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If life gives you a lemon, make lemonade; if life gives you a slope, turn it into a garden extraordinaire. One of my favorite gardens of the 2010 garden tours was created on the side of a hill overlooking Puget Sound and the Olympic mountains.
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If life gives you a lemon, make lemonade; if life gives you a slope, turn it into a garden extraordinaire. One of my favorite gardens of the 2010 garden tours was created on the side of a hill overlooking Puget Sound and the Olympic mountains.
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Waves of lavender got my attention right away. Royal velvet, Provence, Spanish...eight types of it. Now, I ask myself why do I have only two types of lavender in my own garden?
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To turn a sloping lawn into a lush, colorful garden, Terri, the garden owner, used a lasagna method with newspapers and mulch. Six years of work and love, and what do they have now? A masterpiece!
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Heath and heather, ornamental grasses and groundcovers join lavender to create a perfect xeric landscape.
Perennials, dwarf conifers and shrubs with interesting foliage add color and texture to the overall picture.
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Dry creek with metal salmon (of course, salmon: it's the Northwest!) surrounded by Japanese maples, Mexican feather and other grasses, alliums, etc. was one of my favorite features.
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Isn't it gorgeous or what?
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The garden has so many points of interest! Wherever I looked at it, it was picture perfect! It even had my favorite foxgloves!
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At some point, I felt like I was looking at an impressionist' painting. Lavender, pieris, euphorbia, hebe, barberry...
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What I saw in front of the house was already enough for me to fall in love with this garden. But wait, there was much more to it!
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The side and back gardens were just as impressive. Black bamboo and barberry serve as background for the Japanese garden.
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Koi and goldfish ponds are another wonderful creation:
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Grasses, grasses.... Oh, how much charm they can bring to a garden!
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Always, while touring great gardens in our area, I see several plants which I want for my own garden. This time, they were
1)Hebe pimeleoides 'Quicksilver', cute little shrub with tiny silverish leaves, dark stems and small purple flowers(can grow up to 18 by 18 inches; hardiness of a zone 8). It can be seen in the 7th picture from the bottom.
2)A dark-red variety of Leptospermum (Tea Tree) with slender branches and small stiff leaves, a shrub from Australia and New Zealand.
I sincerely appreciate Terri and Ron opening their extraordinary garden which is a real inspiration full of creative ideas.
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I sincerely appreciate Terri and Ron opening their extraordinary garden which is a real inspiration full of creative ideas.
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***Copyright 2010 TatyanaS
Tatyana, Absolutely gorgeous! I would love to be able to admire a garden like this daily.
ReplyDeleteWhat an absolutely stunning garden, Tatyana! Thank you for showing so many shots of it. I would love to see it in person. They have done a spectacular job in taming that slope. I love the use of evergreens, grasses and sturdy lavenders, lilies and ...well, everything. The perfect plantings for such a space. And a beautiful view out to the water as well. Paradise!
ReplyDeleteFrances
Does the lasagna method work well on a slppe? I have a small slope on one side of the yard that needs to be worked before anything can really live there. I was thinking it would be difficult to keep the mulch on the slippery paper.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing what these gardeners did in just six years? ONE and Frances,I'm glad you liked it! Frances, I always think about your place when I see a garden on a slope.
ReplyDeleteTurling, the lasagna method obviously worked on that slope which is big but not awfully steep.In your case, I would experiment on the small piece of the slope. Good luck!
Gorgeous is right!! I want to sleep in a tent right in the middle!!
ReplyDeleteHow interesting, I have a sloping garden and am trying to decide what to do with the lawn that is left - flatten it which will be hard work or just do away with it? Dilemmas
ReplyDeleteThat's an amazing garden! I toured some Seattle area gardens this June and was as always impressed by all the great gardens and gardeners you have!
ReplyDeleteDarla, you made me laugh! With all that lavender aroma around, it's not a bad idea!
ReplyDeleteHelen, if you ask me, I wouldn't flatten it. I have a flat lot, and it's not exciting, it's boring.
I do like that.
ReplyDeleteYou are right just like a painting.
