Discover a garden oasis in British Columbia

Perched on a hill, Nadine and Ted Staunton’s home and back deck offer a perfect view. Not only do they look over their own garden, but they can also see the woods at the edge of their property, the nearby Fraser River and even the distant Coast Mountains. Sometimes they hear coyotes yipping, watch bald eagles soaring overhead and catch glimpses of black bears lumbering through the trees.

Taming the slope: 20-year evolution of a Zone 8 garden

In a little more than 20 years, they’ve created an engaging landscape on their USDA zone 8, sloping Surrey, British Columbia, backyard. It wasn’t easy to accomplish, but now stone paths meander through terraces of trees, shrubs and perennial flowers interspersed with mossy stones and wooden arbors, pergolas and even a custom-built chapel tucked into the woods. Let’s take a tour of this lovely garden and learn some of the tips that the Stauntons have gathered while establishing it.

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The garden’s beginning

When Nadine and Ted were ready to build a home on the L-shaped 1-acre lot in 1989, they had to use a bulldozer to clear scrub alder (Alnus spp.) and maple (Acer spp.) trees that had been allowed to take over.

A house on a hill has the benefit of great views and cooling breezes, but a property with a steep slope also presents challenges. For the first several years that they lived there, they tried to grow grass on the slope, but it was difficult to maintain, as you can imagine. And Nadine says, “You can’t play croquet on a sloping lawn.”

A labor of love

Furthermore, a ravine runs along the side and across the back of the property, and had apparently been a dumping site for many years: It was filled with garbage, including an old iron bathtub and a car chassis. Nadine says, “People used to just tip things over the edge instead of taking them to the dump.” Ted and Nadine had their work cut out for them if they wanted to enjoy, instead of simply tolerate or manage, their backyard.

Creating terraces to manage the slope

Finally, Ted was tired of sliding off the tractor seat while doing lawn maintenance, so he decided to use terracing to level off the steepest area close to the house. He began by creating a few beds held in by landscape timbers, which was the common method at that time. Nadine says, “When we started, Ted laid out the outline of the flower bed with a garden hose, and I thought, ‘That’s far too big. I’ll never be able to look after it.’ But since then it’s grown exponentially!”

Over the years, the timbers deteriorated, and when they required replacing, Ted realized that he and Nadine already had plenty of raw materials in the stone that they regularly unearthed in the soil and at the bottom of the ravine. So he rebuilt the walls, and eventually made the stairs in the backyard.

Stone walls, pathways and more

Those first stone walls near the house launched a decades-long project of more pathways, staircases and walls that wind their way through densely planted beds and trees, and now there are only a few small areas of lawn left. Ted, a graphic artist by profession, has an affinity for curving lines and has created a layout that feels intimate yet celebrates expansive views. Keep reading to learn more about the Stauntons’ adventures in stonework.

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Working with stone in the garden

Once he gained some stone-working skills, there seemed no end to the inspiration (and supply!). Ted says, “I kept getting annoyed walking sideways on the property, so I’d try flattening this area, and then another. And pathways just kept presenting themselves.”

Ted’s tips for moving stone

Ted has hauled thousands of stones, and with a clicker keeps track of every one that he brings from the ravine that’s larger than a loaf of bread. So far, the number is higher than 3,000. For smaller stones, he walks the wheelbarrow down the switchback paths he built into the side of the ravine, fills it and pulls it backward to the top, bumping it along slowly.

A come-along winch is a game-changer

He employs the laws of physics and simple tools to lift and place the ones too large to carry. A come-along winch has been an invaluable resource: He’s able to chain one end of the cable to a tree and the other to the large rock to be moved, then ratchets the lever to draw the stone up the hill. Then he moves farther up the hill, hooks it up to another tree and continues. Still not an easy proposition!

An affinity for stone

The name Staunton has its origins in Old English, and was given to someone who lived near stony ground. It seems fitting as Ted has developed a keen eye not only for the best way to move each rock but also how to display and honor it. When he sees a stone with unusual characteristics, such as veining, speckling or a blue color, he places it next to a path where it’ll be seen. And every specimen’s unique shape inspires how it’s placed or how the path is built.

He likens building a wall or path to putting a puzzle together, considering color, texture and the different faces. See how perfectly the combination of different sizes and shapes of stones in the photo above fit together? Nadine says, “If I accidentally dislodge one, I have to get him to put it back,” because it’s such a precise art.

Moss: a shady benefit

Moss grows happily here, and the soft spongy pathway and beautiful stone faces are typical in this shady north-facing slope. However, they don’t mind its vigorous growth when in the lawn, because it remains green even when the turf turns brown.

