The front yard of Dr. L.W. “Buddy” Nichols and wife, Delores Beery, is filled with white river pebbles, river rock,
mountain stone and pavers. Colorful blossoms of crape myrtles, knockout roses, zinnias and petunias pop against
the white rock.
Delores Beery’s landscaping includes seating areas where guests may stop to enjoy settings such as this birdbath surrounded by hostas, a rambling rose climbing a trellis and fuchsia crape myrtles.
This view from the second-story balcony shows the variety of rock used around the design of the front yard’s
three islands.
Lily pads and a heron-shaped fountain are two elements in the couple’s backyard pond, where birds love taking baths, Delores Beery says.
Orange and yellow lilies and white petunias are planted beneath a hummingbird feeder.Delores Beery always had an aversion to mowers, but never more so than “when I mowed the end of my second toe off.” That accident was the catalyst for a total landscape makeover in which she yanked all the grass out of the front and back yards at her East Ridge home and replaced it with pea gravel, river pebbles, river rock, mountain stone, flagstone and pavers. It is manual labor in which she and husband, Dr. L.W. “Buddy” Nichols, have invested over four years.
“We’ve eliminated almost every bit of grass,” she says. “We don’t have a lawn mower and we don’t want another. We have one tiny patch of grass on one side of the house where we’re going to put in a putting/chipping green.
“He’s got it all planned that he’s going to paint Augusta’s Amen Corner on the fence behind it,” she laughs.
Nichols estimates that the two of them hauled in 60 tons of rock, mulch and topsoil to complete the DIY project. The “lawn” is white river pebbles mixed with a small amount of pea gravel. Islands of raised flower beds are outlined in stacked rock with flagstone trails winding throughout.
It’s a clean, manicured look that the couple says is easy maintenance.