Why have two gardens, and why hide them both in the backyard?

More than six years ago, Joe and Linda Hertzler not only decided to mingle their vegetable and flower gardens, they put both in the front yard just behind a picket fence and arbor. “The garden welcomes guests and puts them at ease. It’s a little whimsical, and a little nostalgic,” says landscape designer Joe Hertzler of Hertzler and George.

The unusual garden arrangement hasn’t escaped the notice of Better Homes and Gardens Magazine, which photographed the Hertzlers’ College Terrace garden in July 2008 for an August 2010 story.

Linda Hertzler, who selected many of the plants, explains that “The perennials helped eliminate garden pests, and the vegetables set off the beauty of the flowers."

The Hertzlers’ garden displays “careful design,” according to Better Homes and Gardens producer Marty Ross. “The garden is young, but it has its roots in the neo-colonial gardening traditions of Colonial Williamsburg … It’s always fun to see a garden designer’s own garden.”

Hertzler and George is best known for its environmentally conscious and sustainable landscaping and design, which employs flowers, shrubbery, and grasses native to the area. To see more of Hertzler & George’s landscape designs, visit www.hertzlerandgeorge.com.

CUTLINE STORY:

WILLIAMSBURG, VA, SEPTEMBER 2008 — The front-yard garden of Joe and Linda Hertzler of College Terrace was photographed in July 2008 by Better Homes and Gardens Magazine, which plans to publish a story about the mixed perennial/vegetable garden in its August 2010 issue.