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Unique hardscaping

Stonework isn’t the only hardscaping handiwork on display in this garden. Arbors, a pergola, a shed, a greenhouse and the miniature Gothic-inspired chapel provide visual interest and utility. Placement and construction are all done with a view of the garden in mind. Picture windows in the shed face the back of the property and look over the hillside. And their pergola is in the perfect spot to catch a cooling breeze on a hot summer day.

An affinity for upcycling

The couple repurposes building materials whenever they can for these structures. For example, Ted utilized rough-sawn telephone pole offcuts to make the chapel’s siding and hand-split roofing shakes for the shed and chapel from a 60-foot cedar tree that had fallen in the ravine and needed to be removed. He worked on the shakes for about six months, and still has a stash ready for another project.

Ted added the cupola on the shed a couple of years ago after he found a stained glass window that he thought deserved to be displayed prominently. After designing the cupola, he and their son modified the shed roof to accommodate the new feature.

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Chapel getaway

Nadine and Ted knew that they’d like to nestle a small building into this semicircle of trees, and the tight quarters inspired this Gothic-style chapel. With skills he learned along the way and some coaching from his father-in-law, Ted has built all manner of projects. At 10 by 12 feet, the chapel is just the right size for a small table and chairs, where the grandkids like to play in warmer months. Ted says, “It’s enough for a small congregation: You can get about six people in there. But we do have a choir loft!”

The plant palette

Because there aren’t many full-sun spots on this north-facing slope, Nadine has chosen to grow mostly flowering plants in the garden, although she has found a few pockets in the front yard to grow her favorite vegetables.

Creating year-round garden interest

When choosing plants, her goal is to have interest throughout the year. Nadine says, “It’s been an experiment over the years to find which plants do well here. I move things around quite a bit until I find a spot where they’re happy.”

From November through March, fragrant ‘Pink Dawn’ viburnum (Viburnum x bodnantense) in the photo above blooms alongside an early round of witchhazels (Hamamelis spp. and hybrids) and hellebores (Helleborus spp. and hybrids), followed by daffodils (Narcissus spp. and hybrids), snowdrops (Galanthus spp. and hybrids) and crocuses (Crocus spp. and hybrids) in February. Nadine and Ted are big fans of ‘Pink Dawn’ because of its long bloom time, sweet scent and its attractiveness to the Anna’s hummingbirds that remain all winter in their garden.

Add seasonal show-offs

By the middle of spring the rhododendron (Rhododendron spp. and hybrids), euphorbias (Euphorbia spp. and hybrids) and pasque flower have joined the party. Later, summer-blooming perennials such as coreopsis (Coreopsis spp. and hybrids) and black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia spp. and hybrids) in the photo above start their show, and by fall, the dahlias (Dahlia hybrids) are in their glory.

Finding drought-tolerant plants to deal with weather changes

With less rain in recent summers, the Stauntons have started taking note of which plants are most drought tolerant. Some standouts include hostas (Hosta spp. and hybrids) and rhododendrons, which put on such a beautiful show in spring. So when they’re shopping the nursery sales in fall, their favorite time for bargain plants, they’re including drought tolerance on their list of must-have characteristics. Ted chops up the plentiful leaves that fall on the property, and the couple mulches with them to help retain soil moisture as well.

Get easy repetition with reseeding plants

Repeating pools of blue flowers along the pathways has mostly happened naturally as annuals and perennials reseed around the structural trees and shrubs. Nadine says: “I tend to leave most of them unless they’re in the way or impeding another plant. Because it’s such a large garden I don’t have time to manicure every spot.” Learn more about her favorite reseeding plants here!

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The Giving Garden

Walk through Sue and Bob Olson’s Mankato, Minnesota, garden, and you’ll find just as many stories as you’ll find plants. Connections to other people are the heart of this ½-acre garden. For example, Sue says, “My brother built this shed for me about 15 years ago. I love it because it’s his handiwork.” Nearly every plant and ornament here carries a memory or a tie to a friend, family member or experience. This is why we chose the Olsons as this year’s Reader Garden Award grand prize winners. Congratulations to this creative gardening couple! Now let’s take a tour and hear their stories. Watch the Talk & Tour video above to get a feel for this impressive garden from our visit in August.

Meet This Year’s Reader Garden Award Runners-Up!

Lonna Engel's Painted Leaf Hosta Garden in Williamsport, PA
Becky Short from Macungie, PA
Enter Your Garden for a Chance to Win Next Year!

How the garden began

When Sue and Bob moved to Mankato and purchased this zone 5 property 26 years ago, the backyard was all lawn except for a perennial-filled island bed in need of renovation. Sue had grown up in a family of gardeners and always kept a garden as an adult. So she knew that it was better to watch the existing beds for a season to get to know the property before she started executing all of her backyard dreams.

