From lots of lava rock to a tropical paradise, this South Milwaukee garden was a labor of love

The South Milwaukee gardens of Paul Berens and T.J. Kester were once a dull sea of grass accented with lots of red lava rock.

But with time, patience and a vision, they changed their space into a tropical paradise with a trickling pond; an Asian garden; flowerbeds filled with shrubs, trees, brightly colored perennials and annuals; a relaxing patio; and outdoor lighting that makes their yard sparkle and shine at night.

But the transformation wasn’t easy.

Berens said he removed all the grass in the backyard by hand and rid the space of all that lava rock — a task that was nothing short of brutal. And then there were all the yews.

 “The whole backyard was lawn, and the front was shrubs. There were no flowerbeds. And there was all that lava rock. I couldn’t stand it.

“It was a big project removing all the lava rock. I gave it away or took it to the dump. It mostly went to the dump. No one really wants that stuff. It’s so unattractive,” he said.

“There were also seven yews in the front yard and I took most of them out after we moved here. There were only two left and last year I took out a really tall one. It was so tall I was trimming it from on top of my roof. I said to myself, I’m getting too old for this kind of stuff,” he added.

Berens said when they bought their tri-level home about 13 years ago, they started making changes to their front and backyards almost immediately. He works for United Health Care and Kester works in sales.

It’s clearly something Berens is passionate about.

“Gardening is a nice way to let your mind relax and let it all go. It’s a way to let go of everyday stress. It can be a lot of work but the rewards are great. I love growing things and seeing them bloom,” he said.

They started with the addition of a large patio in the backyard.

“We added a patio that is about 15 by 20 feet and we put in square pavers that look like cobblestone. My two sons were living with us then and they helped put in the crushed gravel, the sand, and then the pavers. It was a summer project for us.”

Soon after that project Berens added a goldfish pond, an Asian garden and a vegetable garden. 

"I dug out the pond myself. It’s not huge. It’s probably 3 by 5 feet and one part is deeper where we have the water lilies, but it still was a big job. It took about three weeks. I was filling up buckets of dirt and giving them to a friend. I also used some of it to make small berms around the patio. 

“The pond has a heater to keep the water open because we have fish. We tried koi but they died that first year, so now we have goldfish. They last four or five years. I edged the pond with Lannon stone and planted some Mouse Ear hostas around it, some variegated cattails, corkscrew willows and water lilies. I also added some Baby Joe Pye weed because it attracts monarchs. 

“Our cat, Rolo, likes to come out here to sit and watch the fish.”

Berens said the Asian garden has bamboo, Japanese junipers, and dwarf Japanese barberries called Golden Nugget and Crimson Pigmy. It also has a statue of an Asian woman holding a bowl that has water for the birds and is lighted at night.

Their large vegetable garden yields different produce each year and is where Kester grows his hot peppers.

“He makes hot chili powder from them,” Berens said. “He dries them and then grinds them up into a powder. He also uses them to make chili sauce that he cooks with. He bottles it up and gives it to friends every year. He does about 15 kinds of peppers. He mixes up the different peppers for the powder and sauce. He also smokes some of them.”

Over the years Berens continued to remove grass from the backyard; creating more flowerbeds that he’s filled with a variety of plants, a small fountain, bird baths, bird houses and garden art.

Today, there’s not a blade of grass to be seen.

There’s a row of arborvitae across the back of the yard, a passion flower vine that grows up a trellis, Boston ivy on the back fence, a Pagoda dogwood tree, a tree lilac, a bottle brush bush, hydrangeas, hibiscus, viburnums, a crab tree, three service berries, a dwarf cherry, a magnolia tree, and annuals in the ground as well as in pots. Large variegated spider plants even hang from a tree.

“I also do a lot of tropical in planters. I like tropical hibiscus and I have bougainvillea. In winter I put them in the basement and it looks like a forest down there. I like the beauty of their flowers,” he said.

Berens made the gardens even more striking with the addition of lighting.

In the back spotlights shine on some of his favorite plants, and he also strung white Christmas lights through the branches of some of his bushes and small-scale trees.

“At night when it’s lit up, it looks really pretty. And when the bushes and trees leaf out the lights give a nice glow to them,” he said.

The front yard also has spotlights that shine on the front door, and Berens also added a tree and perennial gardens there.

“I put in a perennial garden not long after we moved here, and this year I added another perennial garden that’s an extension of that first garden. The new garden is in the area where I took out that tall yew. I still have the one yew left, but it’s not as tall as the others.” 

In front there’s also a bed of Annabelle hydrangeas, astilbe, painted fern, pachysandra, and English ivy. 

“We also have a big dogwood in the front yard that I planted. I had gone to a nursery one fall about 10 years ago, and there was only one dogwood left. It said it was a Pagoda dogwood. I bought it and planted it in the back but then I realized it wasn’t a Pagoda dogwood. It was miss-marked.

“I wanted that kind of tree because it has more horizontal branching. I’ve always loved Pagodas and I wanted a tree that would be a focal point,” he said. “So I dug it out and put in the front yard. It started growing and now it’s huge and it looks nice. I know it is a dogwood, but I don’t know what kind.”

His gardens will be featured in this year's South Milwaukee Garden Club & Historical Society Garden Tour on June 24.

He recently talked about the gardens and the upcoming tour.

Who does the bulk of the gardening here?

I do, but T.J. helps with the big projects.

What is your style of gardening?

Cottage style.

What are some of the other vines you grow?

There’s variegated Engelman ivy in a perennial garden in back. It can grow upward but it also grows on the ground. It creeps around. I also have English ivy in the front and the back that grows on the ground.

What are some of your favorite flowers?

My favorite is the hibiscus for sure. Hydrangeas would be number two and then viburnum. I also like lupine, and last year I had a petunia I liked. It was a florescent red color and it was called Hells Heat.

Do you add a lot of annuals for color?

I have two planters by the front door and I put something new in them every year. Some years I’ve put in miniature ferns. I’m not sure what I’ll put in them this year. I do add them for summer color. I also pop them in back in the flowerbeds in little spots where there is room. I like to add lobelia, and the Supertunias.

Do the accent colors you use in your garden change each year?

Yes. Maybe this year I will do salmon, pink and purple. I already bought a bright pink dracena. It’s a tropical plant.

How much time do you typically spend gardening?

I’m out there a little bit every day. There are big projects about twice a year — usually in spring and fall when I do things like pruning.

What’s in your vegetable garden?

This year we have herbs, tomatoes, beans, carrot and the peppers. But I’ve done other vegetables.

How do you edge your flowerbeds?

A lot of them are edged with fieldstone. After we put the patio in we found a listing on Craigslist for someone in Franklin who had it for free. I can’t tell you how many loads of fieldstone we took home between T.J., the boys and me.

Who influenced you in gardening?

When I was growing up in West Allis there was an older couple who lived down the street and the woman would give me perennials when she divided things, and I would take them back to our house and plant them. My dad also did a lot of vegetable gardening.

How to you make your plants thrive?

I usually use a slow-release fertilizer — a granular 10-10-10. Sometimes I also add shredded cedar mulch to keep weeds down and retain moisture.

Do you lean toward tried-and-true plants or new varieties?

Both. I like to try new varieties, but I also like old favorites. Coleus is a favorite. But if there is a new color, I like to try that.

Do you entertain outdoors a lot?

We have a big barbecue every year. T.J. likes to smoke foods. We have 45 to 50 people. Every year it gets bigger. We also have smaller parties about once a month in summer.

What tips you can give our readers on how to make a small garden stand out?

Raise up your flowerbeds. Add berms to get some height and then from a distance you can see them. That helps put the focal point on the plants. When we dug out the patio, we moved all that soil around and made little berms in the backyard with some of it.

Is this your first time on a garden tour?

No. We were in this tour in about 2010. But Patti Bergeson, who heads the tour, came over last year and when she saw the gardens, she said there are so many new things in it since then. Then she asked us to be in the tour this year. We wanted to do it again because we enjoyed talking to people on the last tour.

What is planted in the area along your driveway?

I call it the wooded area. It’s an area that’s about 6 feet wide and 25 feet long that we share with our neighbors and they gave us the go-ahead to make changes there. It had hostas in it and I moved them to the front near that bed. I put in a chokecherry, lilacs, a hazelnut, a sumac and a viburnum. There were lava rocks in that bed too.

If you go

What: South Milwaukee Garden Club & Historical Society Garden Tour of five gardens in South Milwaukee

When: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 24th

Extras: At select gardens there will be handcrafted garden-related items for sale along with musicians. There will be a destination garden with more than 200 different types of hostas to see and purchase. 

Tickets: $10 at Mari’s Flowers, Wine & Gifts, 905 Milwaukee Ave., South Milwaukee

More information: Call Patti Bergeson at (414) 768-9549 or e-mail her at pbergeson55@gmail.com.