Last week, I enjoyed the pleasure of visiting the homes and gardens of our AnnArbor.com Summer Garden Contest winners: two distinctly different but equally pleasing nature havens by Walter Fisher and Mary Hewlett.

Walter Fisher, a retired microbiologist, has spent about 16 years cultivating a garden he says is “a work in progress that is never finished.” Once a gravel pit in northwest Ann Arbor, Fisher’s 2-plus acres now feel much like a wild nature walk—just a few notches more beautiful.

Fisher credits a couple of sources of inspiration for his lifelong love of gardening. His father gave him a garden plot at age 5, inspiring a passion for plants. Sometime later, he read a romantic novel about a man who nurtured a beautiful garden and proposed marriage by revealing it to his love for the first time. Ever since, Fisher has “wanted to create a beautiful garden.”

The view from Fisher’s kitchen window reveals an open lawn surrounded by an expansive prairie of tall grasses and wildflowers. Fisher started the prairie with just four clumps of blue stem grasses that quickly spread into a full-blown meadow of tiger grass, blue stem, fountain grass and seasonal wildflowers.

The deck steps down to a large perennial shade garden, bordered by a hand-built fence to divert the deer that graze in the meadows. Each season highlights different perennial blooms; on this August morning I saw many black-eyed Susans, purple coneflowers and zinnias scattered around, with autumn joy sedum soon ready to bloom. Hardy roses climb over the fence, with a few pots of geraniums and begonias adding bursts of color. The paths meander around several large mounds Fisher built (partially to cover some unsightly scrap) that add topographical interest.

“I’m a mound builder,” Fisher explained, as he pointed out what his family calls the “giant mound”—a 75-foot berm he created to resolve a pipe-freezing issue that resembles a buried giant’s gravesite.

We wandered several paths around those mounds through the shade garden, prairie, woods and rock garden, enjoying something different at the turn of every corner. I especially enjoyed the natural feel of this space. Fisher’s garden isn’t perfectly manicured, and it isn’t meant to be. A few weeds spring up here and there, and different ground covers compete for survival, offering a nice mix of textures. Fisher pointed out one volunteer heliopsis flower peeking up through a cluster of tall grass, and he said, “Why frustrate that heliopsis? I just let it grow and see what happens.”

Mary Hewlett, who just retired from the Judson Center social service agency in June, has created a completely different slice of heaven at her home in the Dicken neighborhood. Her front yard is filled with beautiful grasses and flowers, and she has transformed her enclosed backyard with a delightful combination of plantings and ornaments, artfully arranged to create a magical space.

Hewlett’s garden includes perennials as well as exotics, including a banana tree and trumpet flower that she brings inside for the winter. While the previous owner had installed the “bones” (basic structure) of the garden, Hewlett has replaced about 95 percent of the plants to her liking, inspired by friends in the Old West Side Garden Club and garden tours both locally and in southern California, where some of her relatives live.

Tucked in nooks and crannies are whimsical surprises—iron sculptures made by her artist daughter, marbled glass pebbles sprinkled along the stone pathway, special gifts from friends, and indoor/outdoor lanterns and twinkling glass hanging from the trees.

Hewlett turned on the lights, and the entire garden sparkled with enchantment, complete with a moon and stars along the back fence. “We eat dinner out on the deck almost every night when the weather allows,” Hewlett said.

I couldn’t blame her at all. Now that she’s retired, Hewlett is ready to invest more time nurturing her magical space.

Although Fisher and Hewlett have very different gardening styles, I left inspired by their relaxed, enjoy-the-process approach without worrying too much about designing the perfect space. After my visits, I felt like there might be even hope for this amateur gardener to transform my yard, one bit at a time.

I think I’ll start with a giant mound.