By Duane St. Clair

When Dana and Sebine Kuhn moved into their home in Historic Upper Arlington more than 20 years ago, the UA Historical Society presented them a picture of the original home with a horse tied in front.

Now, a picture might show a putting green in the newly landscaped backyard, an attractive feature in an extensive overhaul that created an enjoyable outdoor living area for the Kuhns.

Dana says the couple initially wanted to install a straight brick walkway across the yard between the deck on one end of the house and the driveway and garage. So they contacted Patrick Lynch, a designer for Peabody Landscape Group, about the project’s feasibility.

The area had included an older, outdated putting surface that was virtually unusable near the walkway’s potential path.

“We played on it but pretty much stopped using it,” Dana says, because the base and surface became lumpy and hard.

Lynch discussed with the Kuhns some alternatives to a room addition they were considering which would expand the straight sidewalk idea considerably. He offered ideas that would make a yard overhaul beneficial and enjoyable and less expensive than a new room, Dana says.

As Lynch made various suggestions, the couple initially felt unsure about the proposed changes. But discussions continued and the Kuhns changed their minds.

“We were impressed (with his ideas),” Dana says.

Rather than the straight brick walkway, Lynch fashioned a curved path leading from the deck to a circular patio. The path skirts around a new putting green to the driveway. The new green is better than the old one Dana had had installed about 10 years ago.

The new green, created by At Home Putting Greens, has an artificial surface that feels and acts like grass and is guaranteed for 10 years, Dana says. It is also contoured so players have straight and curved putts similar to greens on a golf course.

Dana says he’s more an ambitious than active golfer, with his play limited to “maybe five times a year.” The green gives him a backyard outlet for his golfing ambitions.

Using limestone that matches the home’s exterior, Lynch designed a wall for seating around part of the elongated patio, which is just off the raised deck. The wall gives a sense of enclosure to the space where the Kuhns place a portable steel fireplace and gain seating flexibility that a permanent installation would not allow.

For privacy, Lynch planted hornbeams (which grow tall and narrow and work well in tight space) along the property line. A variety of perennial plants, including hydrangeas, butterfly bushes, sweetbay magnolias, lilacs and chokeberries, were planted. The variety provides blooms and attractive colors year-round. The redo also included moving three serviceberries to another part of the yard. Several planting beds, including one punctuated by a Japanese maple, are for Sebine to place colorful seasonal plants.

The ground-level patio is a better place from which to enjoy the landscaped yard than from the deck, Dana says.

“There’s a big difference between sitting on the deck and sitting in your yard,” he adds.

After the work was done, Dana says the family “kind of moved out of the house” and outdoors to enjoy the new yard last fall. It will be more of the same this year, as well, he says.

Another plus: Dana says he’ll have more time to enjoy his yard. Mowing the lawn was a 45-minute project for him or his son, who’ll be starting college in the fall. Now mowing the side and front yards is a half-hour job, and may become even shorter.

“What they did was so much better than what we were doing,” Dana says. “(Now) we want to do the front yard.”

Duane St. Clair is a contributing editor for Upper Arlington Magazine.