HOME North South June 2010

HOMEA Hersam Acorn Special Section

June 2010

Greenwich Post • The Darien Times • New Canaan Advertiser • The Ridgefield Press • The Wilton Bulletin • The Weston Forum • The Redding Pilot • The Lewisboro Ledger

Into The GardenSummer In The Shade

A Wilton LandmarkYoung’s Notches 80 Years

2 HOME, a Hersam Acorn special section, Ridgefield, Conn. June 2010

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June 2010 HOME, a Hersam Acorn special section, Ridgefield, Conn. 3


Spanning a variety of sizes, architectural styles and locations, the beautiful homes featured in Sheri Koones’ latest book, Prefabulous + Sustainable: Building and Customizing an Affordable, Energy-Efficient Home, also share common qualities of energy efficiency, structural integrity and affordability.

With a foreword written by environmentalist, actor and direc-tor Robert Redford, the book is Ms. Koones’ fifth. Previous works include Modular Mansions and Prefabulous.

“This time out I wanted to write a book that shows in order for a house to be truly sustainable, it has to be prefabricated,” she said. “My interest in sustainability has grown over the years. We are now in a very challenging environmental time and have to be concerned about our future. Sustainable housing can play a crucial role.”

The mkLotus, San Francisco, Calif. Modular/SIPs; Manufacturer: XtremeHomes; Architect: Michelle Kaufmann Designs. An angled view of the mkLotus house with the native garden and NANAWalls, a glass wall system, which opens up to expand the living space of the house.

Photo (c) John Swain Photographer

Prefabulous+ Sustainable

HOMES OF TOMORROW AVAILABLE TODAY

by Jane K. Dove

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Before beginning her career as a writer, Ms. Koones studied speech pathology and then switched to fash-ion, eventually becoming the vice-president of a company.

“At a certain point, I decided to take a sabbatical from fashion,” she said. “My husband and I were under-taking a major renovation of our home in Greenwich and I became very involved – taking out book after book on building and renovating – but could never find exactly what I wanted or needed. So I decided to write my first book, From Sandcastles to Dream Houses. I never went back to fashion and have been writing every since.”

Dispelling Prefab MythsOne of her goals with Prefabulous

+ Sustainable, Ms. Koones said, is to dispel the negative myths associated with prefabricated construction.

“I wanted to show people that these homes could be beautiful as well as greener, more efficient, stur-dier and more cost-effective than homes built on a site with traditional

construction techniques,” she said. “I showcased 25 homes, including floor plans, exterior and interior photography and resource guides to show that green building is not that complicated and is attainable for everyone.”

Ms. Koones said she has been amazed at the evolution of prefab over the years. “Until recently, most people thought of prefab homes in terms of trailers and poor quality, bare-bones construction with little aesthetic appeal,” she said. “Now, all of that has changed. Today’s pre-fab homes are state-of-the-art in terms of design and quality. They are energy-efficient and come in many styles of architecture and a range of sizes. Prefab houses can be high-end or fit a tight budget.”

AdvantagesMs. Koones has visited prefab fac-

tories around the country, and said she is constantly impressed with the Rebecca Leland Farmhouse, Chatham, N.Y. Panelized; Manufacturer & Designer: Connor Homes; Builder: Columbia County Historic Homes.

You can’t see it from the front, but the house was positioned just so to take advantage of the sun: The metal roof on the back side contains two types of solar panels. From a design standpoint, the house is similar to many in the rural Northeast, where house and barn eventually become one space thanks to generations of additions. The house looks so authentic, people some-time ask Sarah if she renovated an old house.

Photo (c) Jim W

estphalen

See Prefab page 6

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technology and care that go into the pro-duction of today’s prefab homes.

“The single most impressive aspect of pre-fab construction is the ecological or ‘green’ advantage,” she said. “If you visit a factory you will see first hand the resource conserva-tion that is at the core of prefab construction. Factories employ the latest energy-efficient technology and use nontoxic products to create healthy home environments.”

For most people, Ms. Koones said, their home is the most expensive purchase of their lives. “Building green and sustainable can be very cost effective over time, give you a durable, beautiful home and make a difference for the environment.”

She noted that prefab construction can make an enormous difference in the reduc-tion of a family’s carbon output. “If you have an energy-efficient home, you will lower the energy needed to heat and cool your home, reducing your utility bills and ultimately your carbon footprint.”

Prefab construction is intrinsically green because it starts in a controlled environ-ment, which sidesteps issues of inferior

materials and workmanship and weather-related problems. Prefab construction also greatly reduces construction waste.

Today’s prefab saves times and money while upping the quality quotient. It embraces a wide variety of techniques and materials, including modules, structural insulated panels, timber frame and steel frame.

“All of these can be used in combina-tion to provide an almost endless variety of homes,” Ms. Koones said. “In my book I show the reader that prefab is the most efficient and healthy method of building a house. I am convinced that within a decade or two we will be building nearly every house, either partly or wholly using prefab-rication. Current methods of prefab, plus the refinements that science and technol-ogy will bring, promise a bright future for the home-construction industry and for the homes we live in.”

The beautiful homes featured in Prefabulous + Sustainable illustrate the many

Prefab continued from page 5

See Prefab page 11

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LET THE SUN SHINE IN.ON YOUR TERMS.

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“When you’ve been in a house for more than 30 years, you often say, ‘If I could do it again, I’d like this or that … ‘” said Michael Ammirata, a short time after he, his wife Margaret, their son Michael and daughter Jess moved into their new home at the end of April. Their other daughter, Alicia, is married. “The circumstances that caused us to build a new house were tragic, but we were very happy with the experience and outcome. We spent a lot of time and money trying to improve the old house; now we have everything we wanted.”

The new house “is great,” he said, while admitting that it has been “an odd transi-tion going from a home where something always needed to be updated to one where everything is brand-new.” And with the master bedroom on the main level, there

are few stairs to climb. “I’ve only been upstairs twice in three weeks,” he said with a laugh.

After a devastating late-night fire tore through their 165-year-old Redding farm-house last June, the Ammiratas were left with little more than what they were wear-ing when they fled.

