Published: July 25, 2009 07:45 pm      

Northern People: Yard mistaken for park

One project lead to another, flowers to food

LAKE ANN -- Drivers on their way to Mistwood Golf Course or Almira Township Park often do a double-take when they pass Bob LeRoy's gardens.

Bordering either side of a long, winding driveway where farm-y Cedar Run Road peters out at wooded Stevens Lake, the formal gardens and their orderly splashes of color are an unexpected pleasure in the rural landscape -- just like the invitation on the green wooden fence: "Welcome -- Come Look -- Sit a spell."

Framed by small stone gateposts built by LeRoy's father, the narrow gardens are actually eight separate berm gardens, from sun-loving perennial gardens to shade, iris and waterfall gardens. With their manicured beds, lush green lawn and cast-iron benches under the shade of walnut and butternut trees, the gardens are often mistaken for a park, said LeRoy, 75. Some visitors even bring their coolers stocked with wine and snacks.

"People really appreciate it," he said, recalling one guest who left a note thanking him for sharing the 'beautiful' gardens. "A lot of people who come here don't have the area, the means or the ability to do this, but they like it."

LeRoy created the first of the gardens about six years ago after clearing a spot on property his father once owned, mounding soil dug up from around several old structures, and building borders of manufactured stone. Soon one thing led to another.

"I could visualize a lawn and an asphalt drive, so then I thought, 'Well, I have more room' and I built the stone garden," said the retired mason contractor who owns neighboring Lake Ann Airway Estates. "I had people ask me when I was down here if they can look around, so I put a sign out."

Now the gardens include both structured and unstructured flower gardens and a vegetable garden with radishes, beans, eggplant, zucchini, carrots and rhubarb.

There's even a cherry tomato or two so that visitors can eventually nibble while they stroll.

The crowning touch is a giant welded metal grasshopper created by Wellston artist Andrew Priest, who also designed sculptures in Kaleva and Manistee.

The 18-feet-wide by 7-feet-high insect took six men to deliver and install and is made of everything from car rims and air filter covers to oil drums, barbecue grills, railroad spikes and golf cart brake shoes.

The gardens are open morning through evening, spring through fall, and attract neighbors, golfers, Almira Township Park visitors and private pilots flying in and out of LeRoy's 80-acre one-runway airport, dubbed "LA International." A recreational pilot himself, LeRoy spends about an hour and a half each day tending the gardens with the help of an irrigation system that supplements some 400 feet of garden hose.

He's so often outdoors, in fact, that he's made friends with a chipmunk that likes to hop into his hand for a treat before scampering down a hole in the yard.

John Schultz and his wife, Joanne, are among a handful of year-round Stevens Lake residents who have watched the gardens grow over the years.

"He's done a wonderful job," said Schultz, also a gardener. "It's unusual to have an elaborate set of gardens on a 60-foot lot."

LeRoy said future plans may call for more garden art by Priest -- though it wouldn't be as big.

"He mentioned something about a worm ... " LeRoy said.