Pop-up Garden Tour

Kathy & Bill Trarbach

When 14 years ago the Trarbachs moved from Wisconsin to five wooded acres near Spruce Run Reservoir, the site survey described their land as “typical post-agricultural degraded farmland.” It was choked with autumn olive, barberry, multi-flora rose along with wisteria and bamboo growing under ash trees. Without a master plan, the Trarbachs slowly cleared section by section. Bill pursued diversity, planting 110 species of trees and shrubs. Many, including the American chestnut, are native, but dawn redwoods, Alaska cedar, and pond cypress also grow. Kathy concentrated on native perennials, sedges, grasses and shrubs. Inspired by the flowering dogwoods out the kitchen window, she added a bird garden. A fence protects a woodland pollinator garden. A small water management project and a “meadow” on a steep slope sit outside the fence. The property is still a work in progress; many invasives remain, but diversity rules.

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