When they did dig into the perennial bed project, they found Siberian iris (Iris sibirica), garden phlox (Phlox paniculata), daylilies (Hemerocallis spp. and hybrids), purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) and many other Midwestern stalwarts. Sue says, “I kept as much as I could but cleaned that bed up and spread the plants around.”

Thanks to Jung Seed for providing a $500 gift card to our grand prize winner!

An ever-evolving garden

They raised their children in this house and now welcome grandchildren to visit. Once she had more time to garden, Sue really ramped up the outdoor projects, and every spring she and Bob seem to add another element to the backyard. (The latest project is a series of raised beds filled with cut flowers at the back of the garden.) You can see in the overhead view that the plantings extend around the backyard’s perimeter and surround the house, incorporating the 8×12-foot garden shed as well as several raised vegetable and flower beds. Over time, the couple has learned how to protect plantings from deer that live in the wooded area at the back of the property and how to keep a garden colorful from spring through fall.

A welcoming space

The property slopes down from front to back: The second-story floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking their patio creates almost a bird’s-eye view of the backyard from the couple’s living room. It’s a year-round show. In warmer weather, they enjoy eating alfresco on the lower patio, which has two dining sets that accommodate their growing family. Up a few steps, visitors can retire to a comfortable lounge area complete with the wood-burning fireplace above, perfect for cool evenings in spring and fall.

As all gardens do, this one has evolved. In the early years here, the couple dined on an upper-level deck and had a hot tub on the nearby patio. Over time, habits and space usage changed. When entertaining became a bigger priority, they removed the hot tub, renovated that patio and added the fireplace. Then Sue and Bob built a second patio large enough to comfortably accommodate a group.

Of course the Olsons enjoy entertaining in their backyard, but this isn’t the only way they create memories and connect with people in the garden. Experiences with friends and family have contributed to the garden’s décor and design as well.

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Work + Play

The Olsons don’t only host guests on their patios for leisure time. Every spring, family and friends gather with their wheelbarrows for a mulch party to help transport 42 cubic yards of shredded wood mulch from a single pile in the driveway to several smaller ones around the backyard. Sue provides the food and drinks, and Bob spends the next 10 days spreading the mulch throughout the beds.

A Garden Full of Mementos & Memories

Beds and borders throughout this backyard are filled with reminders of loved ones and different experiences. Several years ago Bob drove three hours with his car’s hatchback open to bring home the pew in the photo above from his childhood church. (On this trip he learned that if he turned the music volume high enough, he could drown out the dinging trunk alarm!) Sue painted a favorite quote on it and sealed it with Gronomics^™ Cedar Garden Bed Oil to protect it.

She says, “We used to carry every ornament and pot indoors every fall. But we got to the point that we couldn’t do that anymore.” She felt emboldened to leave glazed containers outdoors when she saw that a nearby nursery left their stock out in winter. Now the couple empties the pots, turns them upside down and leaves them where they stand. Sue says that they haven’t lost one to winter damage yet.

Custom mosaic art

This colorful mosaic is made on window frames that Sue saved from Bob’s grandmother’s house. She has a few of these “stained glass” windows positioned throughout the garden and plans to store them indoors in winter.

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Reflections of Life in the Garden

Viking-themed garden bed

When they establish a new garden bed, the couple often adds meaningful mementos. For example, Bob finally talked Sue into purchasing a football-shaped stepping stone a few years ago with the agreement that he would maintain the part of the garden where it was displayed. He leaned into his love for the Minnesota Vikings NFL team, and planted a Velvet Viking^™ Japanese maple among purple and gold plants, including the annual angelonias (Angelonia angustifolia) planted in a “V” shape in the photo above. He even planted a ‘Cheesehead’ potentilla (Potentilla fruticosa) nearby as a nod to the classic Vikings-Packers rivalry.

A special butterfly garden

Ten years ago, Sue was diagnosed with breast cancer in April. She says, “I knew what I was faced with, but I didn’t want to let my gardens go. So I threw myself into the yard that spring.” As she was working the night before treatments began, a butterfly landed on her again and again. She says, “In that moment, I knew everything would be OK.” She later added some butterfly ornaments in the area where she was working to remind her of the peace the butterfly brought her that day.

Family memories

And when Sue’s dad passed away, they planted the river birch (Betula nigra) above in his memory and added owl statuary beneath it. Sue says, “We always said Dad was the wise owl of the family.”

Plants Connect People

Gardening is a family pastime. In fact, many members of Sue’s extended family grow pieces of the same bearded iris (Iris hybrids), peony (Paeonia lactiflora) and clematis (Clematis spp. and hybrids) passed down from her great-grandparents’ garden. And her dad “kept gardening until he absolutely couldn’t do it anymore. Then he loved to come here and give me ideas.”