When it came to rebuilding, a relative suggested they look into modular homes, and an Internet search by Margaret led the couple to Coyle Modular Homes Inc., the business of Linda and Kevin Coyle of Newtown. “We were impressed by the information on their Web site, which included floor plans for numerous mod-els,” said Margaret.

“And when we called,” added Mike, “Kevin came over the same day.”

COYLE MODULAR HOMES TO THE RESCUE

From cinders to celebration in less than a year by Janis Gibson

Module by module, the house begins to take shape.

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LIMA TILE & MARBLEWE WILL WORK WITHIN YOUR BUDGET FOR ANY TILE PROJECT

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Before the Ammiratas could design a new home, however, they had to know what their insurance pay-out would be for their lost home. “How do you value a 165-year-old farm-house?” Mike said. “A number of the builders we spoke to were basically, ‘Let us know when you get your insurance money.’ Kevin sat down with us and had us close our eyes and walk though the house room by room, describing everything, all the details, basi-cally reconstructing the house so he could help value it.”

It is this kind of customer service that Kevin Coyle takes pride in, and which led him to establish his own company, partnering with his wife, Linda, in 2008, after 20 years with Westchester Modular Homes. “I wanted to be able to spend more time with each customer from start to finish,” he said. At Westchester, he was responsible for the construction end – “I have personally set more than 300 homes” – but he wanted to work with potential customers from first query and to be able to walk them through the design process as well. The houses that he sells are manufac-tured by Pennsylvania-based Excel Homes.

Once the siding is finished, the garage, family room and wraparound porch will be built on site.

With only the landscaping left to complete, the house becomes a home.

Janis Gibson

Modular houses comprise a series of boxes that range in size up to 16 feet wide by 60 feel long, which are assembled, or set, on site on a traditional poured concrete foundation. The typical modular home in Fairfield County is 3,200 to 3,500 square feet, but the largest one Kevin constructed was 10,000.

The setting is generally completed in less than a day, with all the mechanical systems placed in the basement before assembly begins. Some components are stick-built; at the Ammiratas’,

See Coyle Modular page 10


the garage, family room and wraparound porch were constructed on site.

“Modular homes are designed to the specifications of each buyer,” Kevin said. “We work out all the details before the contract is signed, including budgets for everything that is done on site. Buyers get a very detailed room-by-room contract. Modular homes can be customized in any way; then construction is done at the plant where it is dry and weather is not a factor.

The boxes are delivered with windows in place and paint on the walls, and often the kitchen and bathrooms are completed.”

Modulars are also energy efficient; walls are rated R-21 and ceilings are R-38. Kevin said. “Going modular is a lot less cumbersome to buyers. I do value engi-neering up front to get the best product delivered for the least amount of money, generally saving at least five to 10 percent over stick-built. With today’s computer

programs, we can create virtual tours before the contract is signed. There are no surprises; you know exactly what you’re going to get and the price is fixed. We take whatever time it takes to get the house the way the customers want it, then ... boom! It is in place six to seven weeks later.”

Once set, HVAC systems and floors are installed, the exterior material is applied and any on-site custom work – as well as landscaping – is completed.

Coyle customers are given a calen-dar that shows what will happen each day until move-in, usually fewer than 60 work days, which is adjusted weekly if needed. The owners know in advance which tradespeople will be on site when – Kevin has worked with the same crew of subcontractors for more than 20 years – and, where applicable, he blocks out days to shop for finishes with homeown-ers, guiding purchases and giving them his builder’s discounts. On higher-end houses, for example, the decision may be made to fully do kitchens and baths on site, which will be noted in the contract.

The first decision the Ammiratas made was not to rebuild on the old foundation, said Mike, noting that he and Margaret

often wished their home was farther away from the road. It is now higher up on their sloping property, and sited at an angle to the road to better catch the morning and afternoon sun.

“We got to design the home,” said Margaret. “We discussed the things we wanted, threw out ideas and if Kevin didn’t feel they would work, he would explain why and offer alternatives. He was not just building a house, he got involved with our family, understood our wants and needs.”

“We were in the house in less than a year from the fire, probably about a third of the time than if we had gone with tra-ditional construction,” Mike added. “We always thought it would be nice to build a new house, and we’re happy to have one in compliance with current building stan-dards and that is state-of-the-art.”

He also noted that “Linda worked the nuts and bolts in the background; she’s an instrumental part of the package. The Coyles are really nice people, a pleasure to work with.”

For more information on Coyle Modular Homes, see coylehomes.com or call 203-364-9305. ■

Coyle Modular continued from page 9

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types of prefab construction and combina-tions of prefab methods.

“Prefabulous + Sustainable describes the green aspects of each home and rates their level of ‘greenness,’ from green and greener to greenest,” she said “All of the homes included in this book are quite green, but the last group, the greenest, includes some remarkable houses that have most-ly achieved national certification, Energy Star ratings and use a bare minimum of energy.”

Ms. Koones said she believes prefab will also grow in popularity over the com-ing years because it fits well with a trend towards smaller houses with more space devoted to daily living. “The houses in my book range in size from about 600 to 3,500 square feet,” she said. “They are sturdier than comparable houses built with tradi-tional techniques and have far less waste in the construction process.”

The homes in the book have been con-structed in cities, suburbs and rural areas around the country. “I started out with 200 to choose from,” Ms. Koones said. “The

ones in the book have beauty and charm and include architectural styles that range from modern and post-modern to tradi-tional, Colonial, barn-style and farm house. My message is to show my readers what it means to be green, and have a lovely home at the same time. It’s not intimidating or dif-ficult, and you do not have to sacrifice style or beauty. I hope that comes through.” ■

Prefab continued from page 6

Prefabulous + Sustainable: Building and Customizing an Affordable, Energy-Efficient Home by Sheri Koones, a Greenwich resident, with a foreword by Robert Redford, was published in April 2010 by Abrams.

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R. S. Granoff Architects is committed to building green. Its efforts have certainly paid off. Granoff is the proud recipient of three HOBI awards for their work on a 10,000-square-foot Georgian home in Greenwich. Granoff won Fairfield County Project of the Year, Best Green Custom Home and Best Custom Home 10,000 to 12,000 square feet. HOBI awards are given by the home-building industry.

