Seattle's Central District Garden Tour enchants

THE CENTRAL DISTRICT Garden Tour, coming up on June 4, showcases the history and neighborliness of Seattle's oldest residential area. It's fitting that civic boosters Virginia Wyman and Joe McDonnal's aged yet vibrant urban property is one of seven gardens on the tour this year.

McDonnal, who died last winter, started out as a florist in New York before he brought his uniquely eclectic vision to the Ruins, the elegantly quirky private dinner club he co-owned with Wyman on Lower Queen Anne.

McDonnal's devotion to classicism-with-a-twist extends to the home garden he shared with Wyman. Exuberant plantings and European formality, inspired by the nine years McDonnal lived in Spain, characterize this hospitable and expansive garden. Many a cultural event and party have been held in the garden, which is rich in flowers, water, fruit and even a miniature white horse. Then there are the old-fashioned garden lanterns that Wyman lights along pathways every evening to add to the magic.

In the last years of his life, McDonnal enjoyed looking down on the garden from his rooms high up in the old house. With its Italianate planters, rose-laced arbors and geometrically laid out parterres, the strongly designed garden is as pleasing viewed from above as when you're submerged in flora at ground level.

"Joe was the designer," says Wyman of the garden McDonnal pieced together from eight city lots. He started planting in boxes along the street in 1980. Later he moved in trees from his mother's garden; many have grown large enough to lend scale to the tall, old house and shelter it from street noise.

A formal fountain dripping into a pool beneath an arching arbor sets the tone here. "The fountain is a present Joe gave himself from Paris," says Wyman. Boxwood hedging, ferns and lily-of-the-valley surround it in textural layers of green, adding to the places's slightly gone-to-ruin, European charm. The lines may be geometric, but most of the garden's plantings are pleasantly chaotic.

McDonnal's creativity and largesse of spirit permeate his beloved garden. In spring, it blooms purple and yellow with hundreds of crocus and daffodils; 26 double lilacs have grown into big, fragrant trees. Statuesque tree peonies with huge double blooms in white, pink and violet dominate the garden in May. The cottage garden is stunningly floriferous, with pastel roses, lilies, cosmos and columbines left to seed themselves all around. "This is what Joe would call 'Hooly Balooley,' "says Wyman of the garden's orchestrated chaos.

Despite being a chef and caterer, at home McDonnal favored ornamentals over edibles. "Joe liked flowers," says Wyman. "A tomato? No — give me a rose!" But he planted a little orchard of plum, pear and apple trees. Mint, lovage, rosemary and thyme spill out along the pathway beneath an old bay tree. A terraced patch produces strawberries, gooseberries, blueberries and currants.

"Joe was a visionary who got his visions out of his head and made them reality," says Wyman, as a puppy named Crocus runs down the path, the tiny white horse hangs its pretty head over the fence, and water splashes down the face of a mossy fountain in this most enchanted of gardens.

Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer. Check out her blog at www.valeaston.com. Mike Siegel is a Seattle Times staff photographer.