The world in which Sonny Schneiderhan gardens is definitely notflat. Her small home landscape meanders and undulates, teases andhides, curves and frames, dips and rises. And it slips boldly beyondits boundaries.
It began about four years ago when Schneiderhan, who works as anurse, invested an intense summer of activity, creativity and energyinto her southeast Minneapolis yard. She transformed it from a flatspace with a flower border garden and a small island of grass into arocky, tree-laden, sculptural landscape.
But beyond a transformation of land and plants, the garden and itsdevelopment became something much more, she said. She read somelines she had written early last spring: "Unbeknownst to me, I hadembarked on a spiritual journey that would heal my soul and deliverme to a `terra firma' - a bower to moments of serenity."
In the early 1990s, after a four-year absence from the TwinCities, Schneiderhan returned to her home.
Schneiderhan attended a landscaping course through the Universityof Minnesota's Complete Scholar program, where she met instructorGlenn Ray, who eventually became her mentor and landscapeconsultant/contractor.
"I don't know if I started the garden as a therapeutic endeavor,but my view of the garden would be that it would be a place to findpeace of mind," she said.
"I excavated and uprooted my entire grounds. No stone, blade ofglass, tree root or plant remained untouched," she said.
Areas of the backyard were gouged out, with soil mounded here andthere; a sizable portion of the front yard also was excavated tocreate a sunken garden. Then Ray's landscaping company came in with15 yards of soil and 15 tons of boulders and rock.
"I didn't really have a plan," Schneiderhan said, "which was a bitscary. But I was there when the boulders came in and we justpositioned them until it felt right. It was sort of an organicprocess that unfolded."
After the boulders and rocks were in and the paths and back patio(of old cobblestones and concrete) were finished, trees and shrubswent in. Schneiderhan is interested in unusual plants, and in colorand interest throughout the year, so the installation includedcolorful deciduous specimens, including redbud, magnolia, apple,azaleas and hydrangeas, and evergreens, from Scotch pines and arborvitae to spruces and junipers.
Then began installation of smaller plants: astilbes and hostas,sedums and coneflowers, dianthus, daylilies, phlox, daisies, down totiny alpines and succulents tucked into the crannies of rocks. Inthe fall, dozens of tulips, daffodils and other bulbs were plantedfor early spring color.
"First I developed the structure, and then the garden developed.It is sort of like a painting. You start to do something, and thenit takes off in a certain direction," she said. "I get the feel forthings as I go. The garden is always in transition. I always wantto move things or do something to create a different effect."
Last summer, in its fourth season, the garden had achieved a lookof decades of growth, a basic sculptural quality front and back andalong the sides, where, with neighbors' permission, her gardens spillalmost halfway into their yards.
"My neighbors don't mind; they said plant anything you want," shesaid. "So we're both happy. They have someone taking care of partof their yards, and I feel happy to get to look over and seesomething beautiful."
As the gardens mature, Schneiderhan, 52, has come to realize theother benefits of her transformed garden, in which paths curve intonew vistas, luring the visitor to see what's around the corner.There are sitting areas in front and back for quiet reading andreflection, an amazing oasis only blocks away from the busyuniversity and nearby industrial area.
Schneiderhan finds serenity in the garden's maintenance - wateringmostly by hand; fertilizing, transplanting and rearranging plants androckery and trying to hold some plants at particular sizes.
And she said, although she's passionate about learning about newplants and always eager to acquire interesting specimens, she's alsointerested in creating and preserving some "negative," or open,space, as opposed to all spaces being filled with plants and rocks.That's a challenge in her 35-foot-wide gardens, she said. But in hergardens, challenges are always met, and even surpassed, it seems.
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