“The HOBIs recognized the remarkable commitment of the owners, design team and builder. The award went to everyone,” said Kristine D’Elisa, principal on the project.

Kristine has extensive expertise in building green. She took the LEED exam offered by the United States Green Building Council, the group that instituted the LEED program. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

“On LEED projects there are certain requirements that must be fulfilled,” Kristine said. To have a sustaining building, she said, you must meet different criteria. Energy efficiency is a number one prior-ity. Another concern is a safe environment, which requires monitoring the quality of indoor air, control of humidity, presence of mold and type of heating and cooling equipment. Water usage, irrigation and types of chemicals present are other aspects. Working with green products is important, as is using recyclable materials.

“It’s a holistic approach ...,” she said. “A sustainable building involves less damage to the environment and sustains the envi-ronment. Sustainability is the term used by the industry for going green.”

Kristine said the commitment to build-ing green on the Georgian home project

GREEN IN GREENWICH

Architects’ winning waysby Isabelle Ghaneh

A major feature of an award-winng home by R.S. Granoff Architects is sustainability.

Phillip Ennis Photography

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came from both Granoff and the owners of the home.

“The owners are the parents of a growing family of four children. One child was born during construction, and one right after the project was completed. The owners were committed to having an environmentally safe and healthy environment for their fam-ily. Indoor air quality was one of their main concerns,” Kristine said.

The owners made choices for sustainabil-ity in every area. “They had a very distinct program of what they wanted,” Kristine said. “Of course, it’s not a small home. Diehards say certain things aren’t sustain-able in a project of this size. However, people who make the choice to have a larger home can still make the best pos-sible choices. We worked with them and presented all options.”

One of the key ingredients in building green is solar energy, so solar panels were placed on the back roof, facing due south. The owners didn’t want panels sticking out of the roof, so the panels are recessed to maintain the aesthetics of the house.

“The home itself is magnificent to view,” Kristine said. “It has a walkout basement

... with doors and windows that open to a sunken garden, which contains a circulat-ing fountain and arched bridge. Our in-house landscape architect, Robert Brehm, created little rooms outside the house, where the owners entertain and the chil-dren play. Robert created a whole other world. His design picks you up and puts you in another space,” Kristine said.

The owners scrutinized every material that would be used. Using no-VOC or low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) adhe-sives and sealants was important. No-VOC is odorless and has no scent. “Typically, paint and finishing products that aren’t green can off-gas. That’s what you smell and that’s what can make you sick,” Kristine said.

Formaldehyde is another compound used in adhesives. Manufactured wood parts that are glued together, like plywood, have formaldehyde, which is considered to be carcinogenic. “Wood naturally has formaldehyde in it, and adding adhesives adds to the problem. We sought out mate-

DetailsContractor: Ian Hobbs, Hobbs Inc.; 27

Grove Street, New Canaan; 203-966-0726; Web, hobbsinc.com/index.htm.

Interior Designer: Interior Consultants, Denise Balassi, 62 Fox Run, South Salem, N.Y.; 914- 533-2275.

Solar Consultants: Westport Solar Consultants, 130 Compo Road South, Westport, John Rountree and Mark Pizzi; Web, westportsolar.com.

Materials • No-VOC Adhesives and sealants:

Titebond• LSL Framing Material: Weyerhauser• FSC Certified Wood: framing material,

plywood, some millwork• Composite Exterior Trim: Azek• Formaldehyde Free Plywood: Purbond,

Columbia Forest Products; Medex, Sierra Pine

• Cement Board Siding: Hardy Plank• Wood Flooring: EcoTimber in basement;

mahogany in all others• Formaldehyde Free Interior Doors: Tru-

Stile• Spray Foam Insulation: Icynene

• Cotton Insulation: UltraTouch, Bonded Logic

• No-VOC Floor Finish: Timber Soy with Bona EON70 base coats & Bona Mega finish coat

• Low-VOC Paint: Sherwin Williams Harmony, Benjamin Moore Eco Spec, walls; Benjamin Moore Aura, all mill-work/trim

• No-VOC Concrete Floor Finish: SoyCrete

• No-VOC Flooring Adhesive: DriTac 7500• Photo Voltaic Solar Panels: 27 Sunpower

(205 watt 24v)units w/5.2 kw inverter on Univac mounting system

• Insulated Low-E Windows: Norwood• Radiant Heat Panel Subfloor: Warmboard• High Efficiency HVAC Equipment:

Buderus Boiler, Carrier Condensing/Air Handling Units, Honeywell Heat Recovery Ventilators

• Cotton Duct Wrap: Quiet Duct Wrap, Acoustical Surfaces

• Cotton Duct Liner: Quiet Liner, Acoustical Surfaces

• Semi-Flex Duct: Superior Air Ducts• High Efficiency Appliances

See Green in Greenwich page 32

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Young’s Nurseries is as much a part of Wilton as the library or the Village Green. In 1930, the sons of Henry Young (who was a Spanish-American War veteran) opened Young’s Garden Center on Danbury Road. John and David were later joined by Philip, and their center became the premier nurs-ery and landscape company of Fairfield County. Today, if you want to learn any-thing and everything about gardening, just stroll around and listen to the questions customers ask and the answers they get from the staff.

In the 1970s, the business was sold to Philip’s son Paul. He had degrees in forestry and horticulture and ran the place until 1997, when Young’s Nurseries was sold to five employees. One has retired, and the remaining four each handle a different aspect of the business.

“There’s a pin oak tree that has grown along with Young’s that’s exactly where it was planted, right behind my office,” Paul Young recalls. Four and a half years ago, there was a major expansion and a new building, designed by Bob Faesy, was built.

Dave Gindek, spokesman for Young’s, started there upon graduation from Virginia Tech, where he received a degree in forestry and horticulture.

He has good news for summer garden-ers. “There’s a general idea that you should plant in the spring, not the summer. But there are actually good reasons to plant in summertime, because it gives the roots time to establish, and by the following spring, your plant material will have a sturdy root system.”

The varieties of trees and shrubs that surround you at Young’s three acres are

just part of the story. There are 55 acres in Woodbury, where most everything is grown from seedlings; there are five green-houses there. But special plants may come from Oregon, Maryland, Long Island and California.

In addition to its retail business, Young’s sells to wholesalers and does landscape gardening, working very closely with land-scape architects. “Years ago, there was a kind of rivalry going on,” Dave explains. “The landscape people thought we were moving into their territory, but that’s all solved now and we have an excellent work-ing relationship.

“Landscape architects know what they want their designs to look like, and we know which plants will thrive best in dif-ferent locations. So if landscapers choose a type of shrub which has the look and color

they want but may not grow well in that area, we can substitute a plant that will have the same effect and thrive,” he says.

The economy has affected Young’s like so many other businesses. “When build-ing goes down and homes aren’t being sold, then landscaping suffers. The traffic problems that Route 7 construction caused didn’t help either. Now that’s over, we’re much happier,” Dave says.

Young’s has an interesting range of deco-rative gift items, planters and a section of organic products, but the subject of organic gardening is nothing new to Young’s. “Every installation we do is organic soil,” Dave explains. “We’ve always used organic soil in all our installations.”

Young’s Nurseries notches 80 yearsby Lois Alcosser

Young’s five greenhouses on 55 acres in Woodbury supply many of the nursery’s plants.

See Young’s Nursery page 17


SUNRISE AT THE GLASS HOUSETickets are still available for the 2010 Philip Johnson Glass House tours, which continue through November. For tour information, call the Visitor Center in New Canaan, 203-594-9884 x0; buy tickets by phone, 866-811-4111; buy tickets online, philipjohnsonglasshouse.org/visit/.

Robin H

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Through the years, Young’s has culti-vated the gardens of many local celebrities: Jack Paar, Phil Donahue, Paul Newman, Mary Tyler Moore. But the most impres-sive fact is the enormous selection of trees, bushes, shrubs, perennials and annuals everywhere you look. I asked about tree peonies and they had just about every color that grows.

Dave was very casual about the 80th anniversary. “We’ll probably do something in the fall,” he said. But the 80-year history is somehow embedded everywhere, like Wilton’s Botanical Gardens.

“It’s great work,” Dave says, “being out-doors, around living things, helping people make their surroundings more beautiful, easier to grow. Our Christmas tree business is a local tradition. People come back year after year. We make and decorate all our wreaths. We have at least a 100 different varieties of ribbon.”

Young’s Nurseries is at 211 Danbury Road, Wilton; 203-762-5511; Web, Youngsnurseries.com. ■

Young’s Nursery continued from page 14

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We’re So Much More Than Just Swimming Pools

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LOCATION: This Modern Minimalist masterpiece in Ridgefield is set on a five-acre hilltop with 50-mile views.PROPERTY: A stunning outdoor pool with a wide patio is surrounded by professionally landscaped grounds, which include a diversity of gardens, shrubbery and trees.HOUSE: This one-of-a-kind home is a work of art in itself. Towering ceil-ings, walls of glass and infinite space predominate. An interior pool continues the linear design of the exterior one, and there is a glass bridge that leads to a private tower with master bedroom, penthouse office and observation deck. The main house has a living room, dining room, kitchen, fitness center, and a bedroom. In all, there are two bathrooms and 4 half-baths. PRICE: $8,850,000.REALTY: William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty.Agent: Laura Freed, 203-438-9531.Photography: Bryan Haeffele.

Rafael Viñoly MasterpieceHome of the Month June 2010


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It is my destiny to garden in the shade. Yes, at times I have yearned for a sunny yard aflame with roses, sunflowers, morn-ing glories and a bed for tomatoes and herbs. But, while shade gardens lack some

of the brightness and boldness of sunny plots, they make up for it with subtlety, softness and serenity.

■ INTO I THE I GARDEN ■

Summer in the shadeby Lynn Hyson

Corydalis lutea is an easy shade perennial that blooms from early spring until frost.

Lynn Hyson

See Into the Garden page 23

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�� Box 1019, Ridgefield CT 06877203-438-6544

Copyright 2010, Hersam Acorn Newspapers, LLC

Jackie Perry, editorJessica Perlinski, designer

•Thomas B. Nash, publisher

•For advertising information

call 203-438-6544JUNE 2010 VOL XIV, ISSUE 5

Special Section to:

Greenwich Post, The Darien Times, New Canaan Advertiser,

The Ridgefield Press, The Wilton Bulletin,

The Redding Pilot, and The Weston Forum in Connecticut,

and The Lewisboro Ledger in New York

HOMECover: Home of the Month. Bryan Haeffele photo.


The hardest lesson for me has been to embrace the shady conditions and forget about trying to force sun-lovers to struggle on my wooded property in Redding. The most elegant rose is not beautiful when it is leggy and leaning for sun. Once I limited my choices to shade-tolerant plants only, my life got easier and my garden grew hap-pier. But because many shade plants flower early, before the trees leaf out, it can be a challenge to keep the color going past the end of June. (This is even more the case this year, with plants a good three weeks ahead of their usual patterns.) After 15 years of working to make my garden span the seasons, I can share a few strategies.

Alliums and Daylilies (Hemerocallis) are two stalwarts for light shade that bring color and height through late June and July. Both come in a wide range of colors, are easy to grow and will multiply. The larger the clump you have, the longer the bloom time. The recently introduced “Returns” series of Daylilies have been bred to bloom repeatedly over the summer, though they tend to be smaller than other Hemerocallis.

(Unfortunately, Daylilies are deer candy; the Alliums are not.) And the big, dramatic Alliums like Globemaster leave behind wonderful seed heads that make impres-sive dried flowers.

For blossoms in July and August, my go-to shrub is the Hydrangea. Banks of these bountiful shade lovers will decorate weeks of summer parties, with large flowers of pink, blue, white or lime green. Two favor-ites are the blue Lacecap (H. macrophylla Blue Wave) – whose blossoms are broad but flat and more delicate than the mop-heads – and Limelight, a reliable bloomer with a graceful vase-like shape and conical blossoms of key-lime green ... very refresh-ing on a hot summer day and a great dried flower! The Oakleaf Hydrangea (H. querci-folia) is unbeatable for its combination of large white flowers that fade to pink and richly colored fall foliage, which drops to reveal exfoliating bark for the winter. New varieties offer ever-longer bloom times. Just two warnings about Hydrangeas: Deer love them, and you need to pay attention to the pruning needs of your particular variety to

avoid removing a season’s worth of flowers. (A lesson I learned the hard way.)

