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Show . ssroireDiiiii .St'5 - " i - JANET HAS LANDSCAPED as far Mountain ladv wittb By Merle Young Express Feature Editor Some adventurers feel a surge of accomplishment when they finally climb to the summit of a tall moun tain and can turn back to see the challenging path of their success. If you have your own mountain and your home is at the base of its rude rocky slopes, another kind of challenge may stir your blood. Janet Abplanalp is one who felt the urge to conquer her personal mountain with a gentle, beautiful technique that brings br-ings joy and delight to all who see it. Janet and her husband, Tom, live south of Steinaker Reservoir on 2500 North in Ashley. Their home is built into a virtual rock garden surrounded surround-ed on three sides by craggy peaks of sandstone. "We used to live down the road in an old house where the soil was mostly most-ly sand," explained Janet. "You could just nudge the soil with a hoe and work it easily. On this side of the road the soil is clay and it gets like concrete when it drys out." When the Abplanalps decided to build on the mountain side their friends and family thought they had been in the sun too long. After the house was built about ten years ago, however, the benefits of the sheltered location soon became apparent. The rocks soak up the sun and provide warmth in the winter. Shade comes in the early afternoon to cover the house because of the high sides of the canyon. The morning brecics come down the canyon and the afternoon breezes go up the canyon. All of Die Abplanalps plant and trees are ahead of everyone dses because they ore protected. The one thing that had to be altered was the U 11 VJ, V h ; f IT ' , ? 1 " t l7 -V . V,-' ... i I .-'V !VWX,ltf 4.?iKVr.t to the west as she can get the water green condition of the soil which was worsened by a misunderstanding. "One day the county showed up and heean blastine on the hillside." Janet began ner story. i tried to tell them it was our property but they in sisted that it belonged to the county Before Tom and I had them convinc ed it was ours, they had blasted out tons of rock they planned to use to shore up the creek. Where the house now stands was just a big pile of huge boulders and there was no top soil left at all, just clay and pieces of rock." When the Abplanalps built their home, many of the larger rocks were arranged in what has become gardens and retaining walls. One ornate pinnacle of free standing rock was saved from the blasting and is a focal point for a beautiful garden setting. set-ting. Janet has a deep love of gardening and landscaping. She has spent the past ten years turning the mountain side into a lush, florid show place with splashes of color in every nook and cranney backed by a multitude of shades of green. Many species of shrubs, trees like aspen, pine, spruce, birch and fruit trees share the space with countless species of prolific floribunda. Wild flowers are mixed with Introduced species to create a blend that even Mother Nature envies. Janet has planted as far as she can to the west where the wutcr can reach around the rocks. Nearly as high as she can go on the north st" and clear to the east border of her property. Flans to complete the landscaping land-scaping to the road In front of her house are already settled in hrr mind. Tom has Installed a series of sprinktlng systems that reach mwt m 1 . . i. , 1i r i ; i A r 1 A 1 4".. , . ... 