Garden-Lou Spotlights the Garden of Nathan Urben and Phil Mueller

There’s something for everyone in Nathan Urben and Phil Mueller’s Winchester Garden—a botanical candy shop abundant with flavor and color. Layers of texture and color weave throughout the lush space, creating floral vignettes from grand to miniature that spark the imagination and inspire.

“We both have our plants we love,” says Nathan. “For Phil, it’s bearded iris and daylilies; for me, it’s Clematis and Epimediums. But we both love plant diversity and plants that attract pollinators, butterflies, and hummingbirds.”

Piet Oudolf and Roy Diblik inspire Nathan with their effortless, naturalistic design style. “When you are passionate about plants it can be difficult to limit your plant choices to create dramatic drifts of one plant, especially if you have limited space. Sometimes, I feel like our garden verges on a “collector’s garden” with many different types of plants. We are constantly trying to simplify areas and make the garden more cohesive.”

A huge factor contributing to the cohesiveness are the creations by Phil, a carpenter by trade with Mueller Contracting Services. Phil moved to St. Louis from Chicago to be closer to his parents in 2001. His trellises and arbors give the garden a unique personality, with pops of color adding functional charm that, depending on where you turn, can be formal, naturalistic, or delightfully whimsical.

Nathan of Nathan Urben Designs (20+) Facebook began putting his artistic and knowledgeable touches on the garden in 2012. Originally from Wisconsin, Nathan’s resume includes Missouri Botanical Garden and University City’s U-City in Bloom organizations. (His MBG videos can be found on YouTube! Flowering Vines with Nathan Urben (youtube.com))

Maintenance chores are shared. “We do walks almost daily around the garden in the evening to look at what tasks we need to do or plants we need to move or add to certain areas,” says Nathan. “We both work together to plant annuals in containers and in the ground; we purchase some of these and others we grow ourselves from seed. Phil takes care of the maintenance in my absence, which includes watering the garden, transplanting and cutting back perennials, shearing the boxwoods, addressing mole and critter issues, etc.” Nathan and Phil keep weeds to a minimum by never letting them have a chance to go to seed or get too established.

Early mornings and evenings are the favorite times of day in the garden, especially in the spring and fall. “We both have family that visit, and they enjoy sitting outside to see the beauty of the gardens that surround them,” says Nathan. “I usually host one or two small garden parties in spring and summer as well.”

The garden has been featured twice on the local Master Gardener’s tour and in St. Louis Homes and Lifestyles Magazine (October 2022). According to Nathan, “We were also featured in a very short online article on Fine Gardening Magazine’s website.”

The picture-perfect garden does have issues with moles and voles. Rabbits are kept at bay with fencing surrounding the lush garden. Less destructive wildlife, such as pollinators and hummingbirds, is encouraged and welcomed.

Another issue Nathan and Phil share with most gardeners is space-there’s never enough of it. “We are hoping to purchase the property next door in about a year’s time and develop that space (it’s a pretty blank canvas). A couple of the main features we are considering include a pond or bog garden to help attract wildlife and dragonflies (to help mitigate our local mosquito population) and a ruin garden.” St. Louis gardeners will eagerly await the new addition.

Quick Facts;

-Garden Size-1/6th of an acre

-Age of Garden-23 years

-Favorite Garden Tool-A long-handled Dutch push hoe by Dewitt is probably one of our favorites. Its diamond head is sharp and fits nicely between plants and makes short work of small weeds. And its length makes it easy to hoe without having to even step into the bed.

If you were stranded on a deserted island and could only have ONE plant to keep you company, what would it be? It doesn’t have to be a food-bearing plant since this island has a free buffet!

– Phil: a yellow angels trumpet (Brugmansia) because of its nice fragrant, showy flowers.

–Nathan: I couldn’t be without Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia). It’s a beautiful plant all around and I think I would never get tired of watching all the bees, butterflies and hummingbirds that it attracts. It’s a stunner!