Other midsummer flowers that perform well in part shade include Globe thistle (Echinops ritro), with its spiky orbs of silvery blue; Bee Balm (Monarda) with robust red, pink or purple mopheads; the Rocket (Ligularia) for spears of chrome yellow; Black Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia), and Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), which is usually mauve pink, but comes in a wonderful glowing white, too (E. purpurea White Swan). These are all tall, roughly three feet high, will form expansive clus-ters and long-lasting seed heads and resist deer damage while attracting bees and but-terflies. Except for the Rocket, these can handle some drought.

Almost as hard to find as it is to say is the spectacular Thalictrum rochebrunia-num. Its stalks will shoot up to six feet tall or higher in part shade to explode into a gentle fireworks of tiny purple flowers with yellow centers. No one visits my garden without commenting on it. Its relatives are not as valuable, so hold out for the real thing!

To fill gaps in your borders – in both space and time – make use of two less-

imposing perennials that bloom all sum-mer in medium shade. The first is Dicentra formosa, a bleeding heart often overshad-owed by its more eye-catching cousin, Dicentra spectabilis. (Spectabilis is a stun-ner from April till the summer heat shrivels it to leave an ugly hole in the garden bed.) D. formosa forms compact mounds (12 to 18 inches) of delicately incised, ferny leaves topped by small, candy pink hearts. A similar workhorse is the dainty Corydalis lutea. Finely cut gray-blue foliage supports clusters of tiny yellow trumpets that shine in the shade. Both plants bloom and spread with no special care and are deer resistant. Use them in groups to lighten up dark areas and lead the eye along.

Pink Turtlehead (Chelone lyonii) will take you into fall, pairing deep-green leaves with hot-pink tubular blooms from late summer on. Try Monkshood (Aconitum) for tall purple spires that contrast beauti-fully with the golds, reds and oranges of fall. Deer won’t bother them; they are poi-sonous. Sweet Autumn Clematis (Clematis terniflora) is really a must to brighten part

Into the Garden continued from page 21

See Into the Garden page 24

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shade. A vigorous climber (to 20 feet!), it produces masses of small, white, scented stars from August till frost. Place it near your seating area so you can enjoy the aroma, but not so close that the bees it attracts will pester you.

A groundcover that ought to get more use is Plumbago (Ceratostigma plumbaginoides), which will adjust to most any soil and, given moderate sun, provides three seasons of beauty. Appealing green spoon-shaped leaves spread close to the ground. At summer’s end, small but electric blue flowers accentuate the autumn hues around them. As the weather cools, their leaves turn a potent orange-red.

Two low growers that bring punch to their sur-roundings with just their foliage are Japanese Forest Grass (Hakonachloa aurea) and Lysimachia num-mularia, better known as Golden Creeping Jenny. The chartreuse- and green-striped blades of the forest grass cascade gracefully, mimicking the flow of water. It is slow to spread, but will reward your patience. Jenny, on the other hand, crawls rapidly in almost any conditions, spreading the joy of her lemon-lime disc-shaped leaves. She is an attractive

filler for difficult areas and is easy enough to pull out where she’s not wanted.

Finally, don’t forget to intersperse some shade-tolerant annuals for season-long color. In addition to the ubiquitous impatiens, it pays to look for Browallia and Gardenmeister Fuschia. Both are valu-able for their upright habits. I am especially fond of Browallia’s clear-blue blossoms, and Gartenmeister produces coral trumpet-shaped blooms surrounded by burgundy leaves – a striking combination that works with pinks, reds, corals and greens.

All of the plants I have named prefer moist, but well drained soil, though many will make do with drier conditions. Surround them with mulch in spring to maintain moisture, discourage weeds and enrich the soil. (I shred and use the fall leaves from my many trees.)

Bring some of these plants into your garden, and the next stifling summer day, when your friends are seeking shelter from their sunny yards, invite them to join you as you relax in the cooler, quieter plea-sures of the shade.

Lynn Hyson is a Master Gardener and an active member of the Redding Garden Club. ■

Into the Garden continued from page 23

Stew Leonard’s Garden Centers are offering free Saturday morn-ing workshops from 9 to 10 at their Danbury and Norwalk loca-tions. During each one-hour workshop, you will learn about lawn, gardening techniques and trends from a Stew Leonard’s gardening expert, and receive handouts for home reference.

The centers offer hundreds of native flowers, vegetable bedding plants, hanging baskets, annuals, trees and shrubs, plus top-of-the-line tools and products. Many of the flowers and plants avail-able for purchase are grown on local farms.

SCHEDULEJune 12: Deer-resistant plants June 19: Birds, butterflies, fragrance gardensJune 26: All about rosesJuly 10: All about perennials July 17: Top Perennials of the YearJuly 24: Hydrangeas July 31: Gardens for woodlands, rain, seashore Aug. 7: Weeds, insects, diseases, pestsAug. 28: Care of shrubs Sept. 18: Fall bulbs for spring color Oct. 2: Prepare plants for winter Stew Leonard’s Garden Centers are at 100 Westport Avenue,

Norwalk, 203-847-7213; 99 Federal Road, Danbury, 203-790-8030. ■

Stew Leonard’s Garden CentersFree Saturday Morning Workshops

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I am sitting here in my special bunker. There are the sounds of booms and bangs as the entire building shakes. Light streams into newly formed cracks in the walls and ancient dust and crumbs fall from above and onto the horizontal surfaces in my extra special hidey hole, while a cat nervously purrs at my feet.

It is not Paris or Berlin, it is Rusty Hinge Road and I am having a new roof installed.

It all started a couple of years back when we were having a little work done on the house. Part of the work included a new skylight in the bathroom, which included a new install on a tiny little roof. The carpen-ter, who I shall not be recommending upon request, boasted to me that “his skylights never leak,” which I believed, and also

served as an omen for future leak problems and a disappearing contractor.

