If you stroll the Maple Trace neighborhood in Maple Grove, you’ll find newer multi-level homes nestled together on winding streets with cookie-cutter landscaping. Each has its own personality, within the restraints of a new housing development, but one house may catch your eye. It has a little something extra out front besides its Tudor influence—nothing mind-blowing or jaw-dropping, simply a sense of cohesion, as if all the details were thought through, from the front landing with its small seating area to the color of the patio pavers. It all works together for a symmetrically pleasing “welcome.” So, you won’t be surprised by the lineage of its owner.
When Derek Lynde, one of the owners of Lynde Greenhouse and Nursery, bought the new house, the landscaping was complete—but he wanted to start over with a new, fresh plan. “Leave me alone” were his unequivocal words. He had his own plan and a masterful company to back him up. He wanted a yard that would demonstrate everything that Lynde’s has to offer. “I wanted a showcase piece that I could also live with,” he says.
He explained to the designer at Lynde’s what he had in mind. “I wanted it to look like a cabin in the Brainerd Lakes area, with a fire pit,” he says. The initial designer picked the materials. The house has a lot of brown so most of the hardscaping is gray, with a running strip of brown accent to tie it all together.
And, the design did see some evolution over time. “The designer’s original plan was much bigger—more grandiose, with pear and apple trees,” Lynde says. But the intentional feeling of welcoming never went away. “It’s important to do something with the outdoor space since we have such a short time to enjoy it,” he adds.
Lynde’s 3-year-old daughter Evelyn loves the rock fountain in the front entry area. A hidden pump keeps water recirculating up the middle of each of three upright basalt columns sending a steady flow of water down the outside surfaces. Their gray color melds into the overall color scheme and their visual punch is delightful. For an adult, it’s soothing. For a 3-year-old, it’s akin to having a private water toy.
AN Eponymous Heritage
Many generations of Lyndes have grown up with their “hands in the fountain,” so to speak; or, perhaps more apt, “with their green thumbs in the dirt.” Derek Lynde is the great-great grandson of Charles Lynde, who opened for business at the beginning of the 20th century in Golden Valley, Minnesota, close to the present Theo Wirth Park. It was a different time then, with entirely different ideas about what one was to do with a yard. Derek has a book of notes from 1904 in Charles’ handwriting; “Sold two dozen roses for 2 bits [the equivalent of 25 cents]. It was a good day.”
Generations of Lyndes have grown up next door to the greenhouses on Highway 30, where the nursery has been located now for decades. After being raised around plants, Lynde never thought to do anything else but continue in the family business. Although he’s chosen to raise his family off the premises, the business and family influence follows close behind. “Growing up, we had a Japanese lilac tree next to our house, next to the greenhouse. It was mom’s favorite,” he says. He’s put one in this new landscape as well. It’s the only ornamental tree on the premises.
(Left: Derek and Katie Lynde. Right: The front of the Lynde home with symmetrical hard and softscape.)
Out Back
Many other trees were added to the property as well. Two large maples—root balls wrapped in burlap, “the largest we could get without bringing in heavy equipment,” Lynde adds—accompany evergreens at the farthest reaches of the lot. Here, visitors will find a surprise: a fire pit. The houses in this section of the development share a large open area, like one enormous backyard—individual spaces defined only by a swing set or a change in the color of the grass to suggest a boundary.
So, how can a fire pit in this backyard be a surprise? Lynde found an ingenious way to deal with a challenge in this section of the property. A hill funneled water into the yard, making it a wet mess. So, the designer answered the request for a fire pit by cutting into the hill, thus making the pit appear below grade to many neighbors, and the straight-line site from any other angle is blocked by trees. “Neighbors can’t even see a flame when it’s lit,” Lynde explains.
It’s his favorite part of the yard. “I love the isolation,” he says. The formed concrete fire ring is surrounded by natural flagstone upon which sit Adirondack chairs for family and friends. The wall that holds the hill from the flame is made of a unique stone that sports streaks of iron oxide throughout, giving it tiger-striped, reddish veining.
If the basalt fountain is Evelyn’s favorite feature of the yard, the fire pit has to be a close second, “especially when she gets s’mores with the neighbor kids in the fall. That’s a good night,” Lynde says.
Foot Traffic
The Lynde property was a part of the 2015 Maple Grove Garden Tour. Upwards of 500 people traipsed through the yard on that single day last summer. It’s exactly what Lynde had hoped—for people to see what Lynde’s Greenhouse and Nurseries’ landscaping services could provide. It was also a good time to gauge what would catch people’s eye. He got a lot of compliments, but perhaps the most common question he received was about two of the potted plants on the back patio. A 20-year-old red flowering hibiscus stole the show along with its accomplice, a lime tree with bright green fruit, soaking up the warm sun that day. “I think they were just so unexpected,” Lynde says.
Exotic plants are, of course, easier to keep alive through the coldest of winters when you have a big picture window to move them to and access to “steroid water” as Lynde calls it. He brings two gallon jugs home from the greenhouse weekly, full of the elixir which contains a balance of water with controlled pH and liquid fertilizer.
All Decked Out
During the steamy months, the potted exotics grace what is arguably the most stunning part of the Lynde backyard: the decks. There’s an upstairs deck that hosts a grill and couch, but the outdoor living space created underneath the deck is a true showpiece. With its durable outdoor furniture, it’s a shady place to sit with a drink or watch TV with guests.
If a meal is being served, an outdoor dining room under a triangular, cedar pergola is just steps away. It’s the quintessential space for a balmy summer evening.
Last May, Lynde lugged a large TV into the outside space so he and 15 buddies could watch the Floyd Mayweather fight. It was Saturday, 70 degrees and beautiful—far too nice to be cooped up inside.
As it turns out, Derek Lynde, his wife Katie, and their two kids definitely got a yard they could live with, which is echoed by their neighbors and friends.
(L-R: Outdoor dining area with umbrella, seating area with all-weather furniture under the deck, an example of the colorful flowers and intersting mix of plant varieties on the property.)
