Den Linnehan: Bristol, New York

Flower & Garden Magazine, June-July, 1996 by Doug Hall

DEN LINNEHAN'S UNUSUAL island garden is a testament to what one person with a wheelbarrow, determination and a strong back can accomplish.

The flower-covered island, about 1,500 square feet of garden space in a small pond, is Den's solution to a common gardening annoyance: deer. The wooded hills and glades here in the Finger Lakes region of New York are home to countless white-tailed deer -- hungry animals that gnaw twigs off trees and shrubs and devastate flower beds.

"I was getting so tired of all the animals eating the flowers up by the house," Den says, "and I wanted to plant somewhere they couldn't get to." Isolating the perennial garden on an island was the picturesque, if not easily accomplished, solution. The spring-fed pond was already there, but building the island took two years of Den's weekends -- the first year devoted to erecting the encircling rim of stones and the second to transporting soil. He estimates he hauled 1,500 wheelbarrow loads of rich loam from an abandoned vegetable plot.

The attractive results justify all of Den's hard work. From the rear deck of the house, the island is the aspen-framed focal point in a panoramic view of meadow, forest and distant hills. Two benches on the island offer a place to relax and admire the flowers. Although they are still small, two mountain ashes and a weeping cherry will someday provide shade. Deer are kept at bay by a gate of netting on the wooden footbridge.

Den has planted the island with perennials and bulbs that provide a succession of bloom. Spring brings bright tulips rising from a cheerful mat of johnny-jump-ups; they are followed by multicolored columbines and the spires of foxgloves and delphiniums. Misty blue Jacob's ladder (Polemonium) is reflected in the mirror of water. In summer, the spectacle continues as yarrow, gaillardia, shasta daisies and coreopsis bloom in broad sweeps of color. Dwarf bedding dahlias, helenium and asters carry the garden into autumn.

To reduce maintenance, Den chooses plants for his garden on the basis of their hardiness. They must be able to thrive in summer without supplemental watering and survive the Zone 5 winters without protection. No protection, that is, except for snow, and a typical winter brings 90 to 100 inches of that.

The island sits in the largest of three ponds that had been dug in boggy ground on the property. Construction of the ponds, as well as moving the largest boulders, was accomplished by bulldozer. Literally tons of smaller stones were exposed in the process; Den has put them to use in low walls and edgings.

"I love building stone walls," he says. "I assume I acquired this skill from my aunt who has the most perfect stone walls and steps ever built without mortar." Altogether, about 400 feet of stone walls meander over the property and delineate garden beds. They are a common theme that unites the island garden, terraced flower beds behind the house and Den's newest creation: a cascade garden for aquatic plants.

On one side of the house, where a serpentine wall traces graceful curves through the lawn, Den has planted trees, including a few nonnative species. "I've been trying to experiment with which trees do well around here," he says. To the existing stand of oak, shagbark hickory and quaking aspen, he has added white spruces, Austrian pines, tulip poplars and a ginkgo.

"You have to buy a pretty good size tree -- about 8 feet or more," Den says. "If you get a smaller one the deer will eat it." His peach and apple trees have been especially tempting to deer.

Farther from the house, lawns and gardens give way to forest. Den has cleared hiking trails through the thorny understory of blackberries, hawthorn and witch hazel. One path leads to a unique woodland maze. Unlike European maze gardens of clipped hedges, Den's version is carved out of the forest. Visitors quickly become disoriented in the twisting labyrinth of branching, dead-end paths.

Den, his wife, Elaine, and their two daughters moved to this 17-acre property in 1986 from suburban Rochester, New York. Den commutes daily to his job at Eastman Kodak Co. in Rochester. He says the rural tranquillity of the Bristol Hills area is worthwhile compensation for the one-hour commute to Rochester.

"One of the main reasons we bought this place is the peace and quiet. Listen," he says, pausing. "You don't hear anything." Indeed, the sounds of civilization are absent, yet the air is alive with nature's music: songbirds, bullfrogs in the ponds and the constant whisper of aspen foliage.

And at dusk, when herds of deer emerge from the woods to graze at the pond's edge, Den can take pleasure in the pastoral scene, knowing that his flowers are safe.