The Davey Garden’s moment in the Sun(set) April 26, 2012

Not bad for a deer garden....

There comes a time in every good garden when you can stand back and recognize that all of your hard work, planning and, yes, frustration is paying off.  Joy and Steve Davey’s garden has been a learning process (see our earlier journal article), but now that we’ve balanced the aesthetic goals with reality and a little time, the results are fantastic.  The garden is having its first moment in the limelight in the current issue of Sunset (page 48!), and there is more to come.

Congratulations and thanks to Joy and Steve, who have given us the gifts of patience and inspiration in building and developing their garden.  It will only get better from here!

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The Dobson Garden in Fine Gardening March 27, 2012

Ted and Nancy Dobson’s Asian-inspired garden is getting a lot of attention these days!   It is now featured in the May/June issue of Fine Gardening, where you can see some of Buell’s gorgeous photos and get a few ideas for your own small space from Rebecca’s article.  Subscribers will receive their issues any day now, and non-subscribers can pick up their copies at Market of Choice, Jerry’s and some of the bigger bookstores on or after April 3.

We are delighted for the Dobsons!  While we helped them lay the foundation of their garden, they have made it absolutely their own.  The garden reflects not just their eye for detail and hard work, but their joyful and peaceful personalities, as well.  Congratulations on a job well and beautifully done, Ted and Nancy!

Much more on the Dobson garden here.

Happy Spring Snow Day! March 21, 2012

Photos from a beautiful morning in the garden, plus a gratuitous pic of the newest Mosaic mascot, Kai!  Hard to believe it’s the second day of spring….

See the Dobson Garden in Sunset! January 27, 2012

Have you seen the terrific little garden on p. 44 of the latest issue of Sunset?  Ted and Nancy’s Asian-inspired space is getting a bit of well-deserved attention!

You can learn more about the Dobson Garden in these journal entries, *and* in the next issue of Fine Gardening, which will feature lots of beautiful, new photos by Buell!

Much, much more to come!

One to Watch October 28, 2011

 

The Dobson garden this fall

Even fall rains can’t get Ted and Nancy Dobson’s garden down.  This tiny, magical space only gets better with age and the careful attention of its inhabitants.  Readers familiar with the space through garden tours or the journal may note the beautiful new water feature at right, one of the Dobson’s summer projects.  Stunning, isn’t it?  It seems that we’re not the only ones who love this intricate and collaborative space, and you may get to see this fabulous garden in print soon (more details to come, of course)!

While photos may be worth a 1,000 words, a visit to this garden speaks volumes.  The Dobsons’ garden (and several of our other gardens) will be on the tour for the Hardy Plant Study Weekend next June 7-10, 2012.  Save the date and stay tuned for more information!

More Dirt on our Gardens! September 26, 2011

While we’ve been working away in Salem, of all places, two more of our gardens have put in an appearance on Sunset’s Fresh Dirt!  These shady gardens are just a short hop apart in the Fairmount neighborhood, but they have dramatically different styles.

A post featuring the entry of the Hoyman Garden includes some of Buell’s terrific photos.  You may remember that space from our earlier post here.  It’s an evolving space that will be open for the first time on next spring’s Hardy Plant Study Weekend tour.

Another fabulous post about a garden shared by neighboring families, the Englishes and the Bascoms, highlights a young and very successful space in the Fairmount neighborhood.

There’s more to share in each of these gardens, so you can expect to see and learn more in future posts!  For now, we’re back to stonework in Salem and creating a wonderful new garden that we hope to show you when it’s finished and a little filled in.

 

Best-ever Coastal Garden?!? September 7, 2011

The Tersigni Garden

Have you seen the wonderful post about the coast garden on Sunset’s Fresh Dirt?  I spent a lovely morning there with Jim McCausland, while he shot the photos you’ll see in the article (there must be 2000 more!).  The Tersignis’ garden has been a delight to develop, and we couldn’t be more grateful to have such terrific clients and wonderful backdrop.  More photos and notes on that garden can be found in some of our earlier posts, many of which are here (be sure to scroll down).  And, of course, there are more photos and notes to come!

 

Four Views of the Coast Garden August 12, 2011

Isn’t it amazing how physical perspective can change a garden?  Below are four views of the same section of the garden we built on Coos Bay.

 

 

 

 

 

Quiet Entry Garden August 5, 2011

The photos below show just one part of a multi-phase project that we think is fast becoming our best garden so far.  Our goal for this entry garden was to create a serene, simple design that allows focus on the beautiful trunks of the Oregon White Oaks and the clean, contemporary lines of the house and entryway.  From the driveway, visitors pass from a bold, colorful street planting, through hedge of golden bamboo (Phyllostachys aurea) into a quiet, sweeping, sword fern garden, with a few small trees and some Fargesia rufa, a clumping bamboo.  Our favorite hardscape feature of the garden may be our drystack stone wall along the driveway (see a slideshow of its construction here).  An ipe deck and boardwalk float over the fern garden, past a huge basalt bowl, to the front door.

While other areas of the garden feature diverse plantings and bold foliage, this garden focuses on the essentials.  Although, this garden is largely a passageway, as opposed to an area to entertain, it seems to have a profound effect on visitors.  Rather than rushing through the garden, the simple design encourages people to pause for a moment and enjoy a quiet moment, appreciating the view.

This is another garden that will be included on next June’s Study Weekend tour.  For more information, stay tuned here or contact the WVHPG.

A Romantic Deer Garden? July 19, 2011

Basalt paths frame a Vietnamese urn in Joy's front garden

The side garden is shadier, but still produces sweeps of soft color

Our artist client, Joy, wanted a romantic, flowery, soft planting, in cool and pastel shades.  Her original planting  – largely thuggish ornamental grasses and traditional landscape shrubs – had never been quite what she wanted, and when she called us, she was hoping for something more in keeping with her craftsman house and painterly aesthetic.

We’ve built the garden in stages, learning the site and its voracious deer as we work our way around.  A large Vietnamese urn and basalt pathway in front are two of our rare hardscape additions, as Joy and her husband were happy with the existing patios.  As we’ve moved to different areas of the property, we’ve adjusted our planting style to accommodate lessons learned and changing preferences.  Where spring color was her first priority in the beginning, Joy came to love plantings that provide year-round impact.   In addition to our construction work, we develop the garden over monthly visits, through which we’ve gradually amended our original plantings, creating a garden that looks fabulous in every season, while still reflecting our original aesthetic, and that accommodates the unusual and ever-changing tastes of the local deer.

Another view of the side garden

This garden owes a debt to trial-and-error, and we could not be more grateful for Joy’s trust in allowing us to bring the garden to its current successful state.  We think we’ve found an elegant balance point between floral color, year-round impact, and, of course, deer resistance.  Our highest compliment is that we often find that many of our monthly chores are complete when we arrive, and Joy, who had never been a gardener before, eager to talk about the latest developments and future opportunities.

Joy’s garden is one of four or five of our gardens that will be included in next year’s Study Weekend tour, June 1-3.  The Study Weekend is a gathering of gardeners that rotates between Vancouver, BC, Seattle, Portland and Eugene, features talks from some of the planet’s best plantspeople and designers, and a tour with the areas’ best gardens. We’ll post more here, as we learn more, but if you’d like to know more soon, please contact the WVHPG.

As the small trees we planted in the courtyard have grown, we've amended the plantings to tolerate more shade.

The hillside along the driveway was our most recent planting (Can you tell Joy loves Alliums?).