Sharing the plant love

Receiving and sharing divisions has been a key part of the garden’s success. Filling these large beds wouldn’t have happened as quickly without pass-along plants from other gardeners. Not only is this a budget-friendly way to acquire plants, it’s also a good way to find those that you know will thrive. If they’re already doing well in a neighbor’s garden, you know they’ll survive your particular climate’s challenges. (Just do a bit of research before accepting divisions. Sometimes well-meaning friends share plants that are a little too aggressive!)

Friends have passed along speedwell (Veronica hybrid), more bearded iris, tall sedum (Hylotelephium spp. and hybrids) and garden mums (Chrysanthemum spp. and hybrids). They even have a division of the old-fashioned bleeding heart (Lamprocapnos spectabilis) that Bob’s mother received from a friend when he was born.

Annual spring plant division

Every spring, Bob and Sue grab their spades and look for perennials that are spreading too far or are overcrowded and need rejuvenation. Some go into new beds on their own property, but they plant the rest into recycled nursery pots in preparation for a giveaway. At this annual spring event, they set 250 or more potted plants onto the driveway and put out a call to gardeners in their neighborhood and in local social media groups, offering free plants.

Sue says, “We love the idea of our passion being shared and nurtured, and we hope that some of it will be paid forward.” It’s a fun way to connect with old friends and make new ones (and a good way to recycle those ubiquitous plastic nursery pots, which often make their way back to the Olsons to be refilled another year!).

Lasting garden labels

To keep track of plants for herself and visitors in this ever-expanding garden, Sue inserts the Wren stainless steel plant markers you see above near most perennials. She writes the plant name on the front of the tag and important details, such as its size, who gave it to her and the year it was last divided, on the back with a paint pen.

The Keys to Long-Lasting Color

Because the view of the backyard is so prominent from inside the house, it’s important that it has year-round interest. Sue has achieved this by mixing hardscaping, ornaments and a variety of different types of plants. You can see the effect in the photo above.

An artist’s perspective in the garden

In many gardens, even with careful planning, there are lulls between bloom times throughout the growing season. But not here. Sue says, “I’m always paying attention to where I need more color. Will this spot need more purple when this plant fades? Do I need more yellow here?” The flower show begins with daffodils (Narcissus spp. and hybrids), grape hyacinths (Muscari armeniacum), peonies and Siberian irises in spring, and ends with garden mums and New England asters (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) in late fall.

Better with begonias

Ribbons and splashes of annual begonias (Begonia hybrids) like those in the photo above knit the garden together. Sue loves them because they’re so easy to grow, “and they give you a lot of wow factor!” She buys several flats and pots of varieties in the Dragon Wing^® and Big^® series (especially those with bronze leaves) every spring. And she also tries several new varieties every year.

Multiplying begonias

She plants begonias in containers and in clusters along border edges, and throughout the growing season, she pinches back new plants regularly to encourage branching and more flowers. Instead of tossing the cutoff stems into the compost pile, she strips off the lower leaves, dips the ends in rooting hormone and plants each cutting in the soil wherever she sees a hole. The photo above shows what a new cutting looks like — spindly at first, but with some extra water and a bit of time, it will grow. By the end of the summer, she has a garden full of begonias.

Before the first frost, she cuts some plants back, pots them up and sets the pots on a shelf in the basement with no lights. They lie dormant until late winter, when she starts to water regularly. Sue says, “You’d swear that they’re deader than dead, but they come back every year.” Come spring, she begins taking cuttings again so she has plenty of little begonias to jump-start the year.

Meet Our Previous Reader Garden Award Winners

• Multiseason Beauty With Perennials & Flowering Trees
  
• Grand Garden Experiment
  
• Charming Southern Backyard Garden
  
• Beautiful Hillside Garden
  
• Urban Garden Retreat
  

Pest Patrol in the Garden

A few years ago, Sue and Bob installed a 6-foot-tall aluminum fence around the perimeter of the backyard to keep deer out of the garden. But like many of us, they still struggled with rabbit damage. Over the years, they’ve sprayed vulnerable plants with Liquid Fence^® Deer and Rabbit Repellent in spring and caged shrubs in winter to deter nibbling critters. But as the garden grew, these extra chores became too tedious to manage.

Backyard protection

Eventually they discovered that planting vegetables and cut flowers in 17- to 32-inch-tall Vego Metal Raised Garden Beds made them difficult for bunnies to access. This year, Bob purchased 700 feet of 2-foot-high fencing and used plastic ties to secure it to the bottom of the fence, extending to soil level. So far, it’s kept rabbits from entering the garden. He knows that he’ll have to patrol regularly to check for vulnerable spots and secure loose areas in the fence. Since the backyard is the only fenced part of the property, they’re still spraying and caging the unprotected front yard plants.

