The Art of Design 

Moving from a condo with a postage-stamp garden and lots of pots in 2008, Tom was “delighted to have more space for “my love of pots with varied foliage.” With an artist’s eye, Tom came away from attending many West Seattle Garden tours with ideas for using “found objects” as garden ornaments, like the metal sculptures hung on his house and artful vignettes found throughout the garden. With structural elements in place (created by the former owner/landscaper of Garden E on this tour), Tom gradually removed old plantings and added new plants and artworks to make it his own.

Enter this surprise-filled  garden a few steps up from the sidewalk into a calming retreat of cool green, just right for a couple of Adirondack chairs, framed by a marvelous old mahonia to the left and a stately stewartia to the right.

Quartzite pavers lead right, to and through a narrow garden of hostas, ferns, cypress and maple, into a color-filled garden of intimacy and interest. Tom created a special arbor on your right from stained glass panels made by his step-mom honoring family history. A second arbor is opposite in the flagstone-paved fountain courtyard.

Nestled into the backyard are herbs and vegetables in pots and stock tank planters; a window box garden on the cottage; and seating areas creating places of rest and views of an ever-changing palette of plants and color. Tom’s garden philosophy: “A relatively small garden can contain a lot of varied areas with different moods; it doesn’t have to be finished at once, but can evolve and respond to environmental changes.”

Reaching the fountain courtyard, look left to a beautiful and bountiful spreading quince tree, then follow the path under the quince along a rhododendron walk, to exit the garden.

Stairs from sidewalk and steps within the garden