Creative Collaborations
Today's gorgeous gardens are all about good design made personal
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 JACQUELINE KOCH / THE SEATTLE TIMES In the Zielke garden, plants with aromatic foliage like lavender (foreground, at left) and spiny plants like the burgundy barberry at center and top of the stairs, right, have solved the deer predation problem.
ILLUSTRATED BY JULIE NOTARIANNI Beat the heat with a hardy cactus. Opuntia cacanapa 'Ellisiana' is a prickly pear cactus without spines. In late spring it sprouts little yellow flowers along the curves of its broad, flat, blue-green pads. This curiosity is edible and hardy to 5 degrees or below, even though it looks like it belongs in Palm Desert instead of Seattle. Protect from winter wet. (I found mine at Wells-Medina Nursery in Bellevue.) |
Beat the heat with a hardy cactus. Opuntia cacanapa 'Ellisiana' is a prickly pear cactus without spines. In late spring it sprouts little yellow flowers along the curves of its broad, flat, blue-green pads. This curiosity is edible and hardy to 5 degrees or below, even though it looks like it belongs in Palm Desert instead of Seattle. Protect from winter wet. (I found mine at Wells-Medina Nursery in Bellevue.)
Good design solves problems. The gardens in this issue are so beautiful you might be fooled into thinking they're for show, not for go. It's just that the designers are so good you can't see how, every time, form follows function.
Maybe this whole issue evolved out of my longing to get inside the heads of some of the Northwest's finest designers. Certainly it was a pleasure and an education to hear them talk about their work, and to meet their clients. Let alone walk around these special gardens.
Or maybe it came about because of the recent, fruitful collaboration on my Whidbey Island garden. I started with a strong concept, but also with a space as minuscule as my budget. Maybe I could have come up with the geometric design myself. But I would never have gotten the scale right, or realized I better leave three feet between the raised beds to get the wheelbarrow through. While my head was spinning with plant choices, the designer and contractor contributed those all-important functional elements. Every time I appreciate the curved screen disguising where the garden falls off, wheelbarrow mulch around the garden, or stick messy stuff out of sight in the adequate utility area, I recognize the practical value of good design.
And that whole myth about design professionals' egos running roughshod over clients' tastes? Strolling these gardens, I didn't get even a whiff of that. Each designer praised the client's involvement and knowledge. The gardeners' needs and enthusiasm inspired all designers to do their best work. A whole lot of listening happened, and both parties enjoyed the creative collaboration. Even architect Mitchell Smith, who designed his own garden, gives much credit to his partner, Evette Gee, for taking time to learn about plants.
Don't let the visual punch of mysterious doors or Chinese granite spheres fool you. At the Zielke garden in Tacoma, Richard Hartlage designed architecture-rich spaces with a European feel to fulfill the demands of an experienced gardener's program, from deer-resistant plants to utility-area screening. This was a true partnership. Ingrid Zielke picked out plants and accessories, while Hartlage set the stage for her to create a garden she loves. "Ingrid is the creative one," says her husband, David. "I'm the weeder." Yet both are clearly thrilled with their gorgeous garden.
Beat the heat with a hardy cactus. Opuntia cacanapa 'Ellisiana' is a prickly pear cactus without spines. In late spring it sprouts little yellow flowers along the curves of its broad, flat, blue-green pads. This curiosity is edible and hardy to 5 degrees or below, even though it looks like it belongs in Palm Desert instead of Seattle. Protect from winter wet. (I found mine at Wells-Medina Nursery in Bellevue.)
Tom Berger revisited a garden he'd designed 10 years earlier, charged with making it more intimate and personal. Elisabeth Bodal "was delightful to work with because she has such a passion for her garden. It's a rare client that finds such joy in the design process," says Berger of restyling an old garden to suit a new owner's sensibilities.
Michael and Kaycee Krysty started with a concept, quoting architect Cliff Mays' vision of blurring the line between indoors and out. By employing architects and a design/build firm in service of this central idea, they created a garden that's visually exciting and filled with the plants Kaycee loves most. Because architects Ray and Mary Johnston were involved in shaping the garden from the start, the double lot is divided into comfortable, functional, human-scale spaces, each flowing gracefully into another.
"David got rid of the parking-lot feeling when you drive up and made the garden so much more inviting," says Ginny Meisenbach of her David Pfeiffer-designed Bellevue property. "I love the special little places in the garden. We use different ones depending on the sun, time of day and time of year." Pfeiffer designed a sophisticated layering of space between the house and driveway. He linked the old parts of the garden to the new by repeating arbor, urn and circle shapes. Perhaps the most important lesson of this garden is its subtlety, which is no doubt why Ginny describes it as peaceful. "You don't need everything to star," says Pfeiffer — words of wisdom we should all remember.
Pfeiffer earned from his client the ultimate compliment: "Working with David is a fun, creative process," says return client Meisenbach. "We've grown up together . . . I've stuck with him for 20 years now . . . he's become a good friend."
Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and author of "A Pattern Garden." Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net.
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