Frog Pond Farm, a love story

by Mary Jasch

Was Martin Weinberg once a frog that Ruby kissed and turned into her prince? Is that the meaning of Frog Pond Hollow, a place where dreams really do come true?

“It's very nice in the evening when it's dark. There used to be many more frogs," says Martin. “They used to be all over the place. Whenever there was a puddle, there were frogs in it. Now we have four or five frogs. A neighbor has offered us tadpoles and frogs. They have many, so we'll go and get some."

Only Ruby and her husband Martin know for sure.

Their six-acre landscape, half wild, half cultivated, is home and garden, crammed with the plants and accoutrements they love - country serene in Tewksbury, New Jersey.

“I am the landscape designer and chief gardener and he is my assistant, without whom I couldn't exist," says 77-year-young Ruby.

“I'm the machine man,"ť says 81-year-old Martin. “I keep all the tractors, chain saws - all the stuff we need around here, I keep it running. I make sure the equipment's all in good shape. I mow the lawns, do a little digging, but mainly I support her. When I was 71, I was still able to do a lot."

The Weinbergs will open their garden to the public on June 11. So, let the tour begin!

Start at the driveway, where 30-year-old crabapples and dogwood lead into the garden. These are happy trees, left to do what trees will -- spread their branches as far as they can. A Cherokee Princess dogwood flounces large, bright white blossoms just as Kousa's tight green flowers begin to open. The crabs are done blooming but their flourishing foliage and robust aspect impress.

The roadside border has waves of color - pink with Janet Blair rhododendron, then yellow with yellow yew, barberry and day lilies, then blue. It becomes all yellow again with Siberian iris, coreopsis and dark and light varieties of Lysimachia.

The border encircles a spring-fed pond that reflects the house, sky, lawn and surrounding beds. The pond was a gift to Ruby from Martin 46 years ago.

They had searched for five acres with some woods, fields and a pond and found this land with a spring-fed stream and a swamp. “We looked at it and said, 'Aha!' The swamp is the location for our pond,"ť says Martin.

In 1968, a year before they built the house and moved in, they dug out the pond. “We built a little shelter and all the neighbors came and ice skated on the pond. After that we started accumulating ice skates so if people didn't have any, they could use ours," Martin says. In winter they shoveled off snow so people could skate and they swam in the pond all summer long.

Koi and blue gills swim here now, where once brown trout and the Weinbergs did, but their passion for the pond - and each other - has never faded. “Sometimes on a summer night he takes me for a row," says Ruby. And when someone asks to fish here, Martin tells them no. “This is my aquarium."

The two enjoy their country land and critters especially on summer nights, appreciating the small things that many take for granted. “When fireflies are out they fly over the pond and we see their reflection," Ruby says. “We had visitors from England, Scotland and New Zealand who don't have fireflies. They were incredulous. I just love them. Country living is just wonderful."

Ruby's new book, The Garden Reborn, is full of small things that make a garden burgeon with energy and productivity.

On the far side of the pond, a metal fence separates the cultivated from the wild, where staghorn sumac grows with thick furry stems. Ruby planted a variety of it on the civilized side of the fence. “I looked in the pond and the images of the leaves were so beautiful," she remembers of the first wild sumac she saw.

At 35, this garden is mature with thriving trees and shrubs that have been placed in their most beneficial micro-habitats. Even so, some have survived plant-type accidents, such as the weeping willow torn by a tornado, and their fate requires consideration. Ruby thought about taking down the willow, but decided she'll keep it. “It looks rugged." In her book, which details the creation and life of Frog Pond Farm over four decades, Ruby describes how to evaluate a damaged tree's chance of survival.

In this mature garden, prime real estate has been taken up, but Ruby does not fear demolition. An extinct asparagus bed lays empty. “Now I have all this space," she says with the excitement of adventure.

Out front, fragrant Rhododendron 'Ken Janek' looms over Ruby and the double trillium at her feet. The backs of its leaves are felted. The evergreen giants continue along the walk with huge white Delaware Valley rhododendron.

The rhododendron at Frog Pond Farm are spectacular. Ruby had planted them long ago with hardy azaleas and unusual shrubs and trees to supply her landscape design business. She contracted for nine years, but continues to design and consult even now. She is a certified horticultural instructor, garden writer and book author.

Nearer the house, the grass narrows and moves through beds of azaleas and viburnums, a stream garden with fabulous red Primula japonica and multi-color Primula cowichan that Ruby grows from seed, a rock garden with Japanese tabletop iris, two parallel borders arranged by color, an herbaceous trial garden, and a stand of three kinds of highbush blueberry totally enclosed so the birds don't eat them. “We always have blueberries in the freezer. Sometimes it rains so hard when they're in flower, the bees can't pollinate them and the crop is poor,"ť she says.

One border is red and white with Red Prince weigela, Rumex with crinkled deep red foliage and re-blooming German bearded Iris 'Immortality.'

Spilling downslope, lace shrub voluptuously covers the ground to the stream. In the backyard along the upper reaches of the stream, a bank of leucothoe, azaleas and rhododendron form a backdrop for the yard. Yardside, primula grows among rocks and cushions of moss support Canada mayflower below a musclewood tree. Chartreuse hosta, hot pink azalea and white primula accent the burgundies of a tall Japanese maple and a flowing cutleaf variety.

The gardens of Frog Pond Farm are an enigma with every plant contained yet left to be naturally exuberant.

Ruby and Martin enjoy their plants. They observe them, handle them, discuss them. They maintain their garden with a just a tiny bit of help. “You can't have an amateur weed your garden. If there are weeds it's just because I haven't gotten there yet. They just have to wait for me,"ť says Ruby.

The Weinbergs savor their garden from the house's deck. Ruby says, “We enjoy the view, eat our meals there whenever weather permits, discuss our plans for the future and contemplate how fortunate we are to have each other and this beautiful place to spend our lives."

The Garden Reborn by Ruby Weinberg
The book is crammed with useful information for Ruby knows her plants - as species and as individuals. Readers can benefit by her years of turning visions of Paradise into reality at Frog Pond Hollow. Martin photographed the garden.
Visit their website: www.thegardenreborn.com

Check out a list of some of the plants in the gardens.

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