Making the most of a difficult garden: a brookhaven couple uses a little creativity to transform an undesirable lot into a lush landscape.

For hundreds of years, gardeners have been forced to deal with the problems Mother Nature has presented them. Low, boggy terrain is excavated to become tranquil garden pools. Steep slopes are groomed into terraced gardens, their stone walls as beautiful as the plantings they kept from washing down the hillside. Unattractive views are screened with tall plantings or trellises.

Throughout the history of gardening, it is often these challenges that have more to do with shaping the character of the garden than any other factor.

Shirley and Don Estes have overcome a number of obstacles to make their Brookhaven garden the showplace it is today.

The first major problem they faced was a lack of space with their original lot, which was narrow and deep. The house took up most of the space, leaving only small front and back yards and narrow strips on the sides.

Fortunately for Shirley and Don, the lot next to their home was vacant. When the neighborhood was developing, this lot had been passed over because it had too many problems as a house site.

They managed to purchase the lot in the mid-1970s. For the next decade, its main purpose was to provide more play space for their four children and their friends. During that time, Shirley and Don removed briars, honeysuckle, small trees, and debris. Then they began planting trees such as cypress, tulip poplar, green ash, and several Japanese maples. The next step was to begin adding other plants they enjoyed.

Over the past 15 years, they have turned the space into a garden that doesn't even hint at the number of obstacles they faced.

Slicing diagonally across the lot is a deep concrete drainage ditch, which is the main reason no one ever tried to build on the lot. Too expensive to cover over, it was the dominant feature of the site. Shirley and Don decided to work with the problem, not against it, by treating the ditch as a stream bed. Now lined with rocks and plantings that soften the effect of its concrete sides, the ditch has become a focal point of the garden.

Having such a deep drainage ditch also created a problem when Shirley and Don were working in the garden. It was too deep to climb down and across easily, and having to walk all the way back to the driveway to cross over took too much time and energy.

The answer was an arched bridge built across the ditch near the far end of the garden. The bridge alone was attractive, but now with a vine-covered trellis at one end and plantings and flagstones leading up to and away from the bridge, it has become one of the prettiest places in the garden. Shirley had always wanted a greenhouse, but purchasing the additional lot didn't help in that respect. The second lot was completely open to view of the street, and placing a greenhouse anywhere on it would detract from the total look of the garden.

Aesthetically, the best place to site a greenhouse was on the back corner of the original lot, where it would be hidden by the house. Unfortunately, this was the most impractical site from a construction point of view, since the ground rose steeply at that point. Nevertheless, Don decided this would have to be the place for the greenhouse when he got the chance to buy one and move it to their garden.

It took a great deal of excavation to get the corner level and low enough, but the result was a greenhouse tucked into a slope in a way that makes it very inconspicuous. Having higher ground on two sides also contributes to easier temperature control in the greenhouse.

The raised area where excavation stopped at the rear of the greenhouse was turned into a framed rooting bed. It is almost waist-high, which makes working in it easier. It is hidden behind a fence that Shirley has decorated with garden art. Visitors seeing the gate in the fence imagine another garden beyond instead of the work area it conceals.

The few feet remaining between the property line and the long side of the greenhouse are used for storage of garden supplies. Shirley was always slipping when climbing the steep slope to go around the front of the greenhouse to this area, so again Don took a problem and created a focal point.

"I came home one day to find he had fitted railroad ties into steps that curve up and disappear around the side of the greenhouse," Shirley said. "It gives the illusion that it is a path leading to another garden space, and makes it easy to reach that area when we need something that is stored there."

Another problem the couple faced was the shallow yard directly in front of their home. With the extra lot providing a lawn area to the side of the home, Shirley and Don were free to try something different with the front garden. They added a small parking court and filled the rest of the space with permanent plantings. A fringe of small trees near the street, underplanted with azaleas and ornamental grasses, and camellias and azaleas nearer the house create more depth than a lawn could. The addition of a few big rocks and an urn complete an area that is much more interesting than mown grass ever could be.

In developing the garden, Shirley and Don have had to think and plan, work and re-work their ideas, and be willing to take some risks. All this resourcefulness has paid off with a garden that shines in all seasons. In winter, when the deciduous trees have all dropped their leaves, all comers of the garden are visible. This is when the camellias, more than 100 of them dotted throughout the shrub borders, show off their blooms. Shirley is a certified camellia show judge, and she and Don travel to camellia shows in several states on weekends during the winter months.

In spring, before the trees leaf out fully, the bulbs and antique roses flower and the azaleas blaze with color while most of the garden is still visible from the street. In summer, the trees along the ditch cover the area with a dense canopy of privacy, and the paths leading into it invite the visitor for a shady stroll.

Year-round, Shirley and Don find their garden to be an enjoyable place to work and relax.

"Never does a day go by that there isn't a flower to enjoy or a plant to share with someone," Shirley said.

"A garden should be always changing," Don added. "Otherwise, it's no fun."