Rooted in Design
Words by Andrea Darr | Photos by Paul Versluis
Inspired by formal gardens across the pond, a Prairie Village greenhouse and garden builds a family haven for growing, gathering, and getting hands dirty.
Interview with Molly Koenigsdorf of Koenig Building + Restoration
hen Scott and Molly Koenigsdorf bought their property—a beautiful acre in a redeveloping neighborhood in Prairie Village—the backyard had a trapezoid-shaped garden plot bursting forth alongside a creek.
The previous homeowner, a master gardener, adapted the shape to the land’s natural watershed and planted it with a variety of flowers and bushes. He also used railroad ties to create raised vegetable beds.
Growing up in a family of gardeners herself, Molly managed to maintain the garden for seven years just as he left it, but a thought lingered in her mind: “This isn’t how I would do it.”
“Despite my best efforts, I was overwhelmed,” she admits.
The Koenigsdorfs are a husband and wife design/build duo who specialize in both speculative and custom homes. Molly coordinates all the design aspects for clients. They certainly have the contacts and the know-how to level up something that isn’t working so well.
They had hired EPIC Landscape Productions to plant around the house eight years ago and Smith Brothers to install the irrigation system. Molly has continued to add to the beds over time, perfecting the foundational plantings for primo curb appeal. Yet the back garden wasn’t stacking up.
Inspiration for a full-scale project hit Molly like a ton of bricks and natural stone when the family flew across the pond for an Irish wedding in 2018—“the best trip I’ve ever taken,” she adds.
After 12 days admiring the towns and the scenery on the island, she knew she wanted a traditional greenhouse inside a tidy walled courtyard.
The couple hired NSPJ Architects’ landscape division to design a formal English garden, with walls dividing up equally formatted plots and a greenhouse at the center. Its materials mirror those of the house.
“I couldn’t get away from the symmetry,” Molly notes.
The original design by NSPJ was 20 feet larger, but once the couple staked it out, Molly saw it was going to be too much and pulled back. Within the walls, she planted a bounty of perennials, keeping the palette strictly to purples and whites.
“I don’t do annuals; there’s enough work as there is,” she says.
Some people like to sit, some people like to work. I like to work.
– Molly Koenigsdorf
Fortunately, the incredibly fertile soil works in her favor. The block they live on was once home to an 1890s farmstead. The original Victorian house was just across the street—a property that the Koenigsdorfs rebuilt, along with several others on the block.
Approaching the property with some sentimentality, Molly replanted some of the flowers the previous gardener had once. She filled in with a range of relatively low-maintenance and showy seasonal producers like twice-blooming iris, which she didn’t even know was a thing, along with ‘Little Hottie’ and ‘Limelight’ hydrangeas, bee balm, Russian sage, anemone, ranunculus, hibiscus, alliums, daisies, and speedwell.
Also in the flower section, she is trying out blueberry bushes (otherwise known as “me feeding the birds”) and a few variegated apple trees—Honeycrisp and Fuji—which she tries to protect with little nets so the squirrels don’t get them, but they do anyway.
In the vegetable plots, she grows carrots in the ground and cantaloupe up an arched trellis, in addition to a few tomato plants and at least one jalapeño pepper plant for making jelly in the fall.
“I try to grow what we actually eat,” she explains.
Two cold frames grow greens year-round. Spinach handles a light frost with ease.
“We just brush off the snow and pick it,” Molly says.
A gas heater in the greenhouse warms all the topiaries she can haul into the space. Drip irrigation lines keep all the potted plants hydrated automatically, and strung cafe lights kept on a timer glow up the space so everyone can admire it from the house. A double sink and antique wood work tables support whatever task Molly is undertaking, and there’s even a drink fridge and a speaker for John Mayer to entertain her while she works.
Molly finds moments of peace in the garden away from the demands of being a mother to her four kids, ages 5 to 12.
“I enjoy coming down and checking on how things are going,” she says.
It was Molly’s dad’s idea to add a fireplace and seating to an open expanse of pea gravel at the front gate. A dining area handily fits on one side, and a Solo stove fire cylinder surrounded by Adirondack chairs on the other.
The Koenigsdorfs have set up an inflatable movie screen in the area, bringing popcorn and candy down from the house, adding to the usability and enjoyment for all members of the family.
It’s also a unique space for hosting parties and fundraisers. Scott even had his own Chiefs watch party out there last fall.
“Oh, men like gardens, too,” Molly says.
Architect
NSPJ Architects
@nspjarchitects
Designer/Gardener
Koenig Building + Restoration
@koenigbuilding
Walkthrough with Molly Koenigsdorf of Koenig Building + Restoration
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