Fenwick Island gardener turns waterside home into haven

Lisa Arni loves projects, and by my best guess she has about 487 going right now, all involving plants.

Whatever she touches seems to turn to horticultural gold, from her enviable orchid collection to her wildly creative planters and floral designs to her hard-won seaside garden in Fenwick Island where she and husband, Ken, live.

In their light-filled house with spectacular views of both bay and ocean, conditions are perfect for the dozens of exotic houseplants she tends. Outside, the water views act as a backdrop to her beautiful ornamental landscape.

A Sussex master gardener, Arni is primarily self-taught and a consummate do-it-yourselfer.

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“I love a challenge,” she tells me, and that attitude has endured through some formidable hurdles that would have flattened someone else.

Observing two white egrets high-stepping in the marsh below, Arni remembers what their 3.5-acre property looked like 15 years ago.

“There was phragmites from the road to the water. We couldn’t see the road and we had to have a bulldozer make a path just to see what was on the property,” she says. “We waited a year before digging in and trying to eradicate it. Ken rented a machine, a heavy-duty thing to run over everything; every month he’d mow in summer to get rid of the phragmites. The marsh was covered in it.”

Phragmites, a tall invasive reed, dominates many wetlands and is notoriously difficult to eliminate. A combination of mowing and spraying herbicide transformed the marsh, and gradually native wetland plants returned.

Today it’s a haven for marsh mallow, cattails, swamp milkweed, marsh grasses and hibiscus, as well as a host of maritime wildlife.

In both front and back gardens, Arni faces a more familiar Sussex County horror – sandy soil.

“I have terrible soil, sandy and ugly,” she says.

She wanted to change the flat topography and so hired a landscaper to create berms, but they did little to improve the soil quality so she imported compost, leaf mulch and pine needles. Trial and error dictated her plant choices, and she learned to trust her instincts.

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“When I joined Master Gardeners in 2007, they stressed native plants, but I can’t live with just native plants,” she says, adding that some didn’t perform well. “We had a lot of wax myrtle and it’s awful, a maintenance chore; if you have one, you have 100,” she says

Instead of the ubiquitous black pines, “a nasty tree” in her opinion, Arni chose umbrella pine (Sciadopitys verticillata) and loves it. She also appreciates crape myrtles and has planted sycamore, magnolia, persimmon and ornamental pomegranate with great success.

By far her best performers are her many hydrangeas, some of which she has propagated herself. A shrub border up front includes several different species, including big leaf, oak leaf, smooth, peegee and climbing varieties. She uses them in both sun and shade, wet and dry and this year they are blooming madly, especially a huge-flowered oak leaf called ‘Snowflake.’

“They’re sturdy, hardy, and drought resistant once established,” she says.

In her back yard, within the confines of an old bulkhead, Arni has pulled off an improbable feat. With the marsh stretching out behind it, she has created a formal garden that somehow fits seamlessly with its surroundings.

Paved pathways lead to a large Grecian statue dominating a central round fountain adorned with potted plants. Evergreens and perennials make the small space appear bigger.

Looking back to the house, arched columns disguise a shaded overhang where Arni summers her collection of houseplants, protected from the wind. Among her treasures is a magnificent Vanda orchid in full bloom. It is one of about 30 she tends with amazing success.

Most of her orchid collection is kept indoors where the plants thrive in the bright windows where they adhere to Arni’s strict regimen.

“I water once a week, no misting. Every plant gets lifted to the sink for a thorough soaking and inspection. I feed them with a fertilizer that encourages blooming. They all need re-potting, which is going to be a monumental task,” she says.

As if that weren’t enough to keep her busy, Arni devises unusual floral arrangements using all manner of plant material, including dried leaves and pieces of wood. She has recently begun creating ariums, glass containers she fabricates with old lights and chandeliers to hold air plants. The house is filled with her handiwork.

In addition to her hands-on horticultural endeavors, Arni is poised to take the reins as President of the Delaware Federation of Garden Clubs, an involvement she credits with boosting her knowledge and introducing her to a terrific support group.

“When we moved here in 2004, there were no garden clubs to join, particularly for people new to the area,” she says, a fact that pushed her to found Gardeners by the Sea. The club now boasts 55 members with a waiting list to join.

“I’m finding people here have the time and are interested in what to plant. Since we started we have every imaginable level, from those who never gardened to master gardeners. The best part (of joining a garden club) is that people meet each other who never would have met and wow, do they know people now. That’s good for the community,” says Arni.

Her membership committee is looking to found more gardening clubs for Sussex County. Sounds like an excellent project.

Moira Sheridan is a Wilmington freelance writer and gardener. She is a graduate of the University of Delaware’s Master Gardener program. Reach her at masher9@juno.com.

To do list

• Order spring-flowering bulbs to plant in the fall.

• Remove spent vegetable plants and sow lettuce, spinach, and other greens for a fall crop.

• Make note of large dead branches that need to be removed from trees and shrubs; they’re easy to spot while leaves are still on.

• Work compost into garden beds.

• Get ready to reseed and resod areas of the lawn that need rejuvenation. Fall is the perfect time.