Monticello presents yard awards

April and Gentry Ramsay are the winners of the Monticello 2020 Parks and Beautification Beautiful Yard Award.  They have been working on their yard the entire summer and still have more plans.

The first project completed is the brick walkway, which is the handiwork of their five children; it is a herringbone pattern and looks professionally done.

The rock streambed was created with rock gathered at the family farm. 

April said her favorite part of the yard is the grass “because all we had was dirt for two years!”

Besides looking nice, April states the grass helps cool the house. They planted grass from seed and saw results in just six weeks. 

The house was built by Gentry’s grandpa and great-grandpa in 1948.  In 1958 they lifted the house onto big planks, then onto a trailer and moved it from Boulder Road into town (with Kevin Ramsay “riding the house” from the porch!). 

April and Gentry have held history in mind while renovating the house and in landscaping the yard, determined to keep a farm theme throughout. 

Recipients of the beautiful yard award get to showcase the traveling gnome in their yard for one month and also receive a $75 credit toward their city water bill.

Tim and Cindy Wharton are the winners of the 2020 Xeriscape award presented by the Monticello City Beautification Committee.

A love for the desert landscape, low water impact, and a desire to make the view more pleasing were inspirations for their hard work. 

Where once stood only railroad ties, dirt, a few cacti, and a number of bushes that seemed to be magnets for trash, one now sees a tasteful, very artful area. 

Tim has an eye for detail. Looking closely you will find small cactus planted in soil that sit in the curves of larger rocks. There are pleasing patterns of rock that create movement for the eye. Tim hauled all the rock from his backyard.

His words of wisdom to others wishing to xeriscape is “be patient.” It took him two months to landscape, and he feels that section should grow and be what he fully envisions in five years.

Tim and Cindy received a $100 credit toward their city water bill for winning the Monticello Parks and Beautification Xeriscape Award.