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Two In One

From sturdy and spare to languid and full, an island garden is made whole

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JACQUELINE KOCH Red hot pokers (Kniphofia species) are the only flash of color in the serene beachside garden. Designers Glenn Withey and Charles Price placed large, flat boulders before the deck was built around them, effectively melding house and garden as well as creating extra seating. JACQUELINE KOCH A wide stone walkway, steeped with the scent of golden trumpet lilies in the borders, leads up to the front door. JACQUELINE KOCH The shingled Craftsman house on Bainbridge Island is integrated into the garden with stone, decking and a profusion of plants. English-style perennial borders bloom with golden orange lilies in summer; the arched wands of flowers to the right are angel's fishing rod (Dierama pulcherrimum). JACQUELINE KOCH Nearly spent allium consort with the hummingbird attractant ­Phygelius x rectus 'African Queen,' backed by the deep maroon leaves of Persicaria 'Red Dragon.' JACQUELINE KOCH The west-facing beach side of the garden is calm and naturalistic, designed for a smooth transition from cultivated grasses to wild dune grasses. JACQUELINE KOCH Small conifers and evergreen grasses, such as the blue fescue in front, carry the borders through the winter. JACQUELINE KOCH English-border style reigns in the many layers of the front garden, from heathers in the foreground through spiky iris to a sea of blue Caryopteris x clandonensis in the background. JACQUELINE KOCH Stands of 'Stargazer' lilies create summer fireworks while columnar conifers and spiky burgundy barberries (Berberis thunbergii 'Helmond's Pillar') add year-round structure to the border.

DESPITE ITS SPLIT personality, Julie Ann Dakin's Bainbridge Island garden avoids any feeling of disjointedness. Designers Glenn Withey and Charles Price managed to respect the garden's seaside location, yet still create the English garden Julie Ann longed for on the sheltered side of the house. On the west-facing, beach side, flowery borders would never survive the harsh wind, intense sun and sandy soil. Withey and Price responded to these realities with a sturdy, drought-tolerant garden of stone, rugosa roses and ornamental grasses that blends artfully into the natural landscape. It's hard to tell where cultivated plants leave off and dune grass begins in this more naturalistic part of the garden.

On the English-inspired side, broad borders and an oval lawn large enough for bocce ball and badminton open to a stone walkway leading to the home's entry garden and front door. On the south and west sides, expansive, low-slung decks encase the Craftsman-style house. Despite its bulk, the house is so integrated into the garden that it gives the illusion of floating gently just above the sand, stone and tufty plantings that existed here for eons. In fact, house and garden are new, built and planted within the last few years.

The English-style borders have more in common with the naturalistic, environmentally appropriate beach garden than you'd expect at first glance. Withey and Price mixed in a variety of grasses to visually tie both parts of the garden together. "I love the flowers, but am surprised at the impact of the grasses," says Dakin, conceding their importance to the overall scheme. Evergreens such as columnar conifers and barberries offer year-round structure and presence, just as the boulders and evergreen grasses do for the waterside garden.

The whole process of garden design and planting has been a pleasurable one for Dakin and her husband, Chris Oechsli. "They're wonderful teachers," she says of Withey and Price. "Glenn walks through the garden and tells me how to take care of everything. I'm even learning the names of the plants, a bonus in all this."

Withey and Price were involved from the beginning, laying out the driveway and walkway, shaping the garden, designing different styles of gardens to fit the client's desires and the site's requirements. "I think it was fun for them to start with a clean slate," says Dakin. Oddly, she was led to these dynamic designers through the recommendation of a friend who lives in Alaska.

Texture-color combos that work


Glenn Withey and Charles Price are known nationally for their artistry in combining plants. A few of the choice color-and-plant combos in the Dakin/Oechsli garden include:

• Mahonia, Japanese maples, daphne and hardy fuchsias fill the shady entry garden with a tapestry of texture, scent and flower most of the year.

• Dark purple agapanthus (A. 'Stormcloud') mixes with hot-colored dahlias for a bravado show of color late summer through frost.

• Julie Ann Dakin's favorite color gets repeated at ground level, where the low-growing Sedum 'Vera Jamieson' echoes the purple tones used throughout the borders.

• Fat clumps of the longest-blooming aster, the purple A. x frikartii 'Monch,' are interspersed with silky, buff-colored moor grass (Molinia caerulea) for a contrast of color and texture that lasts for weeks.

The genesis of the English-style borders was the nine years Dakin lived in a London flat where her gardening was confined to window boxes. She and Oechsli toured English gardens, and fell in love with their fullness and profusion of bloom. In her new Bainbridge garden, she wanted masses of color, especially purples, peaches and yellows. Now, half a world away from London, her dream is growing like crazy.

The designers have introduced her to an exciting array of flowers. "I love sedums," Dakin says. "I never knew about them!" She also had no idea how much good dirt it takes to make such an abundantly planted garden. "Glenn and Charles convinced us to bring in a shockingly huge amount of soil," she says. "But now I think we're pretty much done." Then she adds, "I'm beginning to realize we could go on forever," proving that Dakin has become a real gardener herself.

Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and contributing editor for Horticulture magazine. Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net. Jacqueline Koch is a writer and photographer living on Whidbey Island.