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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Erin Schanen’s garden is a 1.3-acre home property in southeastern Wisconsin, about 400 feet from Lake Michigan. Its character comes from years of adapting the landscape: a garden shaped around the house, a formal-but-informal Circle Garden, fenced raised beds, naturalistic planting, and a mixed hedge. Schanen’s own site profile and a 13-part visual tour published by Midwest Living offer a look at how the property has changed over time.
What does Erin Schanen’s garden look like?
The garden is not one uniform planting scheme. The Impatient Gardener’s property profile describes several distinct areas, including a Patio Garden, an elliptical Circle Garden, a fenced vegetable garden, naturalistic roadside planting, a small area designed with Roy Diblik, and a mixed hedge. Their different purposes and styles reflect the conditions and projects that shaped them.
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A recent visual feature by Teresa Woodard for Midwest Living presents a 13-part tour of the property. Among its examples are a sunny seating-area border with a changing color palette and a window-box display. Those images show seasonal experimentation rather than a fixed recipe for planting combinations.
How large is The Impatient Gardener’s property?
According to the owner-published The Garden profile, the property covers 1.3 acres. About three quarters is managed garden, while the remainder is woodland. It is in southeastern Wisconsin, roughly 400 feet from Lake Michigan; houses stand between the property and the shore, so the garden is near the lake but not directly on the waterfront.
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The profile lists the site as USDA Hardiness Zone 5b/6a and describes its soil as mostly alkaline sandy loam. Mature trees include Norway spruce (Picea abies), American beech (Fagus grandifolia), northern red oak (Quercus rubra), and sugar maple (Acer saccharum). These are the owner’s published site details, not a claim that every bed has the same soil, light, or exposure.
How the garden has evolved
Schanen bought the property in 2002 and says she spent a year observing before actively shaping the garden in its current iteration, beginning in 2003. The profile’s milestones show how the work responded to the home, existing garden areas, tree loss, and new design ideas.
| Year | Change | What it added |
|---|---|---|
| 2002–2003 | The property was purchased in 2002; after a year of observation, active gardening in this iteration began in 2003. | A deliberate start based on learning the site before making changes. |
| 2010 | A house renovation added usable second-floor space and a deck, prompting work on the area Schanen calls the “back yard”—in reality, the side yard. | A small retaining wall and a path between the patio and detached garage, incorporating bluestone salvaged from her grandmother’s demolished house. |
| 2017 | The roughly elliptical Circle Garden was redesigned. | A formal layout paired with informal planting; each segment has a chive hedge. |
| 2018 | A fenced vegetable garden was built where there was enough sun and space. | Twelve tall raised beds, with fencing used because of high deer pressure. |
| 2020 | After emerald ash borer damage and the loss of ash trees, a garden was created near the road. | A more naturalistic planting in an area affected by the loss of more than 30 ash trees over the years, according to Schanen’s profile. |
| 2022 | Schanen worked with designer Roy Diblik on a small area. | A focused design collaboration within the larger garden. |
| 2023 | Schanen and neighbors planted a mixed hedge. | A blend of evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs, relying heavily on native species while also including non-native plants. |
What garden features can you take inspiration from?
A path that solves a circulation problem
The 2010 path connects the patio and detached garage, making movement between two everyday destinations part of the landscape plan. Salvaged bluestone also ties the route to family history. The useful idea is not to copy the material, but to treat paths as functional infrastructure that can contribute to a garden’s character.
Formal structure with informal planting
The Circle Garden pairs a defined, roughly elliptical layout with less rigid planting. Chive hedges mark its segments. It is an example of using a clear framework to organize a garden without requiring every plant to follow a formal pattern.
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Raised beds protected from deer
The vegetable garden combines 12 tall raised beds with a fence because deer pressure made protection necessary. Its design reflects two practical site considerations Schanen identifies: enough sun and space for food growing, and a need to keep browsing deer out. The profile does not specify the bed material or dimensions.
Naturalistic planting after tree loss
The roadside garden followed the loss of ash trees to emerald ash borer. Rather than treating that area only as a gap to fill, Schanen describes creating a more naturalistic garden there. It illustrates how a major change in the tree canopy can become a reason to rethink the character of a space.
Rank #4
A mixed hedge shared with neighbors
The 2023 hedge combines evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs, with native plants making up much of the mix alongside non-native species. Because it was planted with neighbors, it also shows how a landscape project can involve people beyond the household. The profile does not identify the hedge’s individual species.
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The published sources describe a private home property and an editorial visual tour. They do not establish whether the garden is open to visitors, whether public tours are offered, or how to arrange a visit. The Midwest Living feature is a way to see the garden through photographs, not evidence of public access.
Quick Recap
Sources
- The Impatient Gardener, “The Garden” — the owner-published site description and development history; no publication date is stated on the page.
- Teresa Woodard, “This Cottage in Southeast Wisconsin Has the Yard Every Gardener Dreams About,” Midwest Living, August 12, 2026 — a 13-part visual tour.
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