Conifers and Color

(This is a 2017 garden description. Gardens for this year’s tour can be found here.)

With the abundance of pines, juniper and cedars, it’s clear this gardener appreciates that evergreen trees make for a lush garden all year long. In contrast, the bio-retention swale along the street is graced by drought-tolerant ginkgo, iris, echinacea, and witch hazel that explode with color in summertime.

Hollywood junipers line the front fence, while pines, junipers and cedars create the private garden that surrounds this 1923 arts and crafts bungalow. Seen from the gate to the north side of the garden are weeping white pines, Hollywood junipers, coral bark maples, red cedars, and weeping Alaska cedars that lead to the round patio, shaded by an Empress tree. Black pussy willow, pieris, camellia, mimosa, and hydrangea grow around the perimeter of the patio.

Near the central patio stands a slender cypress. Climbing the cheery trellis are evergreen clematis and a ‘Cathedral Gem’ sausage vine. Raised gardens containing garlic, tomatoes and dahlias contrast with the three weeping gold-leaved beeches towering along the back fence. With its papery, peeling bark, Seven-Son Flower, a small elegant tree from China, grows harmoniously in front of the raised beds. Filbert, katsura and ‘Bow Bells’ rhododendron add texture and fullness to the garden.

The south side features many varieties of shade trees and plants: atlas cedar, Fatsia japonica, rhododendrons, and hydrangeas. Around the corner, a statuesque weeping Japanese maple flourishes by the front of the house.

This is a garden for lingering, surrounded by the cool beauty and serenity of green.

Not wheelchair accessible.