36 roomJUNE 2012 Lee Ann prefers cypress mulch for her roses and other plants because she said she thinks it deters bugs better than others. However, under her tomatoes, she has stretched landscape fabric as an experiment this year.Throughout the yard are other objects of beauty and purpose - a butterfly house, birdhouses, a toad house and a birdbath that Lee Ann made herself from a huge leaf and a special cement mixture. Potted plants hang from the balcony, and others are placed throughout the garden and around the lower deck. Color is everywhere.In the front yard is a small, raised bed garden filled with perennials that welcomes visitors to their house.There is yet another plant that Lee Ann is quite well known for: Orchids. They number in the hundreds and are of many different varieties. Some are blooming, and some spend the summer outdoors on the north side of the house.When a bud shows on any of the plants, she will take it inside to join the others to grow under lights. Leaving a budding orchid outdoors is an invitation for a bird to have an exotic meal.Lee Ann and John have been members of the Iowa City Orchid Club for many years and have shown their plants in competitions and brought home several awards.In the four decades that Lee Ann and Jim have lived in their home, they have planted trees, nurtured them and watched them grow. Some have blow down in heavy storms. They've replanted again and again.The back yard has changed significantly through the years, some by nature and some by design. It is a beautiful place - colorful, imaginative, and certainly productive.Like its gardener, it is serene, creative and lovely in all seasons. nLike its gardener, it is serene,

roomJUNE 2012 37serene, creative and LoveLy in all seasons.Lee Ann Koch tends to flowers in her back yard on a recent sunny morning,