Stop and smell the flowers ... or hedges, or freshly cut grass: Our readers’ favorite yards in Columbia
Prepare for some front yard envy.
A few weeks ago, The State asked readers to tell us about your favorite front yards in Columbia.
We have to agree — the submissions we received gained staff reactions ranging from “adorable,” to admiration, to “Wow that looks like a lot of work.”
We know this list only covers a fraction of the amazing yards in Columbia. If you want to add more yards to the conversation, tweet at us with the hashtag #bestyardsinColumbia.
In the meantime, enjoy these wonderful yards.
Trial and error
Mark and Debbie Long have lived in their Waverly-area home for 45 years. They raised three children at the house and now entertain six grandchildren with their vibrant yard, which extends to the backyard as well.
“He waters, I design,” Debbie said with a laugh as she showed off the vegetative variety in the couple’s front and back yards.
The vegetation includes 450 Caladium bulbs planted around the yards, as well as fatsias, azaleas, ferns, dragon wing begonias, philodendrons, leopard plants — or tractor seats — and coleus plants, among others
Beautifying the property has been entirely trial and error, they said.
“We try one thing, if that doesn’t work, we try something else,” Mark said.
Precision mowing
Ryan Gadow and his wife, Amber, bought their Forest Acres home roughly seven years ago. They spent the first two to three years working on remodeling the house itself.
Admittedly, they neglected the yard for those first few years, Gadow said.
Today, the front yard is groomed to golf course precision, mowed with a 22-year-old specialty push mower called a reel mower that Gadow found online. Gadow mows stripes into the lawn with the special mower, which can cut the grass much shorter than a typical rotary mower.
He learned about the technique by watching YouTube videos.
“All my friends on the street make fun of me for how often I’m out here,” he said.
Clearly, those neighbors also appreciate the work that goes into grooming the lawn. Reader Matt Long nominated the property, writing “The lawn is PERFECT.”
A perfect picket fence
An Earlewood home was also submitted, but the homeowner was not home when reporters for The State arrived.
Reader Debbie English, who submitted the yard for The State’s poll, said she particularly likes that the owner hand-cut and assembled a white picket fence around the yard and built a trellis as well.
“They repurposed the old fence into flower beds in the easement and filled it with giant zinnias!” English wrote to nominate the home.
Little details
Necole Stinson has lived at her Eau Claire-area home for 15 years. The yard is decorated with a variety of unique fixtures, including a lamppost made to look like a pineapple plant and decorative light fixtures on the front porch.
Stinson told The State that she loves her neighborhood and tries to keep the house looking nice for herself as well as her neighbors.
A legacy of gardeners
Adam Oteri and his partner, Brian Brochak, purchased their historic Old Shandon home in 2020 and have used the yard as a test garden for their local plant company, Cypress Garden Supply. They sell their plants at Soda City Market.
They can tell customers how a plant will survive in Columbia conditions by testing it on their own property.
The yard is filled with towering elephant ear plants of multiple varieties, as well as vinca flowers, alocasia and colocasia plants, swamp hibiscus, purple and green basil, rooster cones and more.
The pair are planning to expand their efforts by planting a rose garden, an homage to one of the home’s earlier owners who was well known for her rose gardens.
The home itself has a long history with gardening. In 1943, the Cherokee Rose Garden Club hosted their spring flower show at the home, according to Oteri.
