A beginner’s guide to updating the heart of your home

So, you’re thinking of renovating your kitchen? Congratulations! Not only will you enjoy the benefits of a remodel, your home value will increase as well. And, in terms of home improvements, an updated kitchen offers one of the best “Return on Investments” according to most real estate agents (I should know since I’m married to one).

Starting the Process
Last fall, my own outdated and narrow galley-style kitchen was renovated, but it was quite the process to get to the finish line. I’m the first to admit that the gleaming, spacious—and oh, so spotless!—kitchens littering my Pinterest boards were far from practical or realistic. Not only were we limited by a fixed floor plan, we also had a set price point to follow.

Tracy Kearney, Certified Kitchen Designer®, owner and designer at Cornerstone Cabinets and Design, believes “an honest discussion about budget is the most important thing to start a project.” Doing so allows you to “narrow down the products and options that best fit,” she says.

Now, Pinterest, and similar sites like Houzz, do have their place. While you need to be realistic about the budget, MB Tile owner, Maurice Becerra, says, “Customers are definitely more educated today thanks to [these] websites,” which helps in clearly explaining your vision. He also says an experienced contractor can find a way to make your dream a reality while being mindful of your budget.

Finally, deciding what to change and the order of events “is crucial,” Kearney says. “Poor scheduling, lack of communication or poor relationships with subcontractors can add weeks to a renovation,” Kearney says. But, on the other hand, a well-managed process could be completed in less than two weeks if you solely focus on cabinets, countertops and backsplash.

Keep in mind that opting to change the footprint of your kitchen will significantly affect project cost and timeline. Sometimes that improvement is “critical to the function of the space and the entire project,” Kearney says, but for a standard home we’ll focus on the core elements in the order she recommends: cabinets first then countertops and finally backsplash and lighting.

Keep It All Together: The Cabinets
Cabinets present you with two primary choices: repaint or purchase new. The case for new is strong since repainting is so involved. Plus, it’s time consuming (for us it took about three weeks) and tedious (requiring the removal of all hardware and doors; stripping, sanding, repeat; priming, drying, repeat, etc.). However, our existing cabinets were custom built from very durable wood, so we opted to go the refresh route by painting.

For most homeowners, it will save more time and money to upgrade your cabinetry by purchasing new. Kearney suggests selecting cabinets “built in a manufacturing facility that uses the most durable paint and stain finishes.” A less expensive finish may have a lower upfront cost, Kearney says, but those cabinets tend to have shorter warranties and are less durable. To protect your cabinets from the oils on your hands, Kearney recommends “choosing a handle with at least one inch of space between the back of the handle and the cabinet.”

Another possible option would be to purchase new cabinet doors, hinges and hardware while keeping the base cabinetry the same; this approach can be more budget-conscious but still elevates the look in keeping with the countertops and other upgrades. Do keep in mind that low quality cabinet bases will not withstand the weight of a stone countertop over time, so be mindful of that before deciding.

Top It Off: The Counters
Of all of the kitchen decisions, lifestyle may play the largest role in this one. Page Hastings, owner of Spectrum Stone Designs LLC, says, “There are pros and cons with all [countertop] materials; it’s just a matter of understanding them and which will work best for your home.” Kearney says to consider “budget and lifestyle; how often do you cook, entertain? Do you have children?” These questions are critical because the care for marble, quartz and granite varies widely.

Hastings says it’s important to “understand the product you’re purchasing; marble is beautiful, but it may not be for everyone.” Indeed, as a mom to three kids, I learned our home was far from safe for the soft nature of marble, which Hastings says is more prone to be scratched, etched or stained. Quartz, on the other hand, is a stone that “replicates the marble look” but without the worry (so, if you guessed that we chose quartz, you would be right). Another popular and beautiful option is granite, which needs to be re-sealed every year or so.

Set It Off: The Backsplash
When looking at tile, Becerra recommends “tasteful pairings that enhance your countertop, not try to outdo it.” Once you’ve selected a countertop, you want your tile and grout to complement it. Becerra warns that choosing a “very trendy look will date the kitchen” and a low-quality or porous tile that stains easily “will age poorly and be a turnoff to potential buyers.”

One advantage of individual tiles over mesh mosaics is that they have fewer grout lines and typically show fewer stains, Becerra says. They also come with matching bullnose tiles, which create a nice ending “transition to a painted surface;” most mesh squares lack these.

In calculating cost, Becerra says the biggest factor “is the pattern, second is the materials, and lastly, the number of outlets, switches and windows in the kitchen.” The popular subway tile is generally a simple and easy installation, but laying those same tiles in a herringbone pattern would triple the time and double the waste, “thus greatly increasing the cost,” Becerra explains.

Brighten It Up: The Lights
Lifestyle also plays a role in choosing light fixtures. “Start with the layout of your room,” Lisa Moorefield, showroom consultant at Timberlake Lighting of Lynchburg, says. Evaluate your “ceiling heights, cabinet areas, work triangle, etc.” Consider how you use your kitchen, where shadows need to be eliminated and then, Moorefield says, where you want to find your statement piece—perhaps over the island or the dining table.

In my galley-style kitchen, the chandelier over the table and the pendant light over the undermount sink steal the show. But the recessed lights and under-cabinet lighting work with the white quartz to make the narrow space feel larger and brighter. Plenty of creative lighting options are on the market to enhance whatever design you have.

Finally, if you have to choose only one or two things to change, Moorefield says updating your lighting will make “the biggest impact with the least amount of money.”

Regardless of what direction you go with a kitchen remodel, Kearney has some simple advice: “For the purpose of resale or enjoyment, people are looking for more low-maintenance, simple and easy to use spaces.”

The image flashed before my eyes for only a split second. But once seen, it cannot be unseen. Despite years of trying, I cannot shake my horror at realizing I’d foolishly delivered a lovely little chickadee on a silver platter for my cat’s supper. It happened like this: My friend Joyce Coleman is a brilliant bird photographer. Awed by her masterful bird photos, I sought her advice on tricks of the trade. She shared that she placed her bird feeders outside the window by her office desk and kept her camera ready for when a flicker came into her peripheral vision. The birds, emboldened by her benign presence behind glass, didn’t flutter away when she took up her camera to snap shots.

Duly impressed and in haste to follow suit, I didn’t account for my desk being on the front of the house, the “high side” of our property (house placement that Hill City folks understand). Since these windows were our closest to the ground, a six-foot pole to hold the bird feeder put it at the right height for photos. And also perfectly situated for Shadow, our athletic young farm cat, to take advantage of another failure in my planning. The feeder pole was nestled in mature boxwoods, which gave Shadow excellent cover for easy hunting at the feeder.

As a farm-toughened old gal who’s witnessed firsthand how the food chain works, I’m not naïve about predator-prey relationships and don’t swoon when nature takes its course.

But when I saw Shadow’s fully extended claws clinging on each side of the feeder and his fangs sink into that unsuspecting little bird, my heart stopped. I knew this wasn’t just nature at work; the poor bird didn’t have a chance. I’d set him up for the kill. Joyce kindly comforted me with the reminder that this is what cats are wired to do, but still…

Placement of Feeders
So, lesson #1 about creating a wild bird sanctuary is to attract them with sensibly placed feeders. Needless to say, I immediately moved that front yard feeder to a more cat-proof location and placed it on a longer pole. I found an excellent pole system with extenders at Wild Birds Unlimited (wbu.com), and I moved the feeders around the yard several times before deciding on just the right spot.

Through trial and error, I ruled out under the large old oak tree with branches that hung over the deck and terrace. While feeders at the edge of the terrace provided fine viewing from both outdoor and indoor vantage points, the oak branches that hung high over the terrace to provide lovely summer shade also served as an appealing perch/staging area for birds queued up for the feeders. The problem? Bird droppings on our seating/eating area.

After other attempts with various shortfalls, I finally found the ideal home for our feeders to launch a successful wild bird sanctuary that co-existed peacefully and safely with our four cats—the one gymnast and three others considerably less aggressive and agile. The location was the back yard near sunroom windows for pleasurable viewing. This required considerable pole extension/bracing, which made the feeders safe from predators—cats and others—but it put them out of reach from the ground for the required twice-daily replenishment during the winter “busy season.”

Placing the poles and feeders close to windows was the answer.

With his long reach, Tim got the job of opening the windows, removing empty feeders from their poles, and carrying them about eight feet to the deck for refilling. And Shadow got the job of watching the now-safe birds through the sunroom windows.
We called it his “kitty TV.”

Squirrels were never a problem for our bird feeders because squirrels didn’t venture from the plentiful woods surrounding the cow pastures that encircled our farm house and yard. If you want a bird sanctuary but battle squirrels snatching the bird seed, squirrel-proof locations and feeders (such as those that close access to contents when the weight of squirrels lands on the base) are necessary.

Bears are another matter altogether, and conventional wisdom is to remove your bird feeders if bears are an issue in your neighborhood.

Shelter
As with all creatures, birds need shelter for resting and nesting, as well as for safe access to food. I attribute our success in creating a wild bird sanctuary largely to the great feeding location we finally established after my front-yard fiasco. Our eventual—and permanent—location of feeders was within a few feet of a mature native viburnum bush that provided an ideal perch for birds to queue up for access to the feeders. Cardinals, finches, red-winged blackbirds, tufted titmouses (or is it titmice?), juncos, blue jays, house wrens, sparrows, chickadees, towhees, red-headed woodpeckers, and many more all flocked to the upper thicket of viburnum twigs to wait their turn.

