Laura Boyett Transforms Her Augusta Property Into a Botanical Oasis.
Thirteen years ago, Laura Boyett visited a house for sale on Howard Hill in Augusta. As she stepped onto the deck, her eyes fell on the grove of hemlocks, maples, and ashes at the bottom of the steep backyard. “I’d been under a lot of stress, and I felt the tension lift away,” she recalled. “I could envision walking paths through the woods, with gardens alongside them.”
Boyett purchased the one-acre property and shared her vision with Jason Allerding, a landscaper from Windsor who had previously helped her enhance her small yard. “I thought, ‘Man, that’s a lot of work. I’m not sure she knows what she’s in for,’” Allerding said with a laugh. “But she did. Laura is ambitious when it comes to her gardens.”
Since then, Boyett and Allerding have collaborated to bring her vision to life. They have created woodland paths lined with Joe Pye weeds, astilbes, snakeroots, bloodroots, European gingers, and geraniums. They also enhanced an existing frog pond at the forest’s entrance with stones and Prince Tut grasses. Much of the lawn has been transformed into garden beds filled with hundreds of flowering plants, including uncommon species of daylilies, alliums, irises, coneflowers, and bee balms. “You’ll see more different types of plants here than in any garden in this area,” Allerding noted. “It’s like a botanical garden — we focus on species rather than bulk landscaping.”
Boyett draws inspiration from garden magazines and often returns from specialty nurseries with unique perennials and ideas for where to plant them. Allerding refines her plans based on how tall the plants will grow and their preferred conditions. “Jason has an eye for flow,” Boyett said. “The way plants are arranged leads you through the gardens’ curves.” Allerding, however, believes his approach is more practical. “I say the flow comes from the mowing,” he explained, as many of the gardens cover slopes that make mowing difficult. “You have to work with the land and not against it.”
Their first garden bed was built along the front of the house and now curves widely around the corner and down the side. It features a gently tiered stone path leading to a small patio, where Boyett enjoys her morning coffee among bright-yellow globeflowers, deep-red bottlebrushes, and fancy daylilies, such as Holiday Party, with large, peony-like crimson blooms edged in gold. Sunlight influences her color choices — red, yellow, and orange flowers thrive in the sun-drenched roadside beds, while blues, pinks, greens, and purples flourish in the cool shade of the woods.
Scattered among the plants are whimsical ornaments made from vintage glass plates, bowls, and vases — gifts from Boyett’s sister, Lynn Haynes, who lives in North Carolina — and cozy sitting areas. “Sometimes, I come home from work, and a neighbor will be in one of the chairs, enjoying the flowers,” Boyett said. “It’s one of the things I hoped for.”