1' conquered by Wm tfif- - . to reach. of her landscape projects, but here and there is an area that must be reached with a hose. "He put in all the sprinklers and concrete curbs and has really helped me a lot with the yard. I do all the planting, weeding and most of the upkeep in the flowers, and I love it. Sometimes I fill a gallon jug with water and let it freeze over night. The next day when it is about half water and half ice, I take it out to the yard and sip on it while I work. The time goes by very fast and the day is gone before I know it," noted the gardener. The amount of forest mulch, fertilizer, fer-tilizer, number of bedding plants, shrubs and bushes put into the yard has become too plentiful to count. "I started to count the shrubs the other day to see how many fertilizer spikes f I would need for them. I gave that idea up when I got past 100. They will get some other kind of fertilizer," she chuckled. With the soil building up over the years and loads top soil hauled in for good measure, Janet has the majority majori-ty of the yard under control. Tom presently has a gazebo under construction con-struction against the rocks behind the house. Stair steps to the structure will be constructed of railroad ties to match some of the retaining walls already installed. Clumps of aspen and pine will shelter the gazebo on the west and Janet has laid plans for the flowers to grow next lo the building, "1 have learned about erosion and way." Janet sighed. 1 thin out this and bke the seeded parts of thme as mm as they are dried out," she tinted, The discarded plant life is le!t out of s:;t brhmd a rock to dry and then is burned, W.Ulife on Janet's h.'.l tUr many kirwh f UtU. raeonn, chip- mm, little gray faxes and niore, Tt hummirg tifds are fed in the yard fend ih a:;s r-4 tn l.Se rmU around Ue r.&, "We -w!jTtkrrS thHi, 14 H rk '.4 w ttn tskir m ihe r ., Hi Ui'Jn'l May &. TM Cat Iht tfvj-tnufis un-f ttAtxA hd I hae rrf t a rle rt," six K:H . a"y at U'-e'i i fwrn 4 ayr. Tr ajr M 4 if- l-M ti? jfwn fwnJ. JaM S4?l '1?r1 t Jt4 ttj Af-'-i tf if4 w rf t-c Ah?-j ?fj inl A'rs-,; r f,-r-. Jt -r'T-I 'J Jt-if .c-r ?'r IV r.-." ; - f .t r'. i-! ,' " f.trH i-' io r'l-1 r',c t Sk. F' -i'fi' "i:sr:.t;''h :u is' f t i'i7 V T".. tfr. V'f. Si. ?KT .-f - - C- s i r I'- '--!- - B t """' f . I"' i ' t "S ' " si ' - J -,- I f-.Jj , "i'S I4 fs- ' -r. j 1 !'-. - t " ". ? . m " thumb r:mkjr,i-,-V' v- ' 1'7". .j, 'V," .'.;i' '."IT ' -"Vl tSsH iWtTlWi'CK ,. .C v.. . . - . - - - . .. . ...4 THIS FREE STANDING rock castle was spared when the county blasted the hillside where Abplanalps home is now located. out of 110 where. I love being out here." Jint'1 " rtisUc talent dors not end ,,u) hrf fa,,ulus landscaping. She ls various kinds of art In the n'1 has been fMm 'h wl and has branched out into wa!ertt.lr es we',), The students at Discovery K!-metiJary illttWninghcraslU,isweck hc frtAlr ,n,n fsvm ,tlft u f.r.i-.h at the i!,, r the Festival cf the Arts, NritMx.thM cU-Urn are b- irac!-d la ,rr a ! ? k in t-r Jafd "IT.ry Ikt l (id r am ,t and c! n,ti m t? e rl TV cmc lo t H tn ratal tn tmtid'tU Mr-e UA u-'f tnd tip j ?t-t 4 ! )f i," V a Wxjdav, May People who. are acquainted with Janet's handiwork go out of their way to drive past her home to see what is in bloom or hat new mma has been added to her gardens. i am ftlad they enjoy looking at it as much as I , da. I can climb 10 the tr-p of the hill , and see the gardens end most of the , city. U is a very peaceful place lo 1 be," said the industrious gardener. Comjurrtwi a mountain by chnib- ' ing to its summit seems lo be l!e tasini la k if you comp,ire it wuh -lafKhcarir.it ihe ho5e hir,g A tli!ntef, afirf all, has cmrptrted his la-k when b rrachm U;e l?p Hi Janet At'j4,sni?f ill pa. i, . w-atrfing1rr!jr,4and frfliSiJjrjhrr t m"-,i!,!ain fotrer, Tom Mid, "ll I ii." 4 I ' V - '. t 1 ! V 1 ,. r:' j- t TKr unite-- U, 1?S6 VefTUl ExiSt 1 3 w m '1 f , A LONE COIUVC NE i.aftd i ' ' 1 -3 J 9 j .? " 3 .-. 3 |