The Cypress Area Garden Club of Benton presented its Beautification Award for October to Lauren Johnston of 417 Magazine Court in the St. Charles Court subdivision.
The Garden Club presented her with a $50 gift certificate to Jayroe’s Hardware and Garden in Benton.
Lauren Johnston has lived on Magazine Court for 7 years. Ms Johnston is a retired teacher from Benton Elementary and Middle Schools where she taught for more than 39 years. She has been retired 2 years.
She loves to travel and shop. Ms Johnson spends many hours in her yard and swims a mile every morning in her pool. She also loves to bird watch and work in her garden (she does get some assistance from AK Bar Shakoor with the garden).
The Johnston home is enhanced by extensive landscaping in both the front and back yard that provides color and eye-catching appeal throughout the seasons. The perennial areas of her garden consist of foxglove, autumn fire stonecrop, and coral bells. In the shaded areas are hostas. Lauren has planted new plants, an Italian cypress evergreen, a Chinese shrub, and a flowering thryallis. Other plants in Lauren’s garden are knock out roses, potato vines of various colors, sun and shade coleus, wild pink and rose colored hibiscus, zinnias, begonias, salvias, four o’clocks, pentas, crotons, maiden grass, pink coneflowers, caladiums, cocks combs, sunflowers, rudbeckia, marigolds, and spreads of purple and gold lantana.
Ornamental peppers greet you at the front door along with purple vinca. Don Juan climbing roses are along the fence. There is a massive new dawn rose climbing along a fence for about 15 feet. The pergola is covered with 3 fragrant French roses name Sombrel and a soft wisp of purple wisteria. There are towers of Carolina jasmine placed in various areas of the yard.
An antique sewing machine made into a table supports several pots of succulents. Also greeting you as you enter the back garden is a huge pig pot filled with hen and biddies for his hair. Huge white natchez crepe myrtles form umbrellas for shade. There is a stone pathway that leads to three sitting areas and a rock garden around the single lane swim pool.
An array of solar night lights also give the garden a unique and whimsical look.
