It was a rocky beginning for Ted and Cindy Kopacek. After buying a half acre lot on Lake Edwards in 1994, they set out to build a house and deal with the steep, 30-foot slope down to the lake. Thick with hickory, ash, ironwood, evergreens, car parts and trash, the descent required massive cleanup.
Although the process was difficult, the rocky part began after the cleanup. Atrociously high quotes for a retaining wall engendered a do-it-yourself attitude. Two dump trucks of rocks were soon delivered. “If we had known it would be this much work,” Cindy says, “we would never have started.”
Wheelbarrows loaded with boulders began the arduous journey down a switchback path created in the hillside. Less than a fourth of the retaining work was achieved with two initial loads.
Ted and Cindy then adopted a different tact and discovered a passion for collecting individual stones. A brother who helped in the rock-picking endeavor was instructed to return the first few ‘ugly’ rocks he loaded. “They have to have character and color,” says Cindy. “Not just any boulder.”
The Kopaceks receive interesting rocks as gifts on a regular basis. Their stonescape hails from everywhere, even overseas. Growing up on a farm, Ted was tapped to rid the fields of rocks. Little did he know that it was training for lugging stones around the globe. “A TSA agent once looked at my carry-on and joked ‘What do ya got in there? Rocks?’” Ted chuckles.
The result of over 17 years of stone acquisition has created a vibrant hillside where plants must share the stage. Amethyst and banded sandstone vie for attention with jack-in-the-pulpit and hibiscus. Hostas in 159 varieties (one of them named O’Cindy) are peppered throughout the garden amongst forget-me-nots and other woodland flowers.
Ted and Cindy enjoy sharing the visual bounty of their hard work. They have been a part of the Maple Grove garden tour an unprecedented two times, featured on KARE 11’s “Grow with Kare”, as well as in Garden Gate and Midwest Home magazines. Neighbors bring their guests for a glimpse. Garden clubs come to call. Unable to answer the slew of ongoing queries about plant names, Cindy has ingeniously painted the variety name on a small stone at the base of each plant.
One tour participant made it known that he would not be returning with his wife, lest she desire a similar garden. “People either come and enjoy the garden,” Cindy says, “or they really think we are nuts.”
Obsession with rock created only a portion of the hardscape in this diverse garden. The very thing that makes it a challenge—the steep hillside—is what serves well over 125 feet of waterfalls. Pools of water overflow and drift down trickling streams to the lake. They flow by whimsical birdhouses of every shape, size and color that provide reason for feathered friends to tarry.
Birds aren’t the only winged creatures in sight. Cindy’s collection of 139 angels, surprises at every turn. They flit amongst bloodroot, sedum, ivy tumbling out of old tree stumps and grapevine. Finding each angel, hidden amongst shade loving perennials, is a crusade that young visitors often undertake.
Angels grace the front yard as well. Its level surface seemed effortless to these hardy gardeners. Formal in nature, it features a one-ton bubbling boulder surrounded by sun loving plants. A second fountain shares a bevy of rock-and-metal animal sculptures made by Ted. “Certain rocks just look like they need to become certain things,” he says. A newborn moose calf attempts to stand up in the shadow of its mother while rock birds drink from the pool, and a flower—fashioned with different colored ‘rock’ pedals—springs to geological life.
Chuck Boie, who organizes the annual Maple Grove garden tour, describes the Kopacek garden as unique in its creativity. “It’s provided great variation on the tour,” Boie says.
One uncommon feature that leaves a lasting impression is a pair of memory gardens built in honor of Ted and Cindy’s parents. In pinks and purples, the mothers’ garden honors the women with their favorite flowers—calla lilies, miniature iris and roses. A bubbling rock provides a soothing atmosphere where two elegant angels hover.
The dads’ garden takes on an entirely different character. Red and white—their Iowa high school colors—blooms vividly under an engraving of playing cards, a hobby the men shared in their later years.
Surrounded by tribute, visitors linger on the large boulders in this area. “Grown men see the pictures and the engravings, and cry,” shares Cindy. The largest stone reads, “Our dads will forever be our mighty rocks”.
The serenity of the memory gardens filters throughout the entire yard. During the growing season, Cindy can be found on hands and knees, wearing a battery-powered miner’s helmet, happily gardening late into the night. Ted fosters new creations too, drilling rocks in his workshop. “In winter we go into withdrawal and drink” Cindy jokes.
They can toast a successful obsession. It would be well deserved.
Maple Grove Garden Tour
Sun., July 15, 2012, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Visit mgco.org for garden descriptions and tour map.
