GARDENS & LANDSCAPING

Perennial Gardens:

Beautiful perennial gardens surround the house and yard, with each area or bed having its own special character.  Some highlights are noted below. 

In the front and side yards on the north and east sides of the house are traditional cottage-style beds with familiar favorites such as delphinium, daisies, Echinacea (cone flower), spiderwort, bleeding heart, columbine, oriental poppies, daylilies, oriental lilies, Asiatic lilies, iris and much more.  There are some less common treasures tucked in here and there, such as “red birds in a tree” and rare yellow flax.  The June highlight of these gardens is a spectacular display of vivid pink blossoms smothering two “William Baffin” shrub roses (Canadian explorer series) and six weeks of fragrant, soft pink blooms on the “New Dawn” climbing rose that grows over the arbor at the front entrance.

On the west side of the house there are two beds.  The one against the house under the bedroom windows has easy care plants such as feather reed grass, a large Artemisia, and ground cover type plants, including plumbago which has vivid dark blue flowers starting in August and continuing until frost.   Away from house at the edge of the yard is the “wildflower garden.”  It has low water, wild or nearly wild species, such coreopsis, Mexican Hat (wild coneflower), several varieties of penstamon, chocolate flower, Greek yarrow (a sweet, small variety), blue flax, pink yarrow, Russian sage, globe mallow and New Mexican sunflower.

Between the back yard (outside the fence) and the streambed is the low maintenance wildflower meadow.  This consists of blue gramma grass interspersed with scattered wild flowers.  There are two apple trees (common wild apple) in this area.  A flagstone path leads from the lower yard gate across the meadow to a kitchen compost pile tucked into the hillside above the creek.  The compost area is surrounded by blue mist spirea, several large yuccas, New Mexican sunflower and a nice patch of iris.  In the transition zone between garden and wild are two prize specimens of desert four o’clock (Mirabilis multiflora).  This deep tap-rooted species is hard to establish but, once happy, is extremely xeric and provides a breathtaking display of magenta, open cup-shaped blooms for a long period beginning in late spring.  It’s a show stopper!

Outside the fence on the east side of the yard is the “terraced garden.”  This garden is designed around two terraces created with large rocks obtained on-site and flagstone paths.  It contains a mix of larger perennials (including many low water species purchased from High Country Garden catalog), ornamental grasses and cascading plants.  The lower end of this garden is a flagstone path leading to the “Sunrise Arbor.”  The arbor is fast becoming covered with a white Japanese wisteria.  The arbor structure frames three beautiful “picture window” views looking out toward a bend in the creek and to the hills and canyon above the house.  At the base of the garden, next to the arbor is a beautiful pedestal cast iron basin planted in a miniature sedum garden.  The arbor is a lovely place to sit almost any time of the year.