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“Count the bunnies”

Sue acknowledges that even though the rabbits frustrate her, she thinks they’re cute and has a large tongue-in-cheek collection of rabbit ornaments scattered throughout the beds (check out a few examples below). “Count the bunnies” is a fun game to play with grandchildren. Congratulations to Sue and Bob for earning the Reader Garden Award title this year. We’re so glad they shared it with us!

To kick off our 2025 garden tour season, we traveled to Spain’s Andalusia region in May for a week among the vibrant architecture and gardens of Seville, Granada, and Cordoba. This region along Spain’s southern coast is rich with history and art that reflects the many different cultural influences that have left their stamp on its diverse landscape. The abundant inspiration found around every corner was too great to keep to ourselves and the small group of fellow garden lovers that joined us. So we scoured our camera rolls to share some tour highlights, starting with our time exploring the striking palaces and iconic gardens of Seville.

Travel with us!

Learn more about Garden Gate Travel and join us on an upcoming tour, plus check out all of our previous destinations here: GardenGateTravel.com

Casa de Pilatos

The Casa de Pilatos combines the beauty of the Italian Renaissance with traditional Moorish design. Also known as El Palacio de los Adelantados Mayores de Andalucía (The Palace of the Greater Adelantados of Andalusia), it was built between the 15th and 16th centuries and consists of elaborate courtyards, halls, and gardens.

The Small Garden (Jardín Chico), with greenery and fountains, is the epitome of peace in a bustling city and blends the Renaissance ideals of nature and architecture in perfect harmony.

Unlike other European palaces, which often feature lots of cold white marble and gilded everything, the Casa de Pilatos is a monument of color. This is evident in the bright tile work and architecture but can also be found in the bold plantings. In the Courtyard of the Halt (Patio del Apeadero), a century-old bougainvillea is a spectacular cascade of blooms.

Real Alcázar de Sevilla

We also visited the most famous and revered palace in the city, the Real Alcázar de Sevilla (Royal Alcázar of Seville). The Alcázar is one of the official residences of the Spanish royal family and one of the oldest palaces still in use in the world.

The main courtyard of the Real Alcázar de Sevilla is the Patio de las Doncellas (Courtyard of the Maidens). According to tradition, the courtyard was given this name because the ladies of the court used this room for leisure and entertainment. With intricately ornate arches, a reflecting pool down the center, and sunken gardens on either side, it’s easy to see why they congregated in this room.

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Of course, the gardens at Real Alcázar de Sevilla extend far beyond the confines of the elaborate interior. Around the grounds a maze of meticulous hedges weave around a menagerie of tropical trees, bright blooms, and gorgeous water features.

Murillo Gardens

Just outside the Real Alcázar de Sevilla, and once a part of the palace’s grounds, are the Jardines de Murillo (Murillo Gardens). Incredible art and magnificent water features can be enjoyed throughout the gardens, but stay for the collection of flowering and fruiting trees. Some of the most famous are massive Moreton Bay figs (Ficus macrophylla), which create interesting patterns in their snakelike buttress roots.

Historic City Center

In Seville’s historic city center, there is plenty to see. A walk through the heart of the city brought us to the Palacio Arzobispal de Sevilla (Archbishop's Palace of Seville). Outside the palace, and throughout the city, horse-drawn carriages offer a different way to tour the sites. Our visit coincided with the Festival de Abril, a week-long celebration of Andalusian culture with music, dancing, food, and where many dress in traditional clothing.

The largest wooden structure in the world

You can't miss this modern piece of architectural art, the Metropol Parasol or Setas de Sevilla (Mushrooms of Seville), when visiting Seville. Currently the largest wooden structure in the world, this attraction opened in 2011 after German architect Jürgen Mayer won a design competition to revitalize the square. It is now home to an archaeological museum, shops, bars, and restaurants.

Parque de María Luisa

The Parque de María Luisa (Park of María Luisa) is hard to miss in Seville. This 99-acre green oasis along the Guadalquivir River, which cuts through the city, is the largest park in Seville. The famous Plaza de España can be found adjacent to the park, which has a large water feature that wraps around the square, but don’t stop there. The park is home to many different water features, including the Fuente de las Ranas (Fountain of the Frogs).

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Photos courtesy of Kristin Beane Sullivan and Eric Flynn

2025 Reader Garden Award Runner-Up:

Congratulations to Becky Short from Macungie, PA!

For Becky, the joy of gardening has been in the journey. Meaningful memories can be found throughout her yard, from the knot garden inspired by a vacation in England to an outbuilding that is a replica of the historic Tayloe House in Colonial Williamsburg. Pieces of inspiration get stitched together throughout the space to create something cohesive yet completely unique.