Dozens of birds of all varieties somehow worked out the order of the queue and rarely squabbled over their place in line. Well, occasionally a bossy blue jay or red-winged blackbird would flex his muscle and shoo smaller birds away, but it was a remarkably orderly procession of birds all day long, especially in extreme cold or snow. The viburnum filled with birds lined up for a feeding frenzy was a sure predictor of wintry weather! And is there anything more gorgeous than a vibrant male cardinal (or a flock of them) on a snowy day?

Years of bird watching confirmed that this native viburnum offered respite and release from fear of predators that were too heavy to ascend to the bird queue on the twiggy level. And being able to hide in a thicket of twigs kept bully birds from zooming in and intimidating smaller, less confrontational birds.

Our old-fashioned volunteer native red cedars along the backyard fence line, a sure sign of old farmland, provided a perfect nesting/breeding place for many of our wild birds. Other wild birds preferred our yard oaks, magnolias, and other trees, while bluebirds enjoyed nesting, laying eggs, and nurturing their young until they fledged in human-crafted bluebird boxes. Our bluebird boxes on six-foot poles were also challenged by our Shadow’s jumping skills, but we foiled his attempts at levitation to raid the nests with numerous tricks that mostly involved creating an unreceptive landing platform.

Food and Water
Your bird food and feeders will, of course, reflect your preferences for which birds you attract. We maintained five feeders: Two were general feeders primarily loaded with store-bought sunflower seeds (with black oil sunflower seeds most valuable in winter) or a general high-quality birdseed mixture (carefully staying away from less nutritious feeds with high “filler” content). We also added suet in blocks affixed to the ends of one of the feeders to fuel the birds during hard winter.

To truly invite birds into your yard, fill your gardens with native plants that offer birds their flower nectar, berries, and seeds, as well as host insects, for feeding them as designed in nature. Grow your own native sunflowers, asters, purple cornflowers, liatris, hyssops, and many more. One of my all-time favorites is winterberries, since we could enjoy our share for holiday decorating and leave the rest to the birds who’ll swoop in for a feast when the berries are past their toxic stage and perfectly ripe.

Our two finch feeders offered Niger seed that was well-appreciated by our finches when nothing in our garden was of greater appeal. If natural seeds are available, such as native rudbeckia (black-eyed Susans), finches will flock to them first and abandon the feeders for weeks, returning only after the garden supply is exhausted. After all, natural/local/native seeds were what they survived on before we “birders” started providing store-bought supplements. Native seeds continue to remain their preference, so it’s important to leave them when tidying up and putting the garden to bed for winter.

My fifth feeder was for hummingbirds. After buying a commercially prepared red sugar solution in my early birding years, I learned that the solution didn’t have to be red to attract them.

So we switched to creating our own sugar water, which worked just fine and, as we learned later, is safer. Again, as with finches and Niger seed, hummingbirds will enjoy your offering of sugar water, but they prefer nature’s own nectar when they can get it—and it’s better suited to meeting their nutritional needs.

Hummingbirds especially like garden plants with trumpet shaped flowers, such as penstemon, trumpet vine, beebalm, cardinal flower, red columbine, trumpet honeysuckle, and more. Most hummingbirds migrate south during our winters, but we can enjoy them during their times with us and be prepared to offer them a garden feast supplemented by sugar water while they grace us with their presence.

We all know water is essential to life for birds as well as humans, so if you want to sustain your bird habitat, a consistent source of fresh water is necessary. At our farm/bird sanctuary, we had a pond not too far from our yard and kept a pedestal birdbath filled with water in the backyard. Plus we had water bowls for our outdoor cats and dogs that were safely shared with birds whenever our feline and canine pets were napping, enjoying a sojourn indoors, or otherwise not lurking about in a threatening manner. Birds are very clever and quick at taking advantage of these opportunities for both garden foraging and water.

Everything in Its Season
I’m amazed at how easy it is to attract birds and create a thriving wild bird habitat if you just take the time to observe their behavior and create a habitat that consistently meets their needs. My years at the farm taught me how to slow down and detach from everyday cares to find peace, joy, exhilaration, and wisdom in nature and the fascinating world of birds.

One important lesson learned from our gardens and creating a bird sanctuary is that everything has its season, and every season inevitably gives way to the next. We know this in our heads from childhood, but it doesn’t truly sink into our hearts and souls until we’ve lived it ourselves. My 22-year season for intensive gardening and building a bird habitat closed in 2016 when Tim and I moved from our beloved farm into a condo in Lynchburg.

And now my four-year-plus season for writing garden stories and sharing photos with Lynchburg Living is closing with this 25th and final story. How fitting that I’m writing it on a beautiful snowy day since snow days were always my time at the farm to watch serenely the majestic parade of birds at our feeders and marvel at the spirited red cardinals against the hushed whiteness.

It has been a privilege and a pleasure to share my love of gardens, flowers, birds, conservation, nature, and of building community through gardening. I’m deeply grateful to Lynchburg Living for honoring me by publishing my garden stories in each of the past 25 issues. And I thank you, fellow garden-loving readers, for your encouragement and support, advice and photos. I hope you’ve taken away tidbits of knowledge and wisdom, a deeper understanding of our shared place in the natural world, and inspiration.

My next season will be devoting more time to caring for my beloved Tim and, when time permits, picking up my paint brushes—another love of my life from a previous season over 30 years ago.

Vintage Meets Modern in “The Christmas Elf’s” Colorful Home

By Charlotte A. F. Farley | photos by Heather Kidd

On a quiet street in a secluded Boonsboro neighborhood, a white center-hall Colonial with black shutters presents the perfect background for colorful Christmas decorations. Blue lights drape over tree branches and Kelly Green bows wrap the light pole and add the final touch to an evergreen wreath.

These fun escapes from traditional red and green have appeared throughout Carter Bendall’s home ever since she and her husband Richard purchased it nearly four years ago. “We have retouched every single surface,” she explains. The Bendalls have created a lively, traditional, and comfortable home for themselves and their daughter, Lawson, and Carter creates especially memorable scenery for the holidays.

Contemporary geometric wallpaper serves as the backdrop for treasured antiques in the front hallway. A hot pink Christmas tree bedecked in silver bells lives atop a small antique half-moon console, and an otherwise traditional swag cloaks the banister, filled with ornaments in shades of cobalt, fuchsia, red, and robin’s egg blue.

In this space, and throughout her home, Carter combines her passion for all things vintage with her love for color and pattern—and it works. Carter painted her living room a cheery shade of robin’s egg blue and hung sunny coral draperies on the window. “When my mother helped me with this room, she said that her mother—and this would have been in the 60s—did the same exact colors,” Carter admits.

Carter added some charm to the space through the purchase of her faux mantelpiece.

“Because this house was built in the 1990s, there wasn’t any architectural interest, so we went to an antique mall in Staunton and picked up this bad boy, and we have scraped [off] I cannot tell you how many layers of paint.”

A vivid garland of magenta and tangerine glass balls sprawls across the mantel—another juxtaposition of vintage meets modern. Three stockings hang from the fireplace: one for Carter, one for her husband Richard, and one for their daughter Lawson. A thin white tabletop tree provides the perfect perch for faux peacocks, canaries, and cardinals that add whimsy and color. In the corner, pink, teal, and red accessories enliven a full-sized white tree, and a few oversized ornaments dress up the window.

Across the hall from the living room, a dining room with saffron-colored walls transforms into what the Bendalls jokingly refer to as “the forest” thanks to Carter’s tasteful displays filled with her bottlebrush tree collection. She’s been gathering them for years. “Whenever I see them, I buy them. Half are vintage, and half are from what I find at Target.”

One vignette serves as a centerpiece; another dwells on the sideboard. The myriad bottlebrush trees range in hue from traditional green to gold, pink, and teal, and some are even snowy, frosted trees with miniature decorations. Two small Christmas trees top the china cabinet, which also receives the holiday treatment—Carter fills pieces of silver, porcelain, and crystal with small decorative baubles. Additional ornaments dangle from the chandelier and sconces.

Enter through the kitchen and you’ll notice a series of Virginia landscapes that Carter found at the annual Lynchburg Art Festival. Even this room finds itself dressed for the holidays as Carter places a few mini trees on the island.

Carter incorporates more traditional Christmas décor in the den. Presents sit under a tall, full green tree adorned in silver, gold, and pinecones. The theme carries over onto the mantel’s pinecone trees and lush garland. “We live in here, and this is where Santa comes,” Carter points out. A complete nutcracker army lines the top shelf of built-in bookcases, remnants from when Carter’s mother owned a flower shop. “She sold Christmas decorations, too,” Carter explains. “That’s one way I got into it—I would go with my mom to market in Atlanta and help her pick out ornaments.”

As she recalls, it all started with those ornaments. “I remember being dragged in and out of antique stores, and my mother found a way to get me excited about [those shopping trips] when she noticed that I seemed to like Christmas ornaments, so I started collecting them as a kid. From about third grade on, I did all of our Christmas decorations in our house—I’d decorate the tree, I’d do the mantel, and I just loved it.”

