When Julie Johnson retired three and a half years ago, she decided that it was time to reduce. It didn't take long for the ideal place to find in a neighborhood in which it was always dressed: a three bedroom, Crescent Hill Cariarage House, which was built in 1905 and converted into a house in 1957.
The property was the perfect size and had a salt water pool. However, the rest of the garden only contained stones.
“My first winter was spent to pull off stones,” recalled Johnson. “I did it all winter because I have to have green around me.”
She explains that her mother was an enthusiastic gardener, so she grew up with plants.
Hostas in the garden of Julie Johnson in the Crescent Hill. May 22, 2025
“She planted native plants in the 1970s,” said Johnson, “far before someone did it.”
Johnson uses plants from her mother's house and the recording of new new Oases, which she created for the public for this year's Crescent Hill Garden Tour, which takes place on June 7th.
Biodiverse back yard
Julie Johnson's garden in the Crescent Hill. May 22, 2025
Johnson's salt water pool catches just enough sun to enjoy warm summer days, whereby a high -towering pecanny tree offers a constant shade.
“I love the tree because it gives a lot of shade,” she said with a laugh, “but … no matter how much I clean up (the leaves) just fall.”
In the vicinity of the pool, Johnson carefully covered them in local plants for both beauty and organic diversity.
Peonies in Julie Johnson's garden in the Crescent Hill. May 22, 2025
More: This garden in the Mockingbird Valley has inspired the Kilgore Home & Garden Tour for 25 years
“I mixed native people here and some natives at the door,” she said. Their mixture currently includes Goldenrod, Aster, Echinacea and Columbine, to name just a few. Although the plants change over time, this always leads to a flourishing and peaceful outdoor area.
“Every summer it seems as if I moved out something and switched something,” said Johnson, adding that she does not thrive every plant, is worth the learning process as part of what makes gardening.
Front yard festival
Blackberry Vines in the gardens of Julie Johnson in Crescent Hill. May 22, 2025
In the front yard, Johnson builds fresh fruit and vegetables to improve every meal.
“I definitely wanted to have a small kitchen garden,” she said. “That is important to me.”
The beds have successfully grown everything, from garlic, Swiss chard and sugar snappers to bush beans, broccoli and tomatoes.
“And then I have … many herbs over there,” added Johnson.
There are also fresh strawberries that ripe for picking, while Blackberry tendrils begin to produce flowers along the side of the house.
Peonies in Julie Johnson's garden in the Crescent Hill. May 22, 2025
More: Enter this custom -made house in La Grange's Heather Ridge Quarter
“I thought about making Espalier fruit trees,” she said, “but my horticulture told me I had to spray all the time, so I go with the blackberries.”
In order to make the garden more sustainable and less dependent on mowing, Johnson replaced part of the lawn surfaces with dwarf mondo.
“It will fill out, so it will be completely green,” she said. “Everything I have to do in autumn or early spring is cut back.”
She also added azaleas and brings Periwinkle forward from the back yard and helps to tie the room together.
“And that's my Virginia Creeper,” she said, pointing to the front wall. “Everyone looks invasive and terrible, but it's actually great for the birds.”
Built for birds and bees
Foxglove in Julie Johnson's garden in the Crescent Hill. May 22, 2025
Johnson emphasizes that their gardens are aesthetically appealing and that they like to work in them, the space for the birds as well as for themselves.
“I read the book (from) Douglas Tallamy,” Nature's Best Hope “,” she said. “It is about how we have to transform our own little houses and courtyards for all insects in ports so that the birds can survive … it said that we lost 50% of our local songbird population because they don't have enough to eat. We have too much grass and too (only a few places) to drive the insects – and) the birds eat the insects.”
The book indicates that people reduce lawns by half and restore some of the missing ecosystems of our planet by the inclusion of good system selection.
Inspired by this idea, Johnson installed as little grass as possible and filled both her front and the rear yards with pollary-friendly plants. It also avoids all chemicals and uses a soil change rather than mulch.
Water salad in Julie Johnson's garden in the Crescent Hill. May 22, 2025
More: Living Waterfront: Explore 3 of our favorite houses, which we presented with a water view
“It's a really fine pine bark,” she said. “It's like mulch, but it is much finer, breaks down quickly and is really good for the floor.”
Hopefully visitors will find inspiration in Johnson's edible gardens and local plantings at this year's Crescent Hill Garden Tour and bring these ideas back into their own yards.
“It's a small space,” said Johnson, “but I hope it will be really pretty and inviting.”
Do you know a house that would be a great home of the week? E -mail to the writer Lennie Omalza at aloha@lennieomalza.com or lifestyle editor Kathryn Gregory at kgregory@gannett.com.
Nuts & bolts
owner: Julie Johnson, who is retired.
Home: This is a three and a half bathroom with three bedrooms, a 2700 square meter carriage house in the Crescent Hill. It was built in 1905 and converted into a house in 1957.
Characteristic elements: Designed by Architect Stratton O. Hammon; Original Hayloft doors on both sides of the house; Added salt water pool 20 years ago; Vegetable garden with elevated beds in the front yard.
2025 Crescent Hill Garden Tour
WHAT: The Crescent Hill Garden Tour 2025 will be in the Crescent Hill district and the site of the historic Peterson-Dumesnil-Haus, 301 S. Peterson Ave.
WHEN: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., June 7th. Peterson-Dumesnil House Tours is available at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. Peterson-Dumesnil Grounds Tours, at 9:30 a.m., 10:30 p.m., 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.
WHERE: The self-guided tour begins in the Peterson-Distnil House. The participants are then cordially invited to visit the private gardens by 5 p.m.
Tickets: Tickets each cost 20 US dollars and can be bought under Crescenthillgermartenclub.org. The tours are used to support local community organizations such as United Crescent Hill Ministries and Waterfront Botanical Garden, garden projects throughout the Crescent Hill region and the annual Appalachian Redbud Tree competition project.
This article originally appeared on the Louisville Courier Journal: Crescent Hill Carriage House 2025 Crescent Hill Garden Tour.