A beautiful and beneficial garden

While her garden is oozing with style and interest, it also emphasizes environmental impact. The plants she considers signature to her designs are natives like milkweed (Asclepias spp.), goldenrod (Solidago spp.) and black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia spp.) that welcome flocks of pollinators to her garden. Becky also chooses to garden completely organically, and the wildlife that visits her beds and borders are welcome guests rather than pests that need to be deterred.

Sharing the love for gardening

Becky’s garden is also a space to teach her two granddaughters. An herb garden is a treasure trove of sights and smells, and a mini meadow in an old wagon is a fun way to demonstrate the beauty and importance of native plants.

Thanks to Jung Seed for providing a $100 runner-up gift certificate prize to Becky!

Spreading plant joy outside the garden

Becky’s garden generosity expands beyond the realm of her home garden as well. The joy she found in gardening with her grandchildren inspired her to form a garden club at their elementary school, and she now helps run garden clubs at three different schools in the area. In addition, she has been a part of gardening projects throughout her area, including a community garden next to a local homeless shelter, a healing garden at a nearby hospital, and a native plant garden at their library. All these projects demonstrate why Becky finds so much joy in gardening, for the beauty that it creates and for the benefit it has in our own environment and public spaces.

Photos courtesy of Becky Short

Enter for a chance to be one of next year’s winners

For details on entry guidelines for submitting your garden in the 2026 Garden Gate Reader Garden Award, click here.

See Our Previous Year’s Reader Garden Award Winners:

• 2024: Multiseason Beauty With Perennials & Flowering Trees
  
• 2023: Grand Garden Experiment
  
• 2022: Charming Southern Backyard Garden
  
• 2021: Beautiful Hillside Garden
  
• 2020: Urban Garden Retreat
  

Tour an English-inspired garden in Oregon

Considering herself an English garden groupie, Lisa Graff has visited the United Kingdom several times to see gardens and take design classes. So when she and her husband, Brad, built their home in the hills around USDA zone 8 Portland, Oregon, 15 years ago, it was a given that she’d include design elements from her favorite English gardens: a beautiful borrowed view, curved pathways, a water feature, borders packed with flowers and dry-stacked stone walls. And her passion for flowering plants inspired her to start her business, Lux Perennials Nursery.

Watch our fall Talk & Tour With Lisa to learn more about how this garden came to be!

Frame a beautiful view

To emphasize the sight of Mount St. Helens in the distance, Lisa added the fountain and rill, or small stream. The water feature is centered on the house and flows down the slope, leading your eye to the mountain. Even if you aren’t lucky enough to have a mountain vista, you can take advantage of a nearby flowering tree or stately evergreen by selectively pruning a hedge or keeping a fence at a lower height in one spot. You could also lead the eye with colorful containers to the scenery from a nearby park or greenbelt.

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Colorful English-garden-inspired flower borders

Keeping the flowery beds to the edges of the backyard also preserves the mountain view for maximum appreciation. By choosing similar color palettes in shades of pink, purple and orange, the borders have a cohesive look even though they’re on opposite sides of the yard.

An English garden wouldn’t be complete without a few boxwoods (Buxus spp. and hybrids), and Lisa has several small hedges that supply structure and color all year. She achieved a similar effect along the path below using ‘Purple Dome’ New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae). This densely growing hybrid works well as a substitute hedge because it stays upright.

Create a tranquil garden space

At the bottom of the slope is a gazebo near the pond. It’s one of Lisa’s favorite places to sit, even on a rainy day. She can read a book or enjoy the peaceful scene of the pond and wild wooded area just beyond. The subtle colors and natural features contrast with the borders packed with colorful blooms behind her.

Tips for growing dahlias in clay soil

Dahlias (Dahlia hybrids) are a staple in Lisa’s fall borders, and though they’re cold hardy in her zone 8 garden, she used to lose them regularly to rot because of the dense clay soil. After talking with nursery professionals that specialize in dahlias, she discovered this method that helps them survive:

• At planting time in spring, dig a wide hole 6 to 7 inches deep.
• Mix equal parts native soil, compost and clean quarter-ten gravel (gravel with no sand in it) in a wheelbarrow.
• Partially refill the hole so the tuber sits 4 to 5 inches deep, and refill with more of the mixture.
• Add a 3-inch layer of gravel mulch to keep crowns from getting too wet.

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Terrified of Topping Dahlias

Long-lasting garden color

The backyard was full of clay soil when they moved in, so Lisa needed to do something if she wanted to grow all the plants on her wish list. Amending it with compost at the beginning and topping it off every two to three years has improved the texture, and the plants are thriving.

Flower bed combos

Easy-to-find long-blooming plants, such as hardy geranium (Geranium hybrid), Jupiter’s beard (Centranthus ruber), geum (Geum hybrid), catmint (Nepeta spp. and hybrids) and sage (Salvia spp. and hybrids), make up most of the plantings.

