Home and secret garden tour celebrates Bon Air history
By Susan Nienow CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Norie Burnet's moss yard is one of several stops on an upcoming garden tour in Bon Air.

Get out your parasol and join the fun at the Bon Air Historical Society's Home and Secret Garden Tour on Sun., Apr. 13, from 1-5 p.m. Pick up your tickets and catch the trolley at the Bon Air Community Center at 8725 Quaker Ln.

Rain or shine, the neighborhood will have gardens and homes open for tours. Light refreshments will be served at the community center.

Kathy Traylor's yard is covered with old oaks and tall pines, with an azalea garden tucked into the hillside. Her shaded yard has hostas, moss walkways and a natural look. The step stones are old slate lintels that weigh about 250 pounds, and over 10,000 old bricks went into the wall. The walkways used to be grass but as the trees and therefore the shade grew, Traylor converted them to moss.

Also in Bon Air is Norie Burnet's well-known moss yard, also on the tour. Years ago, Burnet became frustrated with trying to grow grass amid her trees so she gave her yard over to moss. She has also created an extensive shade garden.

"We are always picking each other's brains [about landscaping design],"said Traylor who is a horticulturist and manager of the Mechanicsville Strange's Garden Center. Her home, built in 1953, was originally her parents' home. Traylor has lived there over 50 years. "Gardening is my passion," she declared.

Peggy Coulson's home and garden are both on the tour, offering views of the ice pond and the Charles Gillette garden from the house. Sited on five acres, the home was built either in 1932 or 1939. Coulson has a 70-foot bed of hellebores, trout lilies and a bed of cobra lilies - unusual hooded flowers with 18-inch tongues that come out before the rest of the flower.

A waterfall, gazebo and lots of wildlife finish off this unique and charming property. The house was sited to overlook the ice pond in back and to preserve a wild fringe tree in front. The fringe tree is still there and although Hurricanes Isabel and Gaston have restructured the pond a bit, the view from the hill is still as Gillette must have envisioned.

Len and Robin Tuck's Victorian era home is on the tour as well as three other Bon Air homes.

Tickets are $18 in advance and $20 the day of the event. Tickets will be available at Bon Air businesses. For more information, call Robin Tuck at 569-3551. The Victorian Parade is May 10 and is a separate event from this house and garden tour.