The home at 340 Morton is currently owned by Betsy Wessler and the garden is at its peak in late summer. Kaaren Anderson talked with Betsy last spring to gather a little history on the home and the lovely garden that surrounds it.
The home was originally built in 1948 and was formerly owned by Dick and Evelyn Strellman. Betsy purchased the home in 2007 with a move-in date of 2008. Soon after, the house, as well as the entire yard, were renovated and redesigned. Betsy’s former husband, Ian Wessler of Wessler Design Associates, worked with her to create the beautiful garden you see today.
The first major change was to move the driveway to the far right of the front yard from its former location closer to the house and entry way. This gave a much broader area to reconstruct the garden. The entrance to the garage, which originally faced the street, was reoriented to create a turnaround at the end of the new driveway. Broken concrete pieces from the driveway were used to form walkways leading to the entry and around the house to the garage.
One challenge with the design involved mitigating a seepage problem located at the right rear of the front yard. This was done by lowering the grade to create a gravel and rock lined dry creekbed, directing water through the front yard to a gated front vegetable garden. As you will see, it is this creekbed that is beautifully lined with boulders and various tall grasses. Winding back through these grasses one can find a Triflora maple, Zelkova and palm along with lila
c and wild currant.
Original rhubarb, quince and raspberries were kept and moved to various locations throughout the property. Blueberries, Asian pear, persimmon and other fruit trees share the backyard with many of the original camellias.