An associate of the same fellow, who I would recommend, in spite of never return-ing phone calls, arrived in contractor #1’s stead and applied some goop around the skylight. The good news is he fixed the leak, the bad news is he noted other parts of my roof in mushy peril. Actually, the skylight still leaks. Thus began our search for a roof-ing contractor.

History and horror stories often indicate that roofing contractors are notoriously slimy. Even folks in the contracting busi-ness, whom I trusted, wouldn’t offer me any names. So I resorted to the Internet, finding a popularly advertised Web site that rates various local contractors. On it, after paying

a fee, I located a company I’ll call “Choice Home Improvements.”

Their representative, Dino, answered the phone himself, made an inconvenient-to-him appointment, braved rush hour interstate traffic and arrived at our door at the agreed-upon time bearing samples and oversized pounce wheels, wearing a wind-breaker emblazed with the embroidered company logo.

Dino’s jovial manner along with a scrap-book of awards and accreditations combined with photos of some of Choice’s choicer projects gave us a very warm and fuzzy glow of confidence. His estimate seemed fair. We liked him. The cat liked him.

We watched him as he loaded his sam-ples into his truck. I was ready to write

him a check right there, but cooler heads prevailed and we agreed to entertain other bids. So I called around. I asked friends and associates. I contacted trusted trades-men. I collected a few bids, but none of them gave me the same comfortable con-fidence that Dino left at our kitchen table. He was firm about his timing, even promis-ing to go over the periphery of the property with a magnet to pick up all the nails. His bid was the best.

So we made the deal and as I type this, a century of dormant house crumbs are bouncing off my keyboard.

He swore up and down that he’d be done in two days and that he’d be there on Tuesday. It rained, of course, so the crew arrived on Saturday – after a couple of per-

Fiddling on my roof(Dedicated to the memory of Franny the cat)

by Ben Guerrero

■ HOME I MOANER ■

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fect days. Meanwhile, I’d used up vacation days that I could have saved up for – well – vacation.

The Choice van emptied out like a clown car and soon the old creaky homestead was swaying under the weight of the handful of brawny roofers, prying and ripping. Soon, two layers of shingles were sliding down big blue sheets of plastic and making the yard look like the Ninth Ward.

Dino was confident that the whole project would be done in one day, and they were careful not to disturb the nest of robins who’d not asked first before setting up shop in the crosshatch of wires tethered to the corner of the west wing.

As night fell, the roof was not done, but I was assured that it was weather tight. The forecast was iffy but I was promised an eight o’clock wake-up call Sunday morn-ing.

A mercifully light rain had mocked us by moonlight, and I anticipated a much more angry column by sunrise, but the clouds parted with dawn and the clown car arrived curbside. For once we beat the neighbors to the punch, firing up the gaso-line-powered compressor. Straight from the hymnal of the church of the Rusty Hinge.

By nightfall, the curbside Dumpster was creaking under the weight of a cen-tury of roofing history. If you squinted, you couldn’t otherwise tell that there had been confusion, dismay and debris at our little corner of heaven. In their haste to get going, the crew left their magnetic nail picker-upper. So with the cat ventur-ing out of the house after a weekend of being nervously confined to my office chair, I went over the battlefield with the left-behind tool. I picked up hundreds of nails.

There is no DNA testing for steel, but by the looks of some of them, I sense that some may have been dropped at the turn of the last century.

The roof looks pretty good, at least from my view of the bunker, where I sit typing as I listen to what sounds like the gnawing of oversized rodents on the wall outside my window. The painters, working mostly in the afternoon, are preparing my house for a new coat of paint and me for a column for next month.

Alas, the sweet cat has departed this life for good; rest well, my dear little friend. [email protected] ■

Ben Guerrero

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Back in the olden days (May 1991 to be exact), my fiancé and I were in the midst of planning our wedding when we had to make a crucial decision: How should the wedding cake be decorated?

At the time, there were few options, and we decided on a simple basket-weave, but-tercream-frosted, three-layer cake embel-lished with fresh flowers. There was no Ace of Cakes or Cake Boss (there was no Food Network TV, for that matter) to help us create a unique, one-of-a-kind wedding cake that would reflect our distinctive per-sonalities (surely Duff Goldman or Buddy Valastro would have had fun designing a Pittsburgh Steelers/Bloomingdale’s themed cake for the two of us?).

Today, I’ve learned that anything is pos-sible when it comes to wedding cakes, or

any cakes for that matter, and after visiting the Web site of Lovely Cakes (lovelycakes.net), a Norwalk-based cake bakery owned and operated by cake designer Renata Papadopoulos, I am ready to plan our wedding all over again.

Starting From ScratchBorn and raised in

Brazil, Renata, a wife and mother of three, spent a good deal of time as a child in the kitchen with her Italian grandmother, learn-

ing to make pasta for scratch. “I loved cook-ing with Vovo (Portuguese for grand-

mother) and spent many hours at her house,”

Renata says. “One of my fond-est memories is of

her showing me how to separate eggs, and when I’m baking today I often think of that.”

When she was 18, Renata moved to New York and decided to pursue her pilot’s license, earning first a private license, which allowed her to fly small planes, and then an instrument license, which permitted her to fly in bad weather.

“I made it halfway through to achieving my commercial pilot’s license when, in 2001, I married my flight instructor,” she says.

The couple moved to Connecticut and soon started a family. “I had always loved making sweets, like cakes, pies, trifles and parfaits, and I decided to make and deco-rate a cake using fondant for my first son’s first birthday,” she recalls.

Fondant, a sugar/water/gelatin confec-tion, according to Wikipedia, can be paint-ed, embossed and imprinted, and it can withstand heat and humidity, rendering it

LOVELY CAKES

Turning food into artby G. Lisa Sullivan

At Lovely Cakes in Norwalk, imaginative

design reigns supreme.

Renata Papadopoulos

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suitable for outdoor and summer weddings in particular. Many cake decorators, like Renata, use this centuries-old material to create veritable works of cake art.

Let Them Eat Cake!Soon, Renata was making cakes for family and friends,

and before she knew it, a hobby had turned into a career. She took several cake-decorating classes locally and began reading books on the subject. Eventually, she enrolled in the mini-pastry program at New York’s French Culinary Institute. “I went into the city every Saturday for six months, to learn everything I could about pastry,” she explains.

In 2005, Renata began selling her cakes, aided in her efforts by family members who helped create her Web site. As her business grew, she hired a professional to revamp the existing Web site, which features a comprehensive photo gallery and a list of cake flavors and fillings, as well as prices.

Lovely Cakes offers wedding cakes, as well as cakes for child and adult birthday parties, baby showers, anniver-saries and virtually any other occasion. “I use a thin layer of fondant on top of the buttercream, as fondant provides more possibilities for decorations,” Renata says.

Fondant, which can be colored to match almost any theme, has enabled cake decora-tors – celebrity or otherwise – to create incredible three-dimensional effects, and almost anything goes.

To decorate a cake for a client who was having her wedding at Norwalk’s Maritime Aquarium, for example, Renata created a variety of fish and coral. For a another wedding,

she designed a topsy-turvy cake in shades of red, purple and black, with a magician groom and magician’s assistant bride on top. Butterflies, honeybees, ribbons, starfish and, of course, flowers, are just a few of the other edible possibilities she can achieve through her art, many which can be seen on her Web site.

A Matter Of TasteRenata observes that many of her clients adhere to tradi-

tional chocolate or vanilla for their wedding cake and filling. “That’s what they’re comfortable with, and what pleases most people,” she says, although her company offers a large selection of both cakes flavors and fillings, including straw-berry, banana, lemon, coconut, carrot and hazelnut cake, and chocolate mousse, peanut butter buttercream, dulce de leche caramel, semisweet chocolate ganache, lemon curd and espresso ganache fillings, to name just a few.

In the category of grooms’ cakes, Renata has created motorcycles, airplanes, golf and fishing equipment, football helmets and rock-band paraphernalia out of fondant and other cake-decorating materials. “The groom’s cake can fea-ture a hobby or interest of the groom and provides an alter-native for cake flavors and fillings from whatever wedding cake the couple has chosen.”

For birthdays and other special-occasion cakes, Renata has designed Hello, Kitty, Twilight, Harry Potter, a Converse sneaker and zebra-striped lady’s pump combination, a 60s van, girl’s tote bag, ballerina, Elmo and even an adorable monkey sitting atop a bunch of bananas. All you have to do is imagine it, and she can make it.

For further information, visit the company’s Web site, lovelycakes.net or call 203-842-0500. ■

Wedding cakes are a specialty, and many flavors are available for both cake and filling.

Renata Papadopoulos

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Home BriefsCOOKING FROM THE GARDEN – As gar-dens all round are once again flourishing comes the perfect cookbook to make the most of these fresh veggies and fruit.

Cooking from the Garden recipes cover appetizers, breakfast dishes, sauces, salads, breads and sandwiches, soups, side and main dishes, desserts and preserves. The variety of vegetables, and some fruit, is bountiful, and detailed cooking directions aim to preserve all their flavor.

The recipes are intentionally simple and easy to prepare, to demonstrate how quickly you can put together a delicious meal with produce right from the garden. Highlighted at the top of each recipe are the fresh ingre-dients, so you can note at a glance items you want to plant or keep freshly stocked (calo-ries are listed at the top as well).

Whether it’s Moroccan-Spiced Vegetable Kebabs, Lamb & Fava Pod Sauce, Quick-Fried Zucchini with Toasted Garlic & Lime, Sweet Corn Soup with Cilantro Salsa, Scorched Corn Biscuits or Lemon Verbena Flan, the combination of ingredients meld to create a savory dish. The book is edited by Ruth Lively and Courtney Jordan (The Taunton Press, $29.95, hb, March 2010).

BIG BUY COOKING – Big Buy Cooking, subtitled “The Food Lover’s Guide to Buying in Bulk and Using It All Up,” comes to you from the editors of Fine Cooking magazine. Inspired by the column “Big Buy Cooking,” which appears regularly in the magazine, here is a sampling of those recipes, featur-ing such items as bread, canned tomatoes, roasted red peppers, dried mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, Kalamata olives, capers and pine nuts.

As you wander the aisles of a warehouse filled with bulk food at great prices, it’s hard to resist loading them in your cart. Unless you regularly cook for a large family, how-ever, you soon find yourself wondering how you’ll use up more of the same. So an ideal solution is a trio of recipes for each item, one as tempting as the next. Take the two-in-a-package rustic white bread. Three options are maple and cinnamon bread pudding, grilled bread salad with basil and cherry tomatoes, or asparagus, ham and mushroom strata. Dried mushroom choices include a creamy fontina polenta with mushroom ragù, seared pork medallions in Marsala mushroom sauce or wild mushroom and arugula risotto.

Each food section also tells you how to properly store items, either in the cupboard, fridge or freezer, and how long they should

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last. The step-by-step instructions and color photos are a fine guide to a successful fin-ish.

Big Buy Cooking is edited by Courtney Jordan (The Taunton Press, $19.95, pb, 2010).

SUNSET BOOKS – Several years ago, Sunset Books added an Outdoor Living Collection to their already impressive array of titles. It includes Backyards for Kids, Pools and Spas, Sheds & Garages, Trellises & Arbors, and Walks, Walls & Patio Floors. Except for the book on pools, all books have extensive how-to directions, information on tool selec-tion and techniques, lots of photos to illus-trate each step, the finished product within its setting.

Backyards for Kids: playhouses, tree hous-es, forts; play sets and swings; settings for sports and games, including skateboard ramps, trampolines, and a variety of other play spaces; a gallery of sandboxes. There are projects for every skill level, and instruc-tions for assembling a pre-cut swing and play structure and a log cabin playhouse, which are delivered in prefab modules.

Pools and Spas: Planning includes costs, location, type of pool or spa, design, equip-ment, construction, landscaping mainte-

nance and safety. Needless to say, you can easily lose yourself in the beautiful photos of the pools and their settings, and the book is an excellent primer for those thinking of adding a pool, since it details the upkeep required to maintain one.