Wow!My jaw is on the floor. So much here in this garden is just so beautiful. I love the lavender too Tatyana. The lilies are gorgeous. How cute are the fish swimming up the dry creek bed.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful place! I am so jealous of NW gardeners. It is unreal what can be done there, the plants that can be grown.
ReplyDeleteWow! That is a great garden. Carla
ReplyDeleteWhat a labor of love! Beautiful special place - thank you for sharing
ReplyDeleteHi Tatyana;A fantastic garden and a lot of labour of love. How stunning everything comes together. I can imagine the ideas one can collect and try to put some to work in our own gardens. I love the idea of the river with the "salmon". Fields of Lavender flowers and grasses all harmoniously coming together. A truly great garden.
ReplyDeleteThe dark leaved barberries all in a row really made the Euphorbia pop. The moundy shapes (many of them lavendar) really evoke a French style. Calling it reminiscent of an impressionist painting really captured what I was thinking as well.
ReplyDeleteThe gardener is to be congratulated: it looks wonderful...and having rusty salmon always helps!
Christine in Alaska
Beautiful reportage, Tatyana! ;)
ReplyDeleteThe garden is really a dream, how can you rightly noted, was
built in just six years, and is already so mature that there seems to be
always!
I love grass and lavender combined, I would put these anywhere.
The Lavandula spicata is always a visual feast!
And what about the skilful combination of colors and shapes?
Terry and Ron great, do their compliments on my part, have been
really great! :)))
Tatyana, the gardens are magnificant. I can't imagine living in such an atmosphere, I would just be out there looking all day. These belong in a magazine!
ReplyDeleteEileen
Incredible pictures! What an amazing garden. I love slope gardens, they have so much more visual interest, just based on natural changes of elevation - more bang for your buck so to speak. Do you know what the purple ball is above the words "Isn't it gorgeous or what? ", I'm smitten!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments! Cyndy, I will try to tour Seattle gardens next year. There were so many gardens closer to us, so I never riched Seattle this summer.
ReplyDeleteHermes and Christine, it's nice to meet impressionist paintings lovers!
Floridagirl, we think that your plants are exotic and beautiful, and we are sorry that we can't grow them here!
Eileen, this is exactly what I thought - this garden ought to be in garden magazines!
Lona, I spent a lot of time there with my jaw dropped!
Carla, I agree with you!
Klara and Titania, I also especially appreciate that the owners did all the job themselves!
Tyziana, yes, the combination of colors, shapes and textures is stunning!
Rebecca, could it be Weigela ‘Midnight Wine’?
Very impressive. I too am impressed by the plants that can be grown in the northwest. It seems they are always so healthy and the colors are so vivid. I visited the Willamette Valley in Oregon a few years ago and was wowed by the flora. Rebecca,Tatyana-i too think the plant (purple ball) is a species of Wigela surrounded by wooly thyme? Nice combination's everywhere.
ReplyDeleteWow! That garden is fabulous! I know from experience how tricky it is to garden on slopes. This garden gives me hope that someday our slopes will look better than the mess they are now! Very inspirational post!
ReplyDeleteStop, you're killing me. These are the kind of pictures that make me want to pull up stakes and move to Seattle.
ReplyDeleteGreggo, they say that everything grows easily in the Northwest, but not in my garden! Some of my plants are just sitting for years and don't show any growth. I think I need to pay more attention to what plants are suitable for this area.
ReplyDeleteCurbstone Valley Farm, I think this garden gives very good ideas what can be grown on a slope. Most of its plants are draught- and deer-resistant.
Pam, you are very welcome!
What a beautiful garden and your photos are stunning. The lavender is one of my favorites - just the smell alone in the air is intoxicating!
ReplyDeleteGasp! Words almost cannot express, but you did a wonderful narrative! Thank you so much for following my blog and "following" me!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for taking us on this tour. It really gives me great inspiration as I look ahead to landscaping my sloping front yard. Beautiful! –Jean
ReplyDeleteBeautiful garden and wonderful photos-this style of garden is so appealing to me and what a challenge to try and get the same look in a small garden like my own..
ReplyDeleteYour blog is a treat Tatyana, so nice to curl up with it and a cup of tea this morning. You have an inviting way with the camera and show us so many good ideas! Now if i can just get my tired old body to make some of them happen ; )
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome...a real inspiration to those of us dealing with slopes, for sure!
