Homegrown
The winners of The Sun's 2016 Garden Contest
Best large garden
The Migliores' garden started with a problem on their sloping, 1.5-acre property.
During storms, rain would cascade down the hill and into their basement. Their solution was to install gravel ditches to divert the water away from the house.
This tactic solved the drainage problems — and created the general outline of their future garden. The couple first planted hostas, banana trees, rhododendrons, azaleas, peonies, astilbe and ferns along the ditches. Then they began to add garden rooms and connect them with pathways.
From a gazebo came a path to a koi pond, and from the pond went a path to a fire pit. Along the walkways, they planted hundreds of hosta.
Today the garden features four ponds, a waterfall flowing from a retaining wall and numerous shady spaces in which to relax.
Linda Migliore said her parents inspired her love of gardening because they had a nice yard that felt like a lush, green room.
“That's how I've constructed my rooms,” she said.
Her favorite space is what she calls her “secret garden.” Tucked behind grape vines, wisteria, euonymus and grasses, the area includes a small fish pond, a hammock, and a swing beneath a trellis, where she enjoys reading.
Linda Migliore, a nurse, said she approaches gardening differently than her husband, who works in business development for a construction company.
“He's very meticulous,” she said. “He writes up supply lists. I just dream and I look at things and plan things in my head. I have a vision in my head that is always changing.”
Gardening, she said, has great benefits, both mentally and physically.
“It adds immensely to your life,” she said. “What a great sense of accomplishment you get.”
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