Unusual specimens, such as the ornamental rhubarb (Rheum palmatum) that’s blooming in the photo above, punctuate the more common finds. Once the spikes fade, the plants’ enormous leaves take center stage. In other parts of the garden, Jerusalem sage (Phlomis fruticosa), tall Peruvian lilies (Alstroemeria hybrids) and ‘Red Feathers’ echium (Echium amoenum) grab attention.

Design for all-season color

Lisa plans for a succession of blooms and has a collection of plants that provide color from April to November. The two photos above show the same area in summer and late fall. Early in the season, the geum and Jupiter’s beard catch your eye, with loads of bright orange and deep pink flowers. With regular deadheading they go until frost. Soon after, the low mounds of Rozanne hardy geranium begin flowering at the front of the border and continue for up to five months through late fall, creating a mat of lavender-blue blooms.

The towering dahlias and panicle hydrangea fill in by late summer, taking over the starring role the other plants once held. Throughout the garden, different types of hydrangeas — bigleaf (Hydrangea macrophylla), smooth (Hydrangea arborescens), oakleaf (Hydrangea quercifolia) and panicle (Hydrangea paniculata) — provide large, beautiful flowers from June to October.

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Add interest to the garden without blooms

Foliage plays an important role at every level of this garden. Lisa loves how burgundy-leaved plants, such as ‘Royal Purple’ smokebush (Cotinus coggygria) and Wine and Roses^® and Spilled Wine^® weigela (Weigela florida), help all the hot pink and orange flowers really pop.

In addition to pretty foliage, Japanese maples (Acer palmatum) have interesting growth habits. ‘Twombley’s Red Sentinel’ grows into a columnar shape 10 to 12 feet tall and 3 to 5 feet wide, so it’s easy to work into tight spaces. Its red new foliage matures burgundy. Though much smaller, the weeping form of ‘Inaba Shidare’ is a real attention-getter. This pint-sized tree is covered in delicate red leaves and grows just 6 to 8 feet tall after 10 years.

Besides colorful foliage, ‘Sango-kaku’ Japanese maple (also called coral bark maple) sports coral-pink stems that are most prominent once its lacy yellow leaves drop in late fall. Seeds and berries add to the seasonal interest and support wildlife too. For example, rugosa roses (Rosa rugosa) offer months of color, first with pink flowers in spring and summer, then with the large red to purple hips you see in the photo above in fall and winter, so Lisa's garden is brimming with interest all year.

Easy-care curb appeal

As you walk up the sidewalk to Joyce and Dave Ludlow’s Iowa front door, you know that you’ll find a gardener here. This beautifully manicured zone 5 garden is filled with plants carefully chosen for their ease of maintenance and combined for long-lasting interest. As she adds plants and redesigns beds, Joyce’s goal is to keep the garden manageable so she can continue to enjoy her beloved hobby for years to come. Enjoy our summer garden tour with Joyce in the Talk & Tour video above and keep reading to learn more about her low-maintenance plant palette.

Create a view from the front porch

When the Ludlows moved in, the front yard contained only a grouping of ‘Green Velvet’ boxwoods (Buxus hybrid). The couple had the retaining wall in the photo above built to surround the front porch with a spacious border that would lend curb appeal to the house without obstructing the view of the street. Now they can sit on the porch with a cup of coffee and feel a part of the garden while still seeing passing neighbors.

For several years, Joyce grew roses in this bed until chronic Japanese beetle infestations caused her to throw in the towel. She dug them out and planted panicle hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata), birchleaf spirea (Spiraea betulifolia) and a sterile barberry cultivar (Berberis thunbergii), which are naturally globe shaped and need only a light trim every spring to maintain a compact habit. They form the structural base of a planting that includes reliable perennials, such as lamb’s ear and three cultivars of allium (Allium hybrids), which can take this south-facing hot spot without complaint.

Plant drought-tolerant annuals

In addition, Joyce plants drought-tolerant annuals because she prefers not to spend all of her time watering in summer. These include Meteor Shower^® verbena (Verbena bonariensis), Skyscraper^™ Pink salvia (Salvia hybrid), Senorita Rosalita spider flower (Cleome hybrid), and Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Lime sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas). She likes their long-lasting color and somewhat loose, casual habit. And when they’re planted tightly between perennials, they help deter weeds and reduce the need for mulch.

Using repetition in the garden

Many of these plants are repeated throughout Joyce’s garden. She likes the continuity of color and texture that ties all the beds together, and you will see them in this full-sun front yard foundation planting, as well as in the backyard. Lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina) is a particular favorite — this dense ground cover fills in quickly, smothers weeds, only needs to be cut back in the spring so maintenance is minimal, and is easy to divide and spread around.

Joyce favors flowers and foliage in the pink, lavender, silver, white and chartreuse shades. In the front yard, this palette blends with the neutral tones of the house and subtly makes the full-sun garden feel cooler.

A serene garden scene

Next to the driveway, Joyce and Dave carved out an island bed and edged it with concrete pavers. A line of arborvitaes (Thuja occidentalis) screens the neighbor’s driveway and gives the spot a bit of privacy. It is especially pretty in spring when daffodils (Narcissus spp. and hybrids), moss phlox (Phlox subulata) and other spring-blooming bulbs fill the bed with color. Under the Japanese lilac (Syringa reticulata), Joyce placed a bench and an angel statue in memory of her father. Creating the bed was a source of comfort for her after his passing.

Tough-as-nails plants for clay soil

In full sun with hard clay soil, this bed can be inhospitable for many plants in the hottest part of summer. In addition, the maturing trees’ roots compete for water and make digging to plant around them difficult. Joyce has found a good mix of tough-as-nails survivors, including allium, ground cover and tall sedums (Hylotelephium spp. and hybrids), calamint (Calamintha nepeta) and perennial geranium (Geranium spp. and hybrids). Though they thrive, Joyce notes the plants in this bed are not as big and are slower to flower than the same plants repeated elsewhere in her garden.

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Create a restful patio

Faced with a steep slope from the house to the back of the property, the Ludlows brought in truckloads of soil to level a portion of the backyard so it would be more usable (and to keep the kids’ sports balls from rolling down the hill). Joyce worked with a landscaper to design the 13-foot circular patio in the photo above and install the hardscaping. Initially, she wanted a firepit in the center with seating. But Joyce found that she prefers the harmonious feel of the open, circular space without clutter — a calm, centered place to spend a few quiet moments.

The 2-foot-tall tumbled concrete block wall encloses the patio for a cozier feel. An arc of Bobo panicle hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata) and ‘Autumn Frost’ hostas (Hosta hybrid) fill up the 3-foot-wide space between it and the circular patio. These plants are more reliable bloomers in this zone 5 garden than their predecessors, a row of bigleaf hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla). A few of those remain along the wall of the house on the opposite side of the circle. They only get one or two blooms a year, but Joyce likes them more for the lush green foliage that gives your eye a place to rest.

Warm up the shade

Joyce prefers a cool color palette, saying that red and orange “make you feel hotter in the sun.” But then she discovered coral bells (Heuchera hybrid) and became a fan of adding these warm colors in the shade. She sprinkles her favorite cultivar, ‘Caramel’, around to brighten the borders even when there are no flowers.

Clay soil no more

Between the corner of the house and the stairs leading to the second-story deck is a bed Joyce lovingly calls “the clay garden.” The ‘Pinky Winky’ and Bobo panicle hydrangeas planted here were always chlorotic, suffering in the unforgiving clay. Once she started topdressing with compost every fall, Joyce noticed how much the soil improved and was easier to work in. She also collects leaves each year, puts them in plastic bags, pokes holes in the bags, then tucks them behind the plants all winter. By spring, the leaves have broken down into a nice mulch that she spreads around on the bed. It has made such a difference in the soil there that the hydrangeas are not yellowed anymore. “I’ve got to stop calling it the clay garden!” she laughs.

Include plants with long-lasting appeal

Joyce plans to work in her garden until she is “a ripe old age,” and ease of care is increasingly top of mind. She knows that gardening is “the healthiest for your attitude, mentally and physically. If you want a de-stresser, plant a garden!”

Joyce’s favorite low-maintenance plants

As you walk through Joyce’s garden, you’ll notice many of the same perennials and shrubs in different spots. She chooses plants that remain attractive even when not in bloom, and looks for varieties that don’t require much maintenance. Check out the gallery below to meet a few of her favorites.

2025 Reader Garden Award Runner-Up:

Congratulations to Lonna Engel from Williamsport, PA!

In 2016 Lonna decided to plant a single garden bed that showcased a variety of hostas. But she couldn’t stop with just one planting: Now Lonna has a collection with more than 900 hosta cultivars, including specimens as small as a dime to those as large as 7 feet across and in almost every color and variation imaginable, including a new ‘Bloodline’ hosta, whose leaves remain burgundy until midsummer, when they turn green.

The Painted Leaf Hosta Garden

She calls her garden the Painted Leaf Hosta Garden and has woven other shade perennials through the collection into a beautiful tapestry. Visiting the garden much like the experience in a museum: The longer you stand and look at a plant, the more details you notice.

The crystal chandeliers hanging in the tree above add a romantic, peaceful feel to the garden and dance in the breeze and catch and reflect light. She hangs these homemade ornaments in spring and takes them down in the winter.

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Lonna’s hosta tips

Lonna says that the best fertilizer for hostas is water: If a plant gets too dