JULY 2021 Beauty Spot Awardees Barry Sipple and Anita Naylor

Left to Right – Barry Sipple and Anita Naylor, winners, Dianne Stevens, LIB Co-Chair, Linda McDonald, LIB Beauty Spot Committee and Betsy Hansot, LIB Beauty Spot Committee

We always had gardens at our previous homes. We were inspired by the flowers along the Lewes-Breakwater bike trail between Madison and Jefferson Streets. We are located at the trailhead adjacent to the parking lot and are the first experience that visitors have when they arrive, so we wanted to welcome bikers and hikers. The flowers and sitting area with umbrella offer them a place to relax. Someone left us a thank you note saying they appreciate what we have done and that they travel into Lewes to bike the trail and they enjoy eating their lunch at the shaded table. We feel that being on a corner lot makes us a focal point, so we wanted to create an inviting space with a water feature that we could enjoy from our porch. We decided on a small pond and garden with a steppingstone path that leads from Railroad Avenue to Monroe Avenue. We wanted to encourage people passing by to stop and enjoy the flowers and the sound of flowing water and even walk into the garden to see the fish which small children especially like. Our landscape plantings are quite varied. We have a few butterfly bushes, a pink one at the corner of the garage was a freebie from Lowes because it appeared to be dead, and it is now over 6 feet tall. Another one belonged to the previous owner and was located where the pond is now but has done well in its new location. We have several plantings that were given to us by neighbors thinning out their garden. As our plantings continue to flourish, I am sure we will be doing the same.