Sheds & Garages: Projects include sheds, cabanas, garages and barns; a discussion of tools and materials; building basics, which start with the foundation and include every-thing from framing to roofing and all things in between; plus finishing touches. There are numerous photos and plans that you can order.

Trellises & Arbors: More than 40 projects range from a simple fan trellis to arbors with built-in benches and swings and ones that serve as outdoor rooms. The plans call for standard-dimension lumber and don’t require special woodworking skills. Sunset’s 40 top picks for plants complete your proj-ect.

Walls, Walks & Patio Floors: planning and materials, step-by-step directions with photos for layout, excavation and building. Thirty projects will help you beautify your outdoor spaces.

Sunset Books are available wherever books are sold; for more information, sunsetbooks.com. ■

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rials that were formaldehyde-free,” Kristine said.

During the project, which took two years from start to finish, the owners chose not to live there. “They were smart, they got out,” Kristine said.

For homeowners looking to go green, Kristine offered this advice. “Insulation is

of crucial importance for energy efficiency. Keep the house tight. Air-sealing means making sure the outside air is not coming in. If you have air leaks, the air condition-ing and heating equipment have to work extra hard,” she said.

“There are two different camps in heat-ing and air conditioning. The old school is

the rule-of-thumb size. In a 3,000-square-foot house, always use [a standard] size unit. Homeowners should seek out HVAC contractors who do calculations specific to the home. They’ll consider the size of the house, how many windows are in it, the size of windows, how old the home is, etc., before deciding on the type of equipment needed,” she said.

Kristine is the facilitator of the Green Homes Lecture Series, held in the spring

and fall at the Greenwich Audubon Society. She seeks out speakers on green topics of interest to homeowners, moderates the meetings and also speaks herself.

For information on the Green Homes Lecture Series, contact Audubon Greenwich at 613 Riversville Road, Greenwich; ; 203-869-5272; Web, greenwichaudubon.org. R.S. Granoff Architects, PC, is at 30 West Putnam Avenue, Greenwich; 203-625-9460; Web, granoffarchitects.com. ■

Green in Greenwich continued from page 13

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Country Club Living and New Home Designs at Fieldstone Village Orange – With six residences already closed and occupied, eight more on deposit and several others on binder, home buyers aged 55 and above are discovering the outstanding value, excep�onal homes and lifestyle at Fieldstone Village. This exci�ng new development is quickly becoming the area’s premier planned Ac�ve Lifestyle community. Two new home designs will be introduced at their Open House Event on June 11, 12 and 13.“All of the floorplans are designed with first floor master suites, and our new single level home styles will fill a greater need for those looking to downsize or seeking an affordable entry into a community whose maintenance-free lifestyle and fabulous ameni�es reward them for their years of hard work,” says Kathy Samul, Marke�ng and Sales Director. Special pre-construc�on pricing and incen�ves further enhance a buyer’s opportunity and they are encouraged to choose their home site now while the best selec�ons are available.Here, residents can enjoy resort-style living and a year round vaca�on right at home. The country club lifestyle is enhanced by an in-ground heated pool, sun deck and tennis court. A first-class clubhouse featuring an expansive fitness center, game room, gathering area and bar is in development and set to open in 2011. Fieldstone Village is set on over 38 beau�ful acres, enhanced by lovely landscaping, sidewalks and decora�ve lampposts for evening strolls through the community. The ideal loca�on affords easy access to commuter trains, I-95, the Merri� Parkway and Boston Post Road, along with convenience to a number of theater and arts venues, golf courses, shopping, dining and healthcare facili�es. Fieldstone Village captures the charm of New England’s classic architectural designs while providing luxurious ameni�es that buyers of dis�nc�ve homes expect. Both freestanding and a�ached homes offer a variety of floor plans and facades including Cape, Federal, Gambrel, Colonial and Cra�sman styles in a wide range of sizes. These energy-efficient homes are designed for comfortable single-level living featuring first floor master suites, 9-foot ceilings, elegant trim details, decks, stylish kitchens with granite countertops and stainless steel GE appliances, two car garages and full basements. Quality name brand products include Andersen windows, Kohler fixtures and Hardie-Plank fiber-cement siding. All exterior maintenance, lawn care, professional landscaping and snow removal is included. Fieldstone Village also features underground u�li�es, natural gas, public water and sewer. Star�ng at $449,900, the new 1,508 square foot Essex model offers a stylish detached Cape design with two bedrooms and two full baths, all on one level. The bright and open floorplan is highlighted by a Great room with vaulted ceilings, fireplace and a kitchen with breakfast bar and sliding glass doors that open to the deck. Buyers can choose an op�onal finished basement with living area, third bedroom and third full bath. The 1,946 square foot Winsted is also a detached Cape style, featuring two bedrooms and two and a half baths. Vaulted ceilings lend an airy ambience to the open living and dining room. A fireplace enhances the living area while in the dining area, sliding glass doors access the deck. The kitchen with granite counters offers a sunny breakfast area. A finished basement op�on is also available for this model. Pricing for the Winsted starts at $509,900. Both models are currently under construc�on and will be completed by early summer. Fieldstone Village is a joint endeavor comprised of managing members Robert Sachs, of Cherry Hill Construc�on and Doug Anderson of Anderson Wilcox, along with Project Manager Tom Schoonmaker and Accredited Professional Senior Architect Robert Braren, AIA. The team delivers on its mission of building homes of superior quality and providing first rate customer service and has recently achieved award winning status at the 2009 HOBI Awards by the Homebuilder’s Associa�on of Connec�cut.Fieldstone Village is located at 1025 Grassy Hill Road. Interested buyers are invited to tour the community and the models. The Sales Office is open daily from 10 a.m to 5:00 p.m. They will host an Open House Event Friday through Sunday, June 11, 12 and 13. For informa�on contact Marilyn Stark or Kathy Samul at (203) 795-3732 or visit www.Fieldstone-Village.com.

Adver�sement

��The Best Is Yet To Come

Maintenance free homes allow you to enjoy the best years of your life.

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Ideally located near numerous golf courses, world ��

OPEN HOUSE Friday – Sunday ��Tour our new single ��

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HOME North South June 2010

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Transcript of HOME North South June 2010