but he says his favorites are the Canada lilies, which are native to North The united states.

“It’s a definitely really plant,” he explained. “It’ll get (a few to eight feet) tall, then (the) blooms will splay and fall around, and they cling significantly like the blooms of the columbine.”
He’s also fond of the numerous peonies he has planted, which include the Itohs. But when it will come to the most effective section of the back garden alone, Bobrow says it’s a blend of owning the finished house and the act of placing in the perform to generate it.
“Every night, if it’s great, we’re sitting out right here,” he reported, incorporating that in the mornings, he’ll be seated on the opposite conclude. A number of chairs and benches are distribute during so that the views from all angles can be relished in various means, based on where the sun hits at any unique time of day.

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“In the close, which is the most fulfilling component,” he claimed. “But something about undertaking it all your self can make it much more pleasing. … I imagine any individual who is a authentic gardener has a definitely solid control impulse, (since) you are developing your own earth.”
Bobrow’s backyard garden is one of seven that are remaining showcased in the 2022 Kilgore Residence & Garden Tour.
Know a house that would make a great Property of the Week? Email author Lennie Omalza at [email protected] or Way of life Editor Kathryn Gregory at [email protected].
- WHAT: The 2022 Kilgore Home & Backyard garden Tour showcases 7 of Louisville’s most remarkable gardens, as well as the inside of 1 household. Proceeds from the self-guided tour deliver assistance to the Kilgore Samaritan Counseling Heart for all those who are not able to shell out the entire fee for counseling.
- WHEN: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., June 11-12
- Where by: The self-guided tour can commence at any of the 7 addresses listed on the party web page.
- TICKETS: Tickets are $35 for older people and $5 for little ones. Tickets can be obtained online, at any of the garden destinations on the day of the tour, or at one of the offsite locations: Second Presbyterian Church (weekdays only), St. Francis in the Fields Episcopal Church (weekdays only), St. Matthews Feed and Seed, Digs House & Garden, European Splendor, Solution Yard, or the Kilgore Counseling Centre.
- Additional Information: Stop by kilgorecounseling.org/property-yard-tour/the-tour/ for extra info, entire descriptions of the gardens, and to invest in tickets.
nuts & bolts
Owners: Bob and Marla Bobrow. Bob is an legal professional and Marla is a paralegal. Also in the house is Will Bobrow, who is a scholar.
Household: This is a 3-bed, 2-tub, 1,900-square-foot Tudor-style dwelling in St. Matthews that was built in 1936. The yard was begun in 2004 and is a blend of Japanese, English, and Woodland kinds.
Exclusive factors: Yard includes fundamental this kind of as daylilies, iris, peonies, hostas, and roses, as properly as considerably less-common plants together with crossvine, woman slippers, spigelia marilandica, toad lilies, Turk’s cap lilies, Canada lilies, tree peonies, cup plant, and Itoh peonies. The backbone of the yard is a collection of huge rocks and 20 varieties of Japanese maple.
Applause! Applause! The owners would like thank nearby blacksmith Sherman Blankenship for encouraging them style and design and establish the entrance porch railing, which incorporates various backyard aspects regional artist Samantha Griffin for planning and building a massive, metal Canada lily sculpture for the back again patio and their hardscape human being who has carried out an awesome occupation over the decades bordering the backyard garden with cobblestones, providing and placing extra-big rocks, and on doing the job on initiatives these as the brick driveway and patio.