Bob DiSalle traded golf clubs for a shovel several years ago and began digging.

I have something to show for it other than a really high score, he says of his stunning backyard.

He s got something new to show for it, too. Today he ll receive the top prize from the Toledo Botanical Garden s sixth annual Gardens Galore contest.

Applying a strong back to artistic vision, he s created an area with plenty of play spaces for his and Lisa DiSalle s three children. It s also replete with interesting trees and flowers, boulders and quiet nooks.

I like it when master gardeners come over, but it s even cooler when kids and adults see something cool and enjoy it in their own way, he says.

When the DiSalles moved into their Sylvania Township home 10 years ago, the nearly half-acre yard was all trees, grass, and sandy soil. Three years ago, they removed many trees to install a big in-ground pool, which resulted in sunny areas suitable for different flora.

His favorite is the Seven Son Flower tree, with creamy clusters of jasmine-scented blooms in late summer, red calyxes in fall, and peeling bark in winter.

He figures he s placed at least 40 tons of rocks and boulders that the kids like to climb. He had a hole drilled through a huge, sculptural rock and made it the centerpiece of a fountain that empties into a sliver of a creek.

It s therapeutic for me to be outside and working in nature. I love being outdoors and getting my hands dirty.

Shade garden

Mary Visco began gardening in earnest about 26 years ago, and in 2000 undertook a major renovation with the installation of a 2,500-gallon coy pond.

Her goal for the crisp 50-by-70-foot yard behind her small Holland home was beauty from spring through fall. Eliminated was anything that looked dead longer than it was in bloom.

I have 195 named cultivars, she says, a typed list of which, along with plant labels, are in a thick binder.

Two hemlocks grace a lush yard dominated by a pair of majestic red oaks. Many of the 38 conifers are slow-growing miniatures and dwarfs. Garden art has an Oriental theme, and there are hostas, azaelas, a Chinese dogwood, 12 types of hydrangeas, 10 Japanese maple cultivars, 8 heucheras (colorful like a Crayola box of 64 ), ferns, and grasses.

Ms. Visco s garden was honored for best shade garden.

Going native

A different approach is Dallas and Linda Howard s Oak Openings garden, receiving a second place award. Last year, it received a first.

Native plants those that grew here before the Europeans arrived fill their backyard and are gradually displacing the front lawn.

The home s front is framed by nine-foot-tall yellow coreopsis, purple Joe-Pye weed, and cone flower.

Native plants don t demand excessive amount of water or fertilizer. You more or less plant them and let them go, says Mr. Howard.

Adds Mrs. Howard: The history of this area being under water and then being a beach is interesting.

Their Sylvania Township back yard is shaded by evergreens and a dozen trees and lined by stone paths. Dual waterfalls create babble-music and even the water lily is a native.

Among the dozens of natives are prickly pear cactus, great blue lobelia, red royal catchfly, Canada anemone, nodding wild onion, sneezeweed, thimbleweed, and milkweed. Flower heads are allowed to go to seed for birds to eat.

We just love the birds, says Mr. Howard, noting that hummingbirds and goldfinches are frequent visitors.

Awards for the contest will be presented at 1 p.m. today at TBG. Turnout for the Gardens Galore contest was slim this year 13 individuals and five group gardens, compared to 31 last year and a high of 52 in 2007. Organizers say they didn t get the word out as widely as they have in the past.

Recipients include John Parker of Toledo for combination garden; Ken Pauken of Toledo tied with Norma Stark of Perrysburg for theme garden; the Women of the Old West End for their partnership with the City of Toledo at the Old West End Commons at Bancroft Street and Robinwood Avenue.

Four community gardens planted with Toledo Grows received shout-outs: Ten Eyck Towers, Glenwood Lutheran Church, Monroe Street United Methodist Church, and Frederick Douglass Center.

Victory Garden winner, for the fifth year, is Peggy Brown of Maumee.

Contact Tahree Lane at: tlane@theblade.com or 419-724-6075.

First Published August 22, 2009, 4:35 p.m.