ReplyDeleteabsolutely gorgeous
ReplyDeleteIt could be Midnight Wine, I have one, but it doesn't look nearly as lovely! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a remarkable accomplishment Tatyana. It is great to see this stunning garden. It is perfect! Almost too perfect though one could get use to it. ;>)) Lovely setting too. How many gardeners do they have on the payroll? Beautiful photos and your perspectives are fabulous.
ReplyDeleteWhat an inspiring garden, Tatyana. It reinforces the old adage of give each plant its space and relate it to its neighbours; so easy to forget! It has made me rethink a planting plan I'm working on ... in fact I think I've under-icked (under-hearted?) you... ;) Jack
ReplyDeleteI have to marvel at gardeners who can make such a paradise in just a few short years. The lasagna garden method must really work. This is one grand garden. Such a wonder!
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely a garden one needs to spend some time in. Absolutely stunning! I'm so glad you shared it with us!
ReplyDeleteThat's the kind of garden that makes me want to give up and just travel around looking at other people's masterpieces. Beautiful photos.
ReplyDelete*gasp!* Thats so incredibly beautiful! Thanks Tatyana. I have a garden that partially sloping so this post has so many light bulbs going off in my brain!
ReplyDeleteWonderful photos of Terri & Ron's magnificent garden. Thank you, Tatyana!
ReplyDeleteWow, what a beautiful place! I hope you find the plants it made you want.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness this garden is a work of art. Amazing and inspiring.
ReplyDeleteThank you I needed to see a garden tonight that just took my breathe away and this one did it...wow.
Sherry
Definitely an awesome garden! I wish I could see it in person!
ReplyDeleteA fantastic garden and you did an equally wonderful job of capturing it on film. My favourite has to be that dry stream bed. They've done such a great job I'm terribly jealous.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful garden. I love, love the drifts of lavender and the grasses. The punches of red from the Japanese Maples is also wonderful.
ReplyDeleteAn amazing lush garden and delightful photo tour, Tatyana. Especially clever, the Dry Creek and salmon run!
ReplyDeletewow - thats my dream garden.
ReplyDeleteThats the best dry creek I've ever seen and those little salmon leaping - great stuff
Impressive! I couldn't begin to comment on all the wonderful things I see in your photos, but I do love the dry creek bed with the salmon! And I am jealous of anyone who can grow lavender so successfully. Fantastic!
ReplyDeleteWow, it is a living work of art! I especially loved the detail of the salmon leaping above the dry stream bed, with the lavender and lilies in the foreground of the shot. Gorgeous photos, Tatyana. Amazing what creativity and hard work can do to transform our "problem areas" into opportunities. :)
ReplyDeleteA gorgeous garden.
ReplyDeleteAwesome garden, Tatyana, and so beautiful pictures!!!
ReplyDeletecariños,
maria cecilia
Now this is some garden, Tatyana. Talk about lemonade. I love the lavenders and the impressive stand of Berberis and how it color-echoes off the new Pieris foliage. Her use of rocks and the dried seedheads of the allium, the huge mat of wooly thyme and I LOVE the rusty salmon in the dry creek bed--genius!! In fact I can think of nothing I DON'T like about this garden. Stupendous!! Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYour gardening is so totally different than is side of the country. Lovely pictures and interest shared with us. I really enjoyed. Kaaren
ReplyDeleteHola
ReplyDeletepor favor usen el traductor
he tomado algunas de estas magnificas fotos para mostrarlas en este foro
http://foro.portalplantas.com/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=30268
solo con fines educativos y con el enlace correspondiente
Si no estais de acuerdo las quito
mi sito es
www.abpaisajismo.com
saludos
ooooh oooooh! I have a slope and now I have HOPE! If I can just pull off anything close to what this garden looks like--I will be in heaven!
ReplyDeleteOnce again thank you Tatyana for showing such beautiful gardens. As with #2 my mouth is still in the same position. I may never get it back again! These 2 places were just breathtaking! What a lot of hard work to get to that wonderful place of beauty!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the wonderful inspiration! You have a terrific eye and are a great photographer, too.
ReplyDelete