When Nigel and I first moved here, we visited a couple of new build neighborhoods, with the houses so close together you could practically watch your neighbor's television with them just by looking through their windows if they forgot to close their blinds, and yards so tiny I could not possibly imagine creating an interesting garden in them. Fortunately gardeners exist with more creative minds than mine. The day after visiting Sherri Wilson's garden, which I posted about yesterday, I visited the garden of Joan Sharp, a brand new addition to the NPA Open Gardens Program, and a wonderful garden created in one of those new build neighborhoods.
As Joan said in her entry in the NPA booklet, "Since moving to the Pacific Northwest from Southern California, I fell in love with Washington's majestic display of conifers. They offer a broad range of colors and textures. Unfortunately, my plot of gardening space is small and mostly north facing. In a gardener's tradition, I met the challenge and now have a collector's garden of about 80 different conifers with perennials and grasses interspersed. Conifers work well in small spaces if you select carefully matching rate of growth and allowable space. They stay in their own space and require very little care. Overall, conifers enable a small garden to present a colorful year round neat appearance and yet have an abundance of plantings."
I love conifers too, although I know little about them. I have a few in my garden, some relatively small, such as Abies koreana 'Horstmann's Silberlocke,' and quite a few enormous -- our native Douglas firs. One thing I've noticed about miniature conifers is the way the new growth can sometimes mimic flowers in its colorfulness.
Come with me as I share Joan's little marvel of a garden.
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| Probably the largest bed in the garden sweeps along the front, a mix of small conifers, shrubs and perennials |
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| Joan also has a few interesting garden decor items, including this non-working pump with river rock spilling down the sloping bed |
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| All the conifers are meticulously labeled --- and by the way, isn't that curly, gnarly, peely old tree limb cool? |
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| Colorful Heucheras also make a statement |
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| Joan's wee dog, Topaz, cleverly matched the caramel-colored Heuchera foliage |
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| More Heucheras and Heucherellas |
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| At the top of the slope a path of Irish moss surrounds a tree and the berm around it |
You may notice that Topaz, and sometimes Topaz's butt, simply needed to be in as many shots as possible.
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| From there a concrete path continues up the tiny side yard toward the back, past a water feature |
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| There's always one child that has to goof off for the family portrait |
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| It's a good thing Mom loves you |
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| Great foliage combos throughout |
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| Pieces of driftwood and interesting bits of garden decor appear throughout the garden |
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| There seemed to be two themes in garden decor -- dogs that resembled Topaz, and froggies |
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| This Japanese maple had been limbed up to show off the mossy bark |
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| Another Japanese maple, with matching Heuchera and fern foliage |
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| Another nice foliage combo |
As you round the corner into the back garden, you see this explosion of color.
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| Two healthy Camellias espaliered against a trellis |
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| Below the Camellias, a small fountain and matching combos of golden Hakone grass, Columbine, and Mukdenia rossii |
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| At the far end of the trellis, a Ginkgo biloba 'Mariken,' a dwarf tree that matures at 2 feet high |
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| A large bed full of color sweeps around under the fence |
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| I thought this screen and colorful bike made an effective distraction from the AC unit |
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| These trellises separate Joan's garden from her neighbor |
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| A closer look |
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| The gorgeous purple cones of Abies koreana 'Aurea' |
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| Larix kaempferi 'Blue Dwarf' |
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| Nice how the edges of the Mukdenia leaves here have turned a bit caramel-colored, to match the Heuchera -- mine are never anything but green |
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| One last look at Topaz and her doppelganger |
A huge Thank-You to Joan for opening her garden for the Northwest Perennial Alliance and for being such a wonderful hostess. Your garden is definitely punching high above its weight class. The lemon and lavender shortbread cookies were delicious and the commentary was fascinating!
