The August Yard of the Month was awarded to Dick and Nancy Baker at 610 Fairlane Street. The award is sponsored by the Dysart Development Corporation and is a way to show appreciation for those who do their part to make Dysart beautiful by keeping their landscaping in tip-top shape.

Nancy has always enjoyed gardening, a hobby which she says she inherited from her grandmother. While the yard is perfectly maintained and well planned, Nancy dubs her style as “hodge podge gardening”. She says that she didn’t have a plan when she began landscaping the yard almost sixteen years ago.

At that time, there were only two evergreen trees in the yard. Since then, Nancy has planted a wide variety of plants with brightly colored flowers. There is a hibiscus bush with dark red flowers, red and white bleeding hearts, cone flowers, daisies, black eyed susans, asters, daffodils in the springtime, and an autumn clematis. The backyard features a wildflower area. Hostas accent the landscaping, and the Bakers also planted weeping mulberry trees.

The flower bed at the front of the home features a red tricycle hooked to an old wagon, which was from an in-law’s great grandfather. She also has a variety of garden ornaments, including art from The Blacksmith Boutique.

Nancy keeps her vegetable garden at the back of the yard. It is hardly visible with the beautiful wildflower garden in front of it. Vintage chairs are used to decorate one small flower bed beneath a weeping mulberry tree. Nancy also prizes a stone statue of a little girl, which reminds her of her granddaughter. Dick has created a “man cave” on the back porch?his favorite spot to sit in the summertime.

Congratulations, Dick and Nancy Baker!