An urban stroll to savor
Unforgettable scenes are forged from uncommon foliage
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 BARRY WONG / THE SEATTLE TIMES The heavy shade in this urban stroll garden hasn't discouraged designer Shon Robinson from experimenting with a wide variety of rare and unusual foliage plants.
BARRY WONG / THE SEATTLE TIMES A Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum var. 'Silver Ghost') shimmers against the dark backdrop of fringe flower (Loropetalum chinense var. rubrum 'Burgundy').
BARRY WONG / THE SEATTLE TIMES Mahonia lomarifolia is a statuesque evergreen shrub for shady locations and a standout for its winter flowers and layers of jaggedly toothed leaves.
BARRY WONG / THE SEATTLE TIMES Codonopsis clematidea looks like a cross between a clematis and a passion flower, but it's actually a campanula relative.
BARRY WONG / THE SEATTLE TIMES Shon Robinson shows off a treasured plant, Pittosporum garnettii, an evergreen, variegated tree that he rooted from a stem he found in a bouquet of flowers.
BARRY WONG / THE SEATTLE TIMES Viewed from the deck above, the Frisbee-sized leaves of Petasites gigantea are sufficiently hefty to stand out in the intensely green woodland setting.
BARRY WONG / THE SEATTLE TIMES A treasure of subtle beauty introduced by Dan Hinkley, Paris stenophola 'Heronswood Form' has whisker-like flower petals atop double sets of green leaves.
BARRY WONG / THE SEATTLE TIMES Robinson seeks out the annual monkey flower (Mimulus hybrid) called 'Freckle Face' every year for its orchid-like appeal.
BARRY WONG / THE SEATTLE TIMES A seedling of tiny Geranium nodosum that Robinson named 'Emmylou' is raised up in a pot so it doesn't get lost amid the metallic purple leaves of Persian shield (Strobilanthes dyerianus) and pink New Guinea impatiens. |
Shon Robinson is expert at tracking down rare and unusual specimens of the plant world. Here are a few of his favorite sources:
• Cistus Design and Nursery, 22711 N.W. Gillihan Road, Sauvie Island, OR 97231; 503-621-2233; www.cistus.com.
• Mesogeo Nursery, 12364 Miller Road N.E., Bainbridge Island, WA 98110; 206-855-9017; www.mesogeogarden.com (open weekends and by appointment).
• Steamboat Island Nursery, 8424 Steamboat Island Road, Olympia, WA; 360-866-2516; www.steamboatislandnursery.com.
• Fancy Fronds, 40830 172nd St. S.E., Gold Bar, WA 98251; 360-793-1472; www.fancyfronds.com.
• Asiatica, International Rare Plant Resource, P.O. Box 270, Lewisberry, PA 17339;
717-938-8677; www.asiaticanursery.com.
I come across great gardens in such unexpected ways. When I was interviewing an interior designer not long ago, we got on the subject of entertaining, and he broke into a big smile describing a magical garden party he'd attended. Now this guy, who loves furniture and art and lives in Palm Desert, Calif., most of the year, clearly isn't into plants. Yet this garden, which he described as tiny and plant-packed, delighted him. So of course I had to track it down, all the way to a wooded neighborhood above Lake Washington. There I found an urban stroll garden designed by Shon Robinson and owned by Jim Roark, host of the memorable party.
When Robinson set to work nine years ago, he was faced with a typical palette of azaleas, maples and the ubiquitous laurel hedge. He's slowly whittled these back, or draped them with vines, adding highly textured plants to create interest at every level of the garden. "Something is in bloom year 'round," says Roark. He describes himself as "a great appreciator of the garden" who enjoys the many people who trek through to see the unusual plants.
Robinson is a keen plant collector who, through constant culling and adroit pruning, manages to grow a fantastic array of uncommon foliage plants on this shady city lot. A gravel path leads from the home's entry into a haven of dissected, variegated, mammoth, minuscule and multicolored leafiness. The meandering path wraps around the back of the house before descending into a forested ravine. A deck hovers off one side of the tall house, a perfect perch for viewing the dramatic garden below.
Shon Robinson is expert at tracking down rare and unusual specimens of the plant world. Here are a few of his favorite sources:
• Cistus Design and Nursery, 22711 N.W. Gillihan Road, Sauvie Island, OR 97231; 503-621-2233; www.cistus.com.
• Mesogeo Nursery, 12364 Miller Road N.E., Bainbridge Island, WA 98110; 206-855-9017; www.mesogeogarden.com (open weekends and by appointment).
• Steamboat Island Nursery, 8424 Steamboat Island Road, Olympia, WA; 360-866-2516; www.steamboatislandnursery.com.
• Fancy Fronds, 40830 172nd St. S.E., Gold Bar, WA 98251; 360-793-1472; www.fancyfronds.com.
• Asiatica, International Rare Plant Resource, P.O. Box 270, Lewisberry, PA 17339;
717-938-8677; www.asiaticanursery.com.
"I learned from my grandmother never to leave a bare spot of soil or a weed would poke up there," says Robinson, who obviously took that lesson to heart. He considers Roark's garden an experimental plant lab for his garden-design business. "Maybe that's selfish," says Robinson, "but if a plant works in this shade, it'll grow anywhere."
How to keep so many plants robustly healthy in such little space? Robinson practices what he calls passive composting rather than mulching. "Why do you think they're called leaves?" he asks of nature's mulch, which serves as winter top dressing for the garden. He amends the soil with a decomposed basalt material called "Paver-lay" (from Lakeview Stone and Gravel). This gritty material, mixed with the native soil and sometimes even a little sand, makes a mineral-rich, well-draining medium to nurture the xeric plants he collects from New Zealand and South Africa.
Despite its casual, woodsy atmosphere, the garden is elegantly detailed. Flowering maples (abutilons) are trained like vines to climb up Japanese maple trees, a trick Robinson points out as a horticultural pun. There's "the somber bed" with dark heucheras, burgundy lorapetalum and tree peonies with plum-colored leaves. Robinson confesses to a special passion for texture, and it's evident in the pines, epimedium, huge-leafed Petasites gigantea and finely filamented nandinas (N. filamentosa) he's blended to create a tactile garden with a brawny yet intricate beauty that lingers in the memory.
Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and author of "A Pattern Garden." Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net. Barry Wong is a Seattle-based freelance photographer. He can be reached at studio@barrywongphoto.com.
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