Out From Under
Unearthed and born again, a hillside lot now sees the light
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 MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES The yin and yang of rough and smooth, explosive and contained, primeval and modern are all captured in this contrast of gunnera leaf against reflecting pool.
MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES The Sliman/Towner property in Hawthorne Hills was so overgrown that only the tip of the roof was visible from the street below. Old shrubbery cloaked the front steps in a dark tunnel of foliage.
MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES A few years ago, this mid-century Modern home, published in Sunset magazine in 1947, was buried in overgrown laurel and rhododendrons. Now the updated house is clearly visible from the street, floating above its new concrete retaining walls and colorful bevy of fresh plantings.
MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES A tree fern and silky mounds of Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra 'Aurea') trim the edges of the reflecting pools in the courtyard off the dining room. During the daytime, the courtyard is a shady, quiet retreat from the lively and productive front garden. At night when lit up, the courtyard seems part of the home's interior.
MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES Mexican shell flower, peacock flower or tiger flower (Tigridia pavonia) needs full sun and perfect drainage.
MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES Canna lilies grow tall and bloom profusely in the hot, south-facing front garden.
MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES Mounds of pheasant's tail grass (Anemanthele lessoniana) flow down the steepest parts of the front slope.
MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES Exotic-looking pineapple lily (Eucomis) is a South African bulb with strappy foliage and fat, fragrant flower spikes in midsummer. |
NEARLY 50 YEARS ago, a brand new Hawthorne Hills house and garden were featured in Sunset. The 1947 magazine photo shows a Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired home by Seattle architect Perry Johanson, perched high on the hillside surrounded by lawn and brick paths. But when garden designer Paul Repetowski first saw the place a few years ago, the garden was so thickly cloaked with laurel and leathery old rhododendrons you couldn't tell what might be underneath. Owners Greg Sliman and Tim Towner had to uproot the laurel so the remodeling contractor could find the front door.
"It was incredibly dark and oppressive," says Sliman. "You couldn't even see the street below from the house." They clear-cut the front yard, revealing a sunny, south-facing lot-and-a-half with a wide-open view of Lake Washington. Then they graded the slope, poured three concrete retaining walls and pumped in 42 cubic yards of compost. Now the front garden is a series of level planting beds, outlined by sleek walls that reinforce the horizontal lines of the house while updating the feel of the property.
The top level of the garden is a narrow lawn, edged in black mondo grass and hedged with viburnum. Soft cascades of auburn pheasant's tail grass billow along the new, wider stairway. Because Sliman grew up in Mississippi, he needed some magnolias in his garden. At street level, evergreen Magnolia grandiflora 'Little Gem' is underplanted with froths of spirea. Ornamental cherries, stewartia and Styrax japonica bloom white through the seasons, while purple-leafed elderberries and smoke bush cast dark shadows among all the luxuriant green. Penstemons, canna lilies, coneflowers and crocosmia all thrive on the hot hillside, as does a non-fruiting grape Sliman grows because it has thin leaves ideal for rolling dolmades. He grew the vigorous vine from a cutting given to him by his Lebanese grandmother.
Foliage puts on a show
The Sliman/Towner garden is updated with a variety of foliage plants. These show-stoppers keep the garden clothed in lively style for most of the year:
• Oakleaf hydrangea (H. quercifolia). One of the few hydrangeas grown for its leaves, which are distinctively shaped and turn brilliant orange and red in autumn.
• Gunnera manicata. An elephant of a plant, with gigantic leaves that are heavily veined and thickly textured.
• Catalpa bignonioides 'Aurea.' A tree with oversized, shapely, golden leaves.
• Black Beauty elderberry (Sambucus nigra 'Gerda'). This big shrub grows into a haze of finely dissected, ebony foliage.
• Golden and purple smoke bush. The ultimate foliage shrubs, they have pretty, luminous leaves in shades from deepest purplish-brown (C. coggygria 'Royal Purple' or 'Velvet Cloak' ) to bright gold (C. coggygria 'Ancot').
• Tree fern (Dicksonia antarctica). These explode from the ground, unfurling brown, furry curls into wide splays of soft green fronds.
Edibles are mixed in freely with ornamentals; Towner grows berries, herbs and flowers to decorate cakes at his bakery, Dessert Works. Espaliered Belgian pears, raspberries and blueberries grow alongside mounds of purple asters and a white crape myrtle
Repetowski worked collaboratively with the owners to design their new garden; Towner and Sliman did most of the physical work. "They understand what they have and how to take care of it," says Repetowski admiringly.
It's in the shady side garden that the designer's hand shows most clearly. Repetowski defined this intimate courtyard with two shallow reflecting pools. These rectangular ponds read like an extension of the home's architecture, like a shadow or a footprint linking house and garden. A gargantuan gunnera, drifts of luminous Japanese forest grass, maples and tree ferns soften the edges of the pools to create a quiet retreat from the sunny front garden.
After just a couple of years, the garden is well on its way to becoming overgrown again, but this time with a wide array of colorful, textural plants. "We bought the house because it was secluded," Towner says with a laugh, "but then we destroyed that."
Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and contributing editor for Horticulture magazine. Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net. Mike Siegel is a Seattle Times staff photographer.
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