Carter truly has a lifetime of experience in holiday decorating, which is evident through her tasteful displays and careful consideration of placement, color, and overall design. Even though she has a huge bounty of decorations stored in the garage, the decor doesn’t feel like it’s too much—
it all reads vibrant and happy. In fact, she’s developed such an excellent reputation for holiday decorating that others have asked her for help.

As “The Christmas Elf,” Carter helps people decorate their homes for the holidays.

“I just love doing it. I do their trees, I do their mantel, I do their tables,” she explains.

She’s even been asked to shop for extra decorations, which she loves doing. From estate sales to Target and every place in between, Carter shops around. One of her favorite places to find treasures, however, is a locally-owned shop. “My buddy Troy Deacon owns High Cotton, and he’s always got cute things in there,” she says. Whether hanging greens or browsing for centerpiece items, Carter offers a complete service, including “un-decorating.” “I take it all down, put it up in the attic, and they’re done with it!”

In her own home, Carter begins decorating on Black Friday and finishes within a week—and she points out “that’s not full-time!”(Carter works part-time as a nurse.)
She admits that by the time Christmas comes, she’s “pretty much done with it,” so she begins disassembling the décor the day after Christmas, explaining that her grandmother was always superstitious about getting it down by the New Year. “That is always my target, to get it down by New Years,” she says.

It’s no easy task when you consider that she also has various themed trees throughout the house. The guest room contains a souvenir tree; another room showcases a UVA tree (Carter’s an alumna). A frog tree and a paper mâché angel tree make appearances, too.

Upstairs, even Lawson’s bathroom has a themed tree: Lilly Pulitzer ornaments float beside the theme du jour, which is whatever Lawson’s interests are at the time. “I’ve got a couple of themes I kind of rotate through but Lawson’s tree is always the same and has plush ornaments, and I just like to mix things up,” Carter says.

Following in her mother’s footsteps, Lawson decorates her room’s tree herself, choosing plush ornaments. “Lawson does her tree because all of the decorations are plush, so she can get in there, and she’ll do what she can reach!” Carter laughs. Even the nativity set in her room is plush. The room is absolutely charming, with two reupholstered twin beds (a find from a Langhorne Road estate sale) and a yellow floral rug reminiscent of Scandinavian folk patterns, which is another memento from her mother’s store. “I love to antique, I love to go to junk stores. I remember being dragged, and my poor daughter gets dragged now!” she says with a smile. Like her mother, Carter has found a way to engage her daughter’s interest while out on “hunting” trips. “Lawson loves snow globes,” she says, “She’s gotten into that. That’s kind of her contribution into things.”

Carter calls herself “The Christmas Elf,” and she couldn’t have chosen a more appropriate name. It takes an elf of sorts—or a figure with magical powers—to set such a scene for memory making, and Carter has done that very thing so well as she has embraced traditions, found ways to make them her own, and passed that love down along the way.

WORDS & PHOTOS BY SUSAN TIMMONS

I take the gamble. Sometimes I win; sometimes I lose. But I never call it a real loss if the gamble is to plant amaryllis and paperwhite narcissus bulbs as potted houseplants and expect forced peak bloom precisely in time for a holiday party, Christmas Day, or a January Sunday display at church. This is the word of experience from years of trial and error with my Chancel Guild partner and friend, Nancy Brockman.

The good news is that these bulbs will inevitably give you the gorgeous display you seek. The not-so-good news is that they sometimes bloom earlier than expected per commercial instructions or take their merry ole time and decide to show off two weeks or more later. If you seek a surer calendar bet, you can buy these beauties locally at the last minute already (or almost) in full, glorious bloom for your special occasion. Plus, a good news bonus is that if you buy quality stock and give them proper care, the blooms will continue to bring joy for many weeks.

It’s fun to place a group of paperwhite bulbs in a pot of stones and water and watch nature progress from shoots to buds to full blooms. Their pungent aroma isn’t for everyone, but paperwhites, as well as amaryllis blooms, are indeed glorious! They don’t as obviously shout “Holiday Houseplant” as the more popular and always showy poinsettias with colorful bracts (not blooms, but modified leaves) that are seasonally for sale in grocery, big box, and other stores. Savvy marketers know poinsettias will bring in the bucks.

I’m not disparaging poinsettias, mind you. This species, indigenous to our neighboring Mexico, was named after Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first United States minister to Mexico, who introduced the plant to the U.S. in 1825. It has since become the bread-and-butter of colorful, reliable holiday houseplants.

I can’t recall a Christmas when I didn’t enjoy poinsettias enlivening my living room and other spots in my house that beg for holiday cheer. I’m still partial to poinsettias with old-fashioned red or white bracts but occasionally switch to pink, variegated, or other newer hybrids just for the sake of variety. And I do place the plastic store pots inside slightly larger drip-proof decorative pots (saved year-to-year just for this purpose) since I’m not partial to the look of their ubiquitous foil wrappers that sometimes spring a leak that could result in water damage to tables, rugs, and floors.

And I also like—and once had—an old-time holiday blooming houseplant favorite, Christmas cactus (which can also toy with the calendar and decide to bloom at Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter). With so many varieties of beautiful colorful hothouse plants (blooming and foliage) readily available year-round these days, any variety in colors to complement your holiday décor and preferences is a great choice for festive holidays and, with proper care, can give weeks, months, or even years of houseplant pleasure beyond the holidays.

Reblooming

Most blooming houseplants from nurseries, big box and grocery stores, as well as other sources, come with instructions for care that vary according to the plant. I’ve found that many, such as inexpensive poinsettias, are delightful in their extended showy season, but typically aren’t worth the trouble to save and attempt to achieve their original beauty in subsequent seasons. There are exceptions, of course, and I once saw a magnificent old indoor poinsettia plant in the window of a dry-cleaning shop in our climate zone that could hold its own with those grown along roadsides in Mexico.

The lovely amaryllis (native to the Western Cape region of South Africa) is the one holiday blooming houseplant that friends most frequently inquire about reblooming techniques. When I lived on the farm, I simply planted spent holiday potted amaryllis bulbs directly in the ground in an outside garden with a very protected south-facing microclimate, and they rebloomed naturally in springtime of the following year and thereafter.

However, to keep your bulbs as houseplants, cut the bloom stalks within an inch of the bulbs after the flowers have faded, place in sunlight, and continue to water and fertilize so the leaves continue to grow and new leaves form. In springtime, after the last frost, place potted bulbs outdoors in a protected place, acclimating them gradually to direct sun, and move them back indoors in the fall before first frost. If moving them outdoors isn’t an option, give them lots of sunlight and good drainage indoors.

Interestingly, these are essentially the same reblooming techniques I used for my potted orchid collection, which topped 70 at one point. (Warning: orchids can become addictive, as I wrote in the January/February 2016 issue of Lynchburg Living.) Moving orchids outside to my screened back porch during summer and bringing them back inside just before fall’s first frost gave them a wide daily temperature range that set bloom spikes. Then, they’d begin blooming in January (but usually not in time for Christmas), with blooms lasting for months or longer as an antidote to winter doldrums once holiday décor has been packed away. FYI—Don’t try planting orchids outside in your garden. They’ll be goners with the first frost.

If you choose not to attempt reblooming, leftover poinsettias and other lingering and increasingly leggy holiday bloomers can be clustered with other houseplants in a window or sunroom grouping that allows enjoyment of lingering blooms but camouflages gangly stems.

In addition to orchids, a whole host of other blooming houseplants can serve as great mood enhancers during gray winter months, and there are options to fit every color scheme and space opportunity or constraint. Just remember that they need light to bloom, so windows or good grow lights are necessary if you want long term blooming pleasure. They may also have humidity needs that create requirements a bit tougher to meet in our homes unless you’re willing to mist regularly, run a humidifier, or place particularly needy plants near the kitchen sink or shower.

Why Bring Plants Indoors?

Indoor flowering plants are traced back thousands of years. History records flowerpots and other evidence of houseplants back to the Minoans on the island of Crete, Egyptians, and Indians. Romans even devised heated precursors to modern greenhouses to grow plants out of season or with different climate needs for indoor pleasures. Thus, humans became hooked on plants that required indoor care to thrive.

The Victorian 19th century solidified the passion for humans to enjoy plants from all parts of the world, made possible by glass houses, most splendidly exemplified by those at Kew Gardens in London. Thanks to these innovations, worldwide plant exchange offered the enticement of gorgeous exotic plants to those who had never known such gifts of nature existed. And, of course, being who and what we are, over time humans wanted these enticing plants in their own homes.

Houseplants became both status symbols and vehicles to satisfy our need for nature, gardening, and aesthetic beauty when we do not have available outdoor land, the climate to support plants we wish to grow, or the time, energy, or other resources for gardening. A collection of African violets (what lover of these sweeties can have just one?) or a single short-term cyclamen on a coffee table when company comes can bring joy in the form of beauty, ambiance, and serenity to our homes and lives.

They’re also great design and decorator tools for creating focal points in a room, filling gaps in décor, and sectioning or screening spaces. Plants are typically mobile and versatile in that you can move them away from window light for days or even weeks without harm for a special party or other purpose. Tip: Unless you have strong muscled help to do the heavy lifting, wheeled bases for large and/or heavy plants are necessary for those you wish to move around.

Plants in our indoor environments contribute to good health through the exchange of carbon dioxide exhaled from humans and oxygen emitted from plants as a waste product of photosynthesis, enhancing the oxygen availability for us humans. Studies have shown that plants in our indoor spaces also have a positive effect on our psychological well-being.

Flowers Aren’t the Whole Story

While flashy flowering plants grab our eye, foliage houseplants can give them a run for their money. They can climb, cascade, sport many leaf shapes and textures in endless shades of green and other sunlight-enhanced colors; and they can be combined in interesting groupings. Many houseplant aficionados start off with simple, tough, fairly foolproof houseplants like ficus tree, philodendron, peace lily, schefflera, spider or snake plant, and others that, within reason, tolerate a great deal of neglect or over-solicitude. Our success with these “work horse houseplants” emboldens us to try something a bit more challenging or requiring more nuanced care.

Many decades ago, my success with both a ficus tree and schefflera astounded me! I followed advice about medium light and not overwatering, and they steadily grew strong and healthy—and outgrew my home before I learned pruning techniques to keep them in check. So, I gifted them to my spacious, high-ceilinged office, where they continued to thrive.

I’ve certainly had my houseplant failures, such as a Norfolk Island pine that seemed to pine away despite my best efforts. Yet long-term successes that still amaze me include a huge decades-old jade plant and a ming aurelia that’s been under my care for more than 40 years. It’s now at least 7 feet tall with gnarly and twisted woody stems holding clumps of lacy leaves that give it the demeaner of an ancient bonsai. And it actually is a bonsai of sorts since it’s totally root bound, having never been re-potted in all this time. It’s a classic example of benign neglect working better than excessive attention, especially over-watering; and it looks way cool and artsy—like something out of a Chinese painting. (Hope I didn’t just jinx it!)

Care and Nurture

Now that I’ve confessed that I don’t always follow the rules, I’ll share a bit about the “rules” on potting houseplants. First, the pot must fit the size of the plant and its root ball with space to grow and support the plant. And it must drain unless you have such close communion with your plant that you’re able to monitor the moisture and let it dry out sufficiently between watering so roots don’t rot. My rule of thumb is to let houseplants dry out until they start to look slightly stressed before watering again. Knowing that magic time is a matter of observation and practice. To make room for normal growth patterns, the plants should be repotted when needed. Again, knowing when is learned by trial and error.

The potting medium should be suited to the plant. Many do well in commercial potting soil, while others, such as succulents need a sandier or more porous medium to facilitate drainage. And orchid roots need bark nuggets or another medium that offers air spaces to avoid over-saturation and root rot, which will bring on sure death of the plant.

Many foliage houseplants, such as philodendron and peace lily, will tolerate low light if window space is not available. Just remember if you use artificial light that they do need alternating times of light and darkness, as they would find in nature.

With knowledge and sensitivity to your houseplants, you too can be a “Plant Whisperer” and develop an innate sense of whether to water more or less. Move them closer to or farther from light. Repot or not.

One of the joys of houseplants is propagating and sharing them. Most of my houseplants have come as gifts from family and friends through division, slips, or other means of propagation. I’ve bought very few. Slips from one prolific lipstick plant are now vibrant houseplants for an entire group of my friends. My friend Robert Roberts told me a touching story about his grown daughter recently giving him a spider plant that she propagated from his long-deceased mother’s original plant. Most of my friends have stories of plants handed down from generation to generation.

I gave my son Reid a few orchids and cuttings from succulents that hadn’t rebloomed for me in the past couple of years. And they are now blooming for him in his house on the Chesapeake Bay! I’m always thrilled at seeing photos of his happy plants, and as my houseplant success diminishes, his grows. It makes my heart sing. You too can grow foliage plants that become interesting members of your family with lifespans that could even exceed your own.

Story & Photos by Susan Timmons

As passions go, gardening and art are at the top of my list. It’s pure joy to combine my love for flowers, plants, and indeed all nature, with my love for painting, sculpture, and other visual arts. I can’t pass by a blossom or interesting stick, shell, rock, or sloughed-off bark without taking pleasure in its shape, color, texture, or some other compelling characteristic.

Even as a small girl, I had a penchant for bringing newly discovered natural treasures home to savor their wonders for a while longer. This early pleasure gave rise to a lifetime of combining favorite finds in simple, unpretentious groupings with a flower and an interesting branch, or perhaps several of each, to enjoy the arrangement of the whole while featuring each special element.

This innate predilection, combined with an art degree and travel to Japan (where I felt a kinship with the Ikebana style of flower arranging), fueled my interest in floral arts and lured me to several Fine Arts & Flowers exhibitions at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond and a similar exhibition, named Art in Bloom, at the Taubman Museum in Roanoke in March 2017. There I reveled in the magic of the unique art form created from pairing museum masterworks with floral arts that interpret them to create works of art that transcend both.

Pairing Masterworks with Floral Arts

These exhibitions reflect a trend in recent decades in the U.S. toward floral design with an objective of story-telling, education, and enlightenment—a purpose deeper and more complex than merely presenting elegant, beautiful arrangements that conform to classical principles of design and current aesthetic norms. The arrangements are NOT a floral copy of the masterwork.

They engage, expand, and enrich the artistic experience, and the result is a new creation that is greater than the individual effect of either. This synergy not only enhances and enlivens the selected masterworks, but also has a practical effect of drawing large crowds and increasing knowledge and appreciation of the featured artworks, as well as offering floral artists a perfect venue for displaying their artistry.

According to Victoria Jane Ream, in her 1997 book, Art in Bloom, the concept of this art form was first conceived by Charles (Chuck) Thomas at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston with the first Art in Bloom exhibition in 1976. It was a raving success, and the concept quickly spread to museums across the U.S. in cities such as San Francisco, Birmingham, Denver, Detroit, Rochester, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Houston, New Orleans, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, Hartford, Baltimore, and Richmond.

Today, these exhibitions, called by a variety of names, are a well-established practice. They continue to grow in popularity, expanding the museums’ visitor base and financial coffers through popular related events, such as galas and lectures.

Richmond’s VMFA organized its first museum-wide exhibition of Fine Arts & Flowers in 1987. This year the VMFA promises yet another spectacular biennial museum-wide FA&F exhibition of floral designs inspired by masterworks in their collection with 84 exhibitors from across the state. Floral designs will be created by members of the Garden Club of Virginia, Virginia Federation of Garden Clubs, and other garden clubs in Virginia.

The 2018 exhibition will be Wednesday, October 24 through Sunday, October 28 and is free and open to the public Thursday-Friday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m., and Saturday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. The VMFA is promoting special events that kick off on October 24 and include renowned guest speakers, several luncheons, a luncheon-fashion show featuring designs by VCU students, workshops, docent guided exhibition tours, curator talks, and a variety of family activities. For a complete schedule and advance purchase of tickets (recommended), visit www.VMFA.museum/FAF or call 804-340-1405.

According to the VMFA website, “Proceeds from Fine Arts & Flowers events will benefit the inaugural tour of VMFA on the Road, the museum’s new artmobile for the 21st century. Through interactive learning experiences with staff educators, virtual-reality tours of VMFA exhibitions, and a traveling gallery of original artworks, VMFA on the Road will bring the museum experience directly to citizens in all areas of the Commonwealth.” This traveling gallery will, of course, enrich our own community here in Lynchburg.

Representing Lynchburg

Lynchburg has been well represented in previous VMFA Fine Arts & Flowers exhibitions by local Garden Club of Virginia member clubs, Hillside Garden Club and Lynchburg Garden Club. And the tradition continues this year. Imagine my excitement last December when I was invited to submit an entry into the 2018 FA&F exhibition, partnering with my fellow Hillside member and friend, Carter Paxton!

The next steps were an opportunity to prioritize masterwork preferences from a pre-selected list sent by exhibition chairs, assignment, and instructions to guide us through a polished process, including informative meetings at the VMFA and regular related communications. Our assignment is a 19th-century painting, A Boar Hunt in Poland, by the French artist Carle Vernet. Carter and I then started considering possibilities for our creation. Where to begin?

At our first meeting in Richmond, Carter and I not only received a private docent-led visit and discussion of our artwork, but we also were schooled by experienced, knowledgeable, energetic, and enthusiastic exhibition chairs on guidelines and factors to consider in our design toward a goal of enhancing and enlivening the masterworks, including:

• The subject matter of the work of art

• The aspects of culture and the historical time period of the work of art. Floral designers are not limited to only using design elements and materials that match the culture and historical period.

• The inspiration, mood, and meaning of the artist in creating the work of art

• Color – hue, value, and intensity

• Composition, line, shape, and pattern

• Positive and negative space

• Shape and form

• Mood

• The effects of light

• Texture

• Medium and materials

• Scale of the work of art

• How the viewer connects and reacts to the work of art

Well-organized exhibition chairs gave us logistical details pertaining to display pedestals, arrangement size constraints, lighting, and the required written description to explain how we created our floral art to be shared with visitors. They also shared information on floral and container requirements, set-up day, and daily watering/refreshing. Since the flower arrangements must be in top shape for the entire five-day duration of the exhibition, we were urged to use cut flowers with long vase life that perform well in dry museum conditions and offered examples of flowers to avoid for various reasons, such as short vase life, expense, or seasonal availability.

Carter and I analyzed our painting and researched our artist and his oeuvre, as well as the historical context and Romantic period in which this artwork was painted. We next considered our approach, style, and design; and we agreed to keep it simple and symbolic, with a focus on emphasizing the structural elements and color palette of the painting as well as the energetic action and mood.

We next decided on a container —a repurposed wooden box that evokes a feeling of the woodlands setting—and tested the liner for leakage (an absolute no-no at the VMFA); and we found a replacement liner after discovering the original wasn’t reliable. Then we hashed out details of our basic design and debated materials to use, selecting a couple of swirling fantail willow sticks (I had to include sticks, of course) to interpret the high-spirited horses, a rough pinecone to represent the boar, and spikey white spider mums to conjure up images of snarling dogs. Then we tackled challenges and decisions that weren’t so easy.

Challenges

The requirement that all plant material be sourced from professional florists for protection of artworks from bugs, diseases, molds, etc. is completely understandable; and Strange’s Florist in Richmond is the official source for most floral material, although other professional sources may be approved. However, for garden club arrangers whose comfort zone traditionally is plant material from our own gardens or scoured from surrounding countryside, this is both constraining and challenging. (Happily, a concession is made for us to use our own favorite sticks if well-seasoned and sprayed.)

A key to our design is the concept of power and control in this violent sporting scene as symbolized by the Polish nobleman’s lush red velvet coat. But what red flowers will be best? We love velvety roses and are most comfortable working with roses, but their growth habits (straight stems, upward facing blooms, etc.) don’t lend themselves to our design. Shall we use gladiolas? Will florist-provided gladiolas hold for five days? If not, how many additional glad stems must we provide to replace wilted flowers during the exhibition period? Ordering deadline for Strange’s Florist is September 8. The jury’s still out.

We’re still considering technical and mechanical details and have decided on frogs (pin holders) and a wire cage in deep water rather than floral foam for anchoring our flowers to give them a better shot at lasting five days. And we did a five-day water test on the dried fantail willow sticks to be sure the submerged stems wouldn’t turn soggy and fall over. How will we cover our wire and still leave a watering hole and finger hole for testing water level? Will it all come together as envisioned? We’ll give it all a trial run before wiring and gluing elements in place. And we’ll remain flexible to changing course as other challenges present themselves.

We continue to research this painting’s place in history since we learned that Verner, although French and painting in Rome, produced the artwork in 1831, right in the middle of the Polish rebellion of 1830-32. This cosmopolitan artist had supreme skill and control in balancing technique and narrative. Could he, as a master lithographer and political wit as well as master equestrian and horse painter, be making a political statement about this uprising as well as a statement about an exotic, intense, and grisly sporting scene? After all, the 19th-century Romantic period in art history featured fine arts subjectively interwoven with philosophical and political ideas and events of their time. These artists embraced emotionalism and rebellion against social conventions in addition to energetically expressing love of the natural world.

Food for Thought

As we know, creating a work of art using flowers and other plant material is a bit tricky. A painting, once the artist applies paint, is a permanent addition to the artist’s oeuvre; and with quality materials and care, the artwork can be preserved for millennia.

But flowers and the art works created by arranging them are ephemeral. So floral artists offer fleeting beauty for perhaps a day, or up to a week or even longer for some hearty varieties. Floral artists aren’t looking to amass a body of artworks for posterity. They revel in the process and delight in the product for a fleeting time; living in and for the moment. Then that moment passes, and they create again, as would sand artists awaiting the next big wave to wash away their creation.

This very characteristic of floral design is precisely what makes it such a complex and appealing challenge. We know that appreciating the beauty of botanic forms and their place in the order of life has inspired and informed the practice of floral artistry of devout spiritualists, royals, nature lovers, and aesthetes dating as far back as 2,500 BC in Egypt; and the art form was revered in ancient India and China before gaining global following. Purposes throughout history have ranged from pure decoration to celebration of the gifts of nature to a spiritual or religious discipline, and much more as cultures have evolved and flower arranging has become a common language of artistic expression worldwide.

And now we have yet a new purpose of expressing the essence or spirit of a work of art, integrating perceptions and feelings into the arrangements that educate members of the public to have more discerning eyes and open minds when they view the artworks, seeking to understand finer points of symbolic interpretation, and encouraging others to see the artwork as well as botanical materials in an entirely new light.

Why not consider such an exhibition in Lynchburg? The Maier Museum at Randolph College comes quickly to mind as an ideal location. I’d love to see how floral artists interpret the spirit of works of art in the Maier’s permanent collection.

Meet the Gardener

Susan Timmons served in the 1970s as Virginia’s first Environmental Impact Statement Coordinator, then Assistant Administrator and Acting Administrator of Virginia’s Council on the Environment and editor of The State of Virginia’s Environment. During that time she also served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Environmental Professionals and received the National Wildlife Federation’s Award for Environmental Communications. More recently, she worked in higher education and nonprofit management and, in retirement, she serves as a member of the Speakers Bureau of the Hill City Master Gardeners Association with a series of talks on “Gardens of the World.”

An Eclectic Bedford Home

By Charlotte Farley photos by Heather Kidd

Before Patrick Ellis and Mitchell Bond bought their home in downtown Bedford, they had visions of living a more simplified and creative life that might tie in their seminary education. “We referred to it as ‘moving to Kansas’,” jokes Mitchell.

It all clicked during a Christmas visit to Montvale.

“We said, ‘Well, maybe this could be Kansas’,” recalls Mitchell, a Bedford native. After years of living and working in D.C. (Mitchell was a higher education administrator and Patrick was an educator), the two made the move to Bedford with the idea of purchasing a frame shop in town and also using it to hold artist retreats.

Their plan took a different course when Mitchell and Patrick announced their plans to show local art. “Folks showed up out of the woodwork,” Mitchell explains. They purchased a larger building on Court Street in order to support the needs and interests of the growing Bedford creative community. Goose Creek Studio—their custom framing business—emphasizes work by area artists and houses artists’ workshops.

One could argue that their Victorian house is a gallery, too: more than 425 pieces of artwork hang from walls and shutters or sit on shelves and sills. Nearly every door finds itself adorned with art.

“To be honest, we’ve traded, bartered, or acquired most of what you see in here,” Mitchell points out. He and Patrick have personal connections to the artists and artisans behind each piece; Mitchell says it’s like “being surrounded by your friends.”

They are surrounded by friends here indeed, both in the flesh and by way of their original visual representations. Many attribute the creation of the Bedford Artisan Trail to Patrick and Mitchell. However, Mitchell indicates that the art and the creators were present long before he returned to his hometown.

“We just brought a little organization and a little butt-kicking to the process to get people talking to each other and working together. Everything we do mission-wise, through the house and through the shop, is to get these folks together and make connections, so yes, we were part of the instigation for the artisan trail, but we didn’t build it; it was already here.”

At home, Patrick and Mitchell have a dedicated gallery for hosting select shows. A quiet, light-filled space that overlooks a garden, the walls are filled with their personal collection of artwork when not featuring art for a special show. “It’s all art that’s kind of at the intersection of faith and spirituality, and when we say spirituality we just don’t mean Christian,” Patrick says. Even the windows contribute to the chapel-like feel of this space—Patrick made the functional shutters in the shape of gothic church windows for that very reason. “We think all art has a spiritual component,” he explains.

The gallery neighbors the kitchen, a space that was used as a knitting classroom during one of the building’s former lives. Patrick and Mitchell transformed it into a functional kitchen by installing cabinets, countertops, a sink, and appliances. Form and function marry here, with pots suspended overhead for quick access and frequently used items occupying open shelves/shelving. The custom island features marble from Mitchell’s great aunt’s house, and Patrick built the rest of the island to go around it. A local artisan fashioned a settee from an old twin bed; the rest of the kitchen is furnished with yard sale finds and, of course, art. It’s not common to find so much artwork in a kitchen, but it’s also not out of place here since Patrick and Mitchell see walls as prime real estate—Patrick likes to joke that “the kitchen is really in need of a serious remodel, so we just hang lots of artwork on the wall so you don’t notice it!” One particularly eye-catching display includes a fun and quirky series of puns based on the Warhol soup cans made by George Wachob. Patrick points to one: “This is ‘vegetable beef,’ because the vegetables are fighting.”

While the property was otherwise move-in ready, another room on the main level underwent a different kind of transformation. Mitchell turned the sun-soaked dining room into his personal studio. “It didn’t make sense to have a dining room we never used when we both needed space to work,” Patrick points out. Here, Mitchell makes fused glass, stained glass, and mosaics. While they don’t walk around barefoot in this room, they do dine in here occasionally. The blue dining table was a gift from a customer; custom pottery by Nancy Blankenship serves as dinnerware. Paintings of their dogs (Simon, Luther, and Sidd) dress the doorway, and over the window hangs a board holding a series that depicts the O Antiphons, separated by washers to tie them together visually.

It is fitting to the property’s history that Patrick and Mitchell continue to conduct business there, through their studios, since it accommodated a series of businesses for more than 20 years. Patrick’s studio is adjacent to Mitchell’s. He possesses an undergraduate degree in art from the University of Georgia, and says his art has evolved over the years. “I was doing these studio things, and now I’m doing these constructions—found objects assemblages,” such as the totem poles flanking the Goose Creek parking lot. A prime piece in Patrick’s studio: a cabinet he built that features Mitchell’s mosaic work. Other works of art nod to different themes from religious literature: Adam and Eve are over a storage cabinet, and artist John Pfluger’s miniature animals live on a shelf under a verse from Genesis, done in graffiti art.

Step into the wide main hallway and find arched entryways, an original staircase, and a two-story foyer. Patrick confesses that one of the reasons he loves this house is because the foyer offers enough wall space for an oversized piece of artwork spread across three canvasses.

Upstairs is a cozy den and a warm, inviting guest room with eggplant-colored walls. “Our friend has a guest room she uses as a prayer room, and we wanted to create a space that was meditative,” says Patrick as he points out the hand-painted images of various saints. The end of the hallway leads to a room that a massage therapist used to rent back in the property’s more commercial days. “We joke that half of Bedford has been naked in this room!” Patrick laughs. Nowadays, it’s an eclectic, art-filled master bedroom complete with a full-length church pew and Mitchell’s collection of cookbooks (“I love to read cookbooks—better than a novel!” he admits).

The way out the back door reveals a lush garden comprised of perennials: rosemary, lavender, coneflowers, Russian sage, asters, butterfly weed, irises—all are at home here. Native stones from Montvale’s Goose Creek Valley and pottery from a friend provide added visual interest, with the back of the garden anchored by columns that once were part of the cupola at the Bedford County Courthouse. Patrick salvaged the columns during the cupola replacement. “They were put up there in 1946, and they were just going to throw them away,” he recalls. “I thought they were neat, just a cool little feature.”

A final “cool little feature” Patrick points out is a sign by the back porch that reads The Portiuncula Guild, a nod to St. Francis’ church in Assisi. “It means ‘the little portion’,” he explains. This is how he and Mitchell see their home, as well: a home that focuses on living simply, sharing work, and building community—and they are thankful for it. “We’ve been just amazed at what we’ve found in this area,” Patrick says. “You know, it’s just amazing.”

As Interest in Downtown Life Grows, a Local Family is Providing the Historic Homes

From HGTV to the “swipe left” feature on Instagram, American culture is more preoccupied than ever before with all things “home renovation.” Indeed, few pleasures are more enjoyable than viewing the dingy “Before” photos of a hapless property, only to then compare them to the glorious “After” images. Lynchburg, with seven substantial historic districts and low cost of living, is the perfect incubator for this phenomenon, and home renovation projects continue to pop up all over the city.

Many locals have turned this trend into a dedicated pursuit, such as Victoria Bartholomew, a real estate agent who rehabilitates rundown properties in Downtown Lynchburg’s historic neighborhoods along with her husband Damien and her dad Dan Hague. Together, the three of them comprise Rise Up Properties, which renovates historic homes and downtown spaces.

Before the “After” Photos

Victoria, like many young professionals, wears a lot of hats; Damien does as well being the owner and operator of Rise Up Climbing on Church Street. And while they enjoy the renovation process, it’s labor intensive and decidedly unglamorous. [Case in point: Damien’s job was to mow the lawn in the midday heat while this interview and photos were taking place.]

Victoria herself is no stranger to the nitty-gritty work that goes on behind the scenes. She recalls using her “16-year-old twiggy arms” to help her dad run wire for his historic home years ago on Washington Street.

Flash forward to fall of 2017, and Victoria and her dad are still working on properties together with Damien joining in about eight years ago. Together, they purchased five properties in Daniel’s Hill, the district that boasts views of the James River with Point of Honor at its southern border. Four homes are on Cabell Street with one on F Street. The plan is to “renovate and resell” them, a distinction Bartholomew makes because “they aren’t ‘flips’ with new paint and flooring.” Instead, they “take it all down to the studs.”

“We Gutted Everything”

A few days before the initial Open House for 129 Cabell Street, the first home of five to be renovated, Victoria is giving us a tour in mid-May.

“This house was very dark because that window was the only window in the dining room,” she says, pointing. “So there was a wall here, there was a wall here—this was a cave in here. So, it was like… Okay! That’s not going to work. And then all the ceilings were dropped, so we had to pull all that stuff down…”

Victoria speaks quietly but quickly, describing all of the changes with sweeping and dismissive gestures. “Obviously,” she concludes, “we gutted everything.”

And that’s not an exaggeration. What sounds daunting to most is par for the course here, and it’s exactly what they love to do. Victoria, Damien, and Hague do the majority of the work on their numerous projects—“You can catch us down here on Cabell Street almost any morning of the week working away,” she says. Collectively, they determined what needed to be done and how they wanted to do it; when certain elements demanded a highly specialized skill, they hired out as needed.

“I am the design leader on the project,” Victoria says. “My dad focuses on the construction plan for the project, and Damien is the one that keeps us in check and also ends up doing a lot of the physical labor (I call him the Light Fixture King). We do all the work on the house and act as general contractor on our own projects.”

Perhaps the most critical decision with 129 Cabell revolved around the existing layout and improving the flow from the living room to the kitchen and dining rooms. This was where Victoria’s “wall here, wall there,” description was given, and seeing the openness and light-filled rooms today makes it hard to imagine the original “cave” she describes.

Yet, Victoria thrives in that in-between of the “Before” and “After,” knowing it’s atypical: “People have a hard time visualizing it,” she says, adding that if they show an unfinished project to prospective buyers, they’re unlikely to come back. That’s okay, because to Victoria “half the fun is picking the finishes and fixtures; I enjoy it.”

After removing some walls, improving the flow and reconfiguring the kitchen, they also had to tackle some major “functional elements” such as all new wiring, plumbing, HVAC and insulation.

“We have to save the historic character but also update it to a standard we would all want to live in today,” Victoria explains.

Renovating essentially boils down to finding a way to merge these modern amenities with the character and unique elements of a home’s original style. In 129 Cabell, the real character exudes from the exposed chimney that runs through the center of the home, providing a stunning focal point while also delineating the front living room from the dining area.

“We are big fans of new wiring, adding air conditioning, insulating walls, but you better believe I love old windows, original wood floors and any type of wood work,” says Victoria. “We will go to really great lengths to save those.”

Other unique elements they preserved include the original claw foot tub in an upstairs bathroom, the fireplace mantel, the detailed scrolling and paneling woodwork on the staircase, which they painted, and the original windows, which they cleaned up.

As a real estate agent, Victoria knows today’s buyers and the amenities they prioritize. So, 129 Cabell Street was updated to include an en suite with a tiled, walk-in shower, a true rarity in historic homes. Victoria also worked in open shelving and exposed brick for the kitchen to stay on trend. And one of her favorite elements is choosing the distinctive light fixtures—especially ones that will make a strong statement.

A Love for Historic Homes

So, considering the intense labor involved, why historic homes in Lynchburg? For one, Victoria has lived here since she was eight years old, saying, “My family is here because of old houses. I believe the ‘youngest’ house I’ve ever lived in was [from] 1921, and so it’s a family thing—it’s in my blood.” She studied Architecture and Urban Planning at Virginia Tech, an experience that “provided extremely useful lessons in community development and working within existing constraints to plan for the future.” Upon graduating, Victoria saw more historic homes per capita in Lynchburg than in most other cities; with so much selection in style, size, and age, she saw an opportunity.

“With historic homes, there is no one exactly alike,” she says. “Walking into every historic home I’ve ever been into really keeps me hooked; there are so many possibilities and often so much potential.”

In recent years, she has become increasingly devoted to the downtown sector, volunteering with various organizations and focusing on renovating several homes. Now, she says, “We are certainly seeing an increased draw to those areas. People want to walk downtown, live in diverse communities, not live in a ‘cookie cutter house,’… and be surrounded by beauty—the historic districts offer all of this currently at a lower price than many other parts of the city.”

She says renovating historic homes is “genuinely a passion project,” adding, “I had many clients looking for this type of house, which is why we decided to renovate and resell, because we knew there were buyers and had nothing to show them. What a great thing to be able to renovate a vacant long-dilapidated house and turn it back into a contributing structure!”

For now, they’re certainly doing their part—129 Cabell is officially on the market, and Rise Up Properties is already fast at work on 117 and 119 Cabell, the next two homes in queue.

So You Want a Fixer-Upper?

Pros:
• Initial purchase costs will be lower on a home that needs work done
• You control final colors, fixtures, and changes to meet your preference

Cons:
• Most projects will take a large amount of time and cash (versus a turnkey property purchased with a conventional loan)
• Historic homes require city approval of exterior changes
• Unforeseen problems typically arise that may stall progress
• Managing the timetable can be tricky (electrical before drywall, etc.)

Victoria’s Caution:
“It takes a lot of work and money, and you have to love it.”

Bizarre Beauties

WORDS & PHOTOS BY SUSAN TIMMONS

They’re in vogue. The cool kid on the block. Such a hot item that CVS on Langhorne Road featured a vividly blooming batch for sale last week, and they flew out the door.

They’re the Dr. Seuss characters of the plant world. Curious, quirky, even outlandish to eyes attuned to typical Lynchburg flora. Some have symmetrical rosettes or other geometric shapes; others are oddly formed. Some look like foreboding rubbery cartoon creatures from ocean depths or outer space; others are so fuzzy and cute you almost want to cuddle them. They come in every color of the rainbow—subtle to brazen.

Some are edible or have herbal healing properties. One produces tequila, and another is a source of a USDA Schedule I controlled substance.

These plants are called succulents from the Latin word sucus, meaning juice, or sap. Dictionary synonyms for the word succulent are “tender, juicy, moist, fleshy, pulpy, soft, tender…” The common denominator is their capability to store water. Some, such as cacti, are especially adapted to living in arid conditions with poor soil conditions (xerophytes); others, such as bromeliads, can live in moist tropical environments in trees (epiphytes). And some, such as crassula, can even live under water (aquatic).

According to publications by experts, they have a variety of water-saving features, including:
• special metabolism adapted for efficient photosynthesis
• photosynthesis in stems, rather than leaves
• limited number of pores for oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange
• compact, cushiony, columnar, ribbed, or spherical growth patterns to reduce sun exposure
• spiny, waxy, or hairy outer surface areas to reduce water loss
• shallow roots to grab moisture from dew or short showers
• water conservation when external temperatures are high (120+ degrees F)

Where They Grow

Succulents can adapt to brutal environments. They can live on salty sea coasts and dry lakes, and they can survive concentrated levels of dissolved minerals. High temperatures and low precipitation force them to collect and store water to survive long dry periods—up to many months.

Since succulents conserve water by means other than the fleshy leaves we typically see in plants native to our Piedmont region of Virginia, they are naturally adapted to dry environments all over the world. Various species are found in desert, semi-desert, and flat grassland areas in the Americas, southeastern Europe, Africa, India, Asia, Siberia, Australia, and more.

The rocky, arid coastline of California is one of those habitats where succulents grow naturally. Yet, for many years Californians turned their backs on their native plants and favored English-style lawns and other water-intensive trappings of our U.S. East Coast gardens as high fashion. Fortunately, in recent years, environmentally sensitive California coastline homeowners, as well as hotel and other commercial building managers, have responded to water shortages by “going native” and designing elegant gardens featuring their native water-saving succulent plants.

Another rocky coastline with a fascinating display of succulents is on the Mediterranean Sea. Jardin Exotique (Exotic Gardens) in Monaco boasts one of the largest, most magnificent, and meticulously labeled collections in the world, with several million succulents planted on a cliff overlooking the royal palace and the sea. The initial collection was acquired from around the world by Prince Albert I of Monaco in 1899, and he founded the Jardin Exotique in 1914 to showcase these trophies. Some original specimens are still there.

This is indeed a mecca for succulent aficionados. Though most of the plants in the collection could not normally be grown on the Riviera because of the cold mistral winds from the north, the Jardin Exotique is fortuitously protected by a mountain range, tempered by mild sea breezes, and hydrated by fog.

I’d always been a bit curious about succulents and somewhat amused by their odd and foreign appearance in our lushly vegetated and water-rich Virginia. But I’d never truly warmed up to them until a top-notch guide at the Jardin Exotique inspired more earnest education, quashed my (embarrassingly) provincial aversion to many succulents as simply weird oddballs of the plant world, and converted me into an enthusiast.

Closer to home, the most spectacular collection of succulents I’ve seen in the U.S. is in the world-class Desert Botanical Garden in the Sonoran Desert within the city of Phoenix, Arizona. The focus of this plant museum is to preserve Arizona’s natural desert habitat with research, exhibitions, conservation, and educational programs. Over 50,000 desert plants, including endangered species, inhabit 50 acres.

I’d never felt the allure of succulents pull my heart as well as my head into their world until this past January when visiting this magnificent botanical garden with my husband Tim’s knowledgeable and engaging Scottsdale cousin Donita as our guide. I was not only cured of my ignorance, but also officially seduced!

Here in Lynchburg

Now that I’m hooked, outdoor succulents grab my attention all over Lynchburg. During the years I worked at Randolph College, I had little appreciation for the flamboyant and commanding May-June white yucca blooms rising above the red brick wall against the backdrop of dark, leafy greens in front of Presser Hall. In retirement, I now honor them as one of the joys of my daily walking regimen.

And I can’t help but marvel at the spectacular stand of prickly pear cactus in front of Betty Bright cleaners near the southeast intersection of Route 221 and the Route 501 Expressway. Betty Bright’s patch of prickly pear blooms sunshine yellow during May and June each year, sets striking red fruit each fall, and delights passersby year after year. Who’d have guessed succulents would grow so successfully in a parking lot along a busy traffic artery in Lynchburg? As one of the hardiest of the cacti, it’s certainly adapted to our summer humidity and winter freezes. And there are other tough succulents along that stretch of road. It’s a veritable succulents road show.

When giving a talk on succulents at the Templeton Senior Center recently, I discovered that my audience was well familiar with numerous yucca, prickly pear, agave, and other conspicuous succulent plants growing outdoors in Lynchburg and our surrounding counties. Have you noticed any?

Although succulents certainly are not yet on Lynchburg gardeners’ “most popular plantings” list, they do show up in traditional Virginia gardens in small doses and happily coexist with neighboring native and other exotic plants. I successfully grew several lovely varieties of sedum, including the ever-popular “autumn joy,” hens and chicks (sempervivums), ice plant, and other succulents whose names I can’t recall, in my own perennial gardens, and they survived our winters.

A bonus of sedum is the beauty of the flowers in late summer and fall and their attractiveness to bees and other pollinators. Once flowers are spent and dry, they add visual interest to the winter garden and offer their seeds to birds.

However, most succulents prefer warm temperatures and are not able to withstand freezing. Due to the water stored in their leaves, freezing will often result in the plant getting mushy leaves and/or dying. So, most succulents around Lynchburg live in pots in homes.

My all-time favorite potted succulent is a decades-old jade plant that has withstood a couple of moves, neglect, and schlepping to church and other places when a specimen’s been needed. It even survived our most recent move with a maladjusted cat who decided its sandy soil was preferable to his kitty litter box for relieving himself. After discovering this assault on my venerable jade, I intervened and nursed it back to health. And it managed to regain its vitality and spread to 40 inches wide. These plants are tough.

I even had large potted bottle/ponytail palm (beaucarnea) for years that lived outdoors in summer and in the dark and cold (but not freezing) garage in winter. This is one of the varieties of succulents that sports a bulbous lower trunk for storing water, and we didn’t water it all winter. In keeping with our family tradition of sharing plants, my son Reid now enjoys it in his sunroom in Mathews County in the winter and on his screened porch in summer.

Until recently, the potted succulents seen most often in Lynchburg were typically passed in families or friend to friend, usually through cuttings. Reid and one of our daughters-in-law, Leisa, are now growing jade plants from cuttings from the mother plant (that’s also been passed around in the family). With the widespread rise in popularity of interesting varieties new to us, succulents are now more frequently purchased through nurseries, florists, and big box and grocery stores (and even pharmacies).

In addition to those already mentioned, popular varieties historically have been kalanchoe, euphorbia, bromeliads, Christmas cactus, aloe vera, agave, and snake plant (sansevieria). In years past, indoor succulent collections typically started with a little aloe vera at the ready for treating burns or a tough snake plant, with other varieties added over time. Today, a wide array of tiny succulents sporting fascinating shapes and showy blooms seem to be everywhere.

Care and Crafts

Since most succulents are not cold-hearty, they’re enjoyed as annuals for only one season if planted in the garden. But if planted in pots for outdoor display in summer and moved indoors for protection during winter, they can be enjoyed for years. As potted houseplants, succulents require little maintenance and don’t demand fertilizing or regular repotting.

When planting succulents in the garden, it’s important to remember that they need good drainage, or roots will rot and they will die. Our native compacted red clay doesn’t cut it for most succulents. We must amend the soil to give them a mixture containing sand or gravel or tuck them into stone walls or other places where their roots will not sit in soggy soil.

Most potted succulents need watering only every few weeks or less frequently. You can even take an extended vacation without a plant sitter and they’ll survive. Succulents are the ticket for those of us who choose to wean ourselves away from drama queens, whether in friendships or flowers.

While many succulents require bright light, too much direct sunlight can result in color change. Some green succulents tend to take on red tones (called “blushing”), especially along the edges, if light is intense. Bright light, but not direct sunlight, is best for many, yet some (like snake plant) thrive in low light, so it’s important to learn and follow the individual preferences of each variety.

One of the amazing qualities of succulents is easy propagation. The most common way to propagate is through a cutting, which is simply a several-inch piece of cut stem with leaves. It’s left for a week or so to “cure” and produce a callus, then placed in a growing medium such as sandy soil—and roots most likely will grow. This is the method I use for sharing my jade. Another method is division, which requires uprooting an overgrown clump, easing roots and stems apart, and separating into several plants.

While I confess I’ve only infrequently upped my floral design game by featuring succulents in arrangements, experts confirm that they’re an excellent choice for bridal bouquets, topiaries, vertical gardens, and other uses where you need plant material that won’t quickly wilt. I do know from experience that succulent rosettes can last without a water source for days. If misted or in wet floral foam, they may last for weeks. They are excellent for crafting and can even be attached with glue for decorating packages, holiday ornaments, or party favors.

Rising Stock

Succulents have in recent years captured the imagination of gardeners in Virginia and continue to gain an admiring following. They are versatile and require so little care that it’s no wonder they are such a hit. I lunched recently at Amuse at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, and tiny potted arrangements of succulents graced all the tables. They charmed us, and we overheard other patrons compliment them, noting how well they work with mid-century modern décor. And how sensible for a restaurant to have live plant material on tables that doesn’t require daily refreshing!

Succulents even have their own fan clubs. The Cactus and Succulent Society of America (CSSA, cssainc.org) founded in 1929, includes over 80 affiliated clubs and thousands of members worldwide. The primary purpose of the society is “to enjoy succulent plants through horticulture, travel and scientific discovery, with a concern for habitat preservation and conservation issues in deserts worldwide.” And closer to home in Washington, D.C. is the National Capital Cactus and Succulents Society (www.washington-dc.cactus-society.org).

Contributing to the increasing popularity of succulents is their unique and intriguing appearance. They can look downright weird. Their shape can be spiraled, spiked, sword, crested, corkscrew, moon, snake-like, wavy, ridged, ribbon, knobby, paddle, plumed, or like a tongue depressor. They can look like snakes, eels, snowflakes, spider webs, pinwheels, a pile of pebbles, or a string of pearls. And that’s not all. They can be covered with protective thorns, prickles, or fluff.

Size can range from minuscule to mammoth. It’s no wonder that standing next to a huge saguaro cactus in Phoenix’s Desert Botanical Gardens, Tim and I felt downright Lilliputian.

Aloe succulents are tagged with names such as partridge breast, gold tooth, blue elf, and hercules. Other succulents boast names like pig’s ear, calico kitten, bear paws, rosary vine, silver torch, and rat tail cactus. With monikers like that, it would be impossible for a curious creature like me not to be fascinated with these amazing plants.

Meet the Gardener

Susan Timmons served in the 1970s as Virginia’s first Environmental Impact Statement Coordinator, then Assistant Administrator and Acting Administrator of Virginia’s Council on the Environment and editor of The State of Virginia’s Environment. During that time she also served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Environmental Professionals and received the National Wildlife Federation’s Award for Environmental Communications. More recently, she worked in higher education and nonprofit management and, in retirement, she serves as a member of the Speakers Bureau of the Hill City Master Gardeners Association with a series of talks on “Gardens of the World.”

Finding ideas for color, pattern, and your own sense of style from two of the industry’s top voices

Lynchburg Living writer Charlotte Farley sat down for an exclusive interview with Steele Marcoux (style director at Country Living and former editor-in-chief at Coastal Living) and Meg Braff (Long Island-based interior designer) when they were in town for Design on Stage, presented by the Academy of Center of the Arts. Charlotte, Steele, and Meg discussed the best ways to refresh your space. They talked everything from how to use trendy colors to imbuing your space with personality and timelessness—and according to Steele, farmhouse isn’t going anywhere yet.

Summer is a time to slow down and savor. From taking long-awaited (and much-needed) vacations to trying out new summer cocktail recipes, we look for ways to relax and refresh ourselves in the summertime. Before you settle down with a glass of lemonade and a Pinterest marathon, see what renowned designer Meg Braff and style director Steele Marcoux have to say about revitalizing your home (and yourself) this summer.

Incorporate Trends Without Going Overboard
From chintz to farmhouse, there’s a kind of design that speaks to you, and it can be tempting to go a bit, shall we say, overboard on trends. After all, you want your home to look like it belongs to you and not Mrs. Everybody Fixer Farmhouse, so how can you incorporate a trend (such as the ubiquitous but enduring) farmhouse look or millennial pink and make sure your home doesn’t look stuck in 2018?

Steele explains that she looks to trends for color inspiration. “I was just at market in New York and saw a lot of yellow, so maybe I’ll bring in a yellow pillow or accessory to freshen things up because I don’t currently own a single yellow thing. But I’m not going to go full tilt with (something like) lemon patterns everywhere,” she points out.

According to Meg, one great way to adapt to trends is to look to professional designers that you admire and take cues from them. “If you have a monochromatic living room and lavender happens to be the color du jour, you could have a pair of lavender lamps, or add some artwork with some lavender in it, or even just a cashmere throw on your sofa. It kind of takes you in a different direction.” That’s one advantage of having a very neutral, monochromatic house, she says: you can always play around with your décor and palette.

Approach trends with small changes, just as you would with your fashion. Meg says, “if there’s some great new wedge heel out, you might buy a pair and find that it updates the rest of your outfits, and that’s the same with interior style.”

Earthy is Always in Style
By adding a few small touches, you can enliven your space without taking on the task and investment of a major overhaul. The experts agree that fresh flowers and plants can add a great impact for little effort. “Bring in flowers! Anyone can go to the grocery store and pick up a seasonal bouquet,” says Steele.

Meg points out that ferns last for a long time and don’t require a lot of fuss. “I have ferns all winter in my house. I bring the outdoors in to keep it feeling fresh,” she explains. Following that train of thought, don’t be afraid of using other earthy elements throughout the year to speak to the season.

Look in Unexpected Places for Insight
Something Steele always tries to channel is the mantra of returning to the things you’ve always loved. For example, she loves china. “I love tabletop, and sometimes I feel like things need a refresh, so I’ll go back and look at china patterns that I love and pull a color from there. Because that’s something that I’ve always loved, I can find inspiration there.”

Of course, it’s ok if china isn’t your thing—but it’s a good idea to figure out what is. “If you have things you collect, or a rug that you love, or if you love art—go look towards that for a new idea,” Steele suggests.

Also, look at your wardrobe—what color do you see repeated throughout? Do you have more polka dot dresses than you have places to where them? Is there a certain pattern or fabric that you keep reaching for? You can always go and evaluate your closet for insight and ideas.

Reorganize to Achieve Elegance and Relaxation in One Space
The phrase “timeless style” refers to a style that, like a true lady, never reveals its age. “Timeless style” weds elegance and panache into one relevant space. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? So how can you breathe new life into your space for a look that’s both timeless and of-the-moment?

If you have a collection of some kind (and most of us do), consider how you have it displayed. Is everything simply stacked together on a shelf, or is it a truly eye-catching arrangement?

Try exhibiting your otherwise traditional collection in a way that’s a bit more modern.
Meg believes that—along with a blue and white palette—items made from organic materials never go out of vogue. A beautiful farm table with a rich patina, an intriguing grouping of stoneware—these are enduring elements of style, as are mainstays like paintings that portray scenes from nature (such as landscapes) or artwork sculpted from natural materials. “People look to country living or beach living as aspirational, in a sense that those are relaxed environments,” she explains. As time goes on, modern living, even with all of its amenities, has more of us yearning for something simpler, so when we see reminders of those places, we, in turn, establish a more relaxed setting in our homes.

Not everything has to be Whole Foods–organic, of course. Everything from antiques to modern sofas can look timeless—the trick is all in how you look at it, literally. Juxtaposing a piece of fine furniture against a piece of modern art or layering textures creates visual interest. Steele refers to Meg, the master of mixing textures: “Some of her greatest spaces have really beautiful antiques—with a jute rug. That just takes the edge off of everything.”

Figure Out What Makes You Happy
It doesn’t matter what time of year it is—we all want to come home and unwind at day’s end. The summer, with its bounty of daylight, begs us to linger a bit longer over cold drinks and conversation, so it’s the prime time to create a great space at home to do just that.

According to Steele, creating the right surrounding for yourself can really affect your mood, and Meg agrees that the right arrangements can help make you feel rested as well as more productive. She believes that figuring out who you are and what you need to feel fulfilled to start your day is so important.

To guide your direction, ask yourself what you want to see when you wake up in the morning: Do you like a lot of spare space or do you want to have all the things that you love around you? Do you want a room that’s completely monochromatic, or do you prefer contrasting colors?

“Start with the core of what makes you happy and build it out from there. You can start with visuals, and you can find that in a magazine,” says Meg.

Steele strongly suggests that you study a space that draws you in. “Ask yourself—what is it about this room? Study it.

Is it the color? The furniture? The level of accessorization?”
Having a space that’s well-organized and tidy is the best starting point, of course—getting rid of messes and visual clutter has an instant and calming effect. After that, Meg advises that we should be mindful about what new items we’re bringing in. “Most of us don’t live in such enormous places where you have a space for everything. You have to be selective and think about your choices.”

The next step: make sure you have warmth and personality—which Meg describes as bringing in a variety of textures and items. “Have a good balance of things you love and things that are functional, things that are upholstered and things that aren’t, and you’ll achieve balance. Finding balance is important,” Meg says. “Stay true to what you love and what feels good to you, and what you feel best represents you.

Give Yourself Plenty Of Time
It’s so tempting to want to have your house done pronto, especially if you’ve spent time poring over loads of images for inspiration. Just remember that you’re not on a deadline for having your home “done.”

Steele advises all of us to slow down. “That was advice that a really good friend of ours gave me when I bought my first house. She said, ‘Just go slow. Add a piece here or a piece there and have the confidence to go slow’.”

Meg agrees: “You don’t have to have it done! I’m still doing my house, and in theory, I moved in 18 months ago. I mean, I’m still doing my dining room. I can’t figure out my dining room!” she laughs. “It does take confidence to feel like, ‘oh, my friends are coming over, and I’m having a dinner party, and my dining room isn’t done.’ We’re all a work in progress, and the house is a work in progress, too.”

The moral of the story here: don’t forgo having people over just because things aren’t photo-ready.

Steele laughs, admitting that’s the mistake she makes. “I won’t have anyone over because I don’t have curtains in my dining room—and no one cares whether there are curtains up or there or not!” she laughs.

So, this summer, maybe you’ll get around to hanging those curtains up, or changing them out, or taking them down altogether. Take your time to enjoy freshening things up, enjoying the process, and doing what you need to do in order to make your home feel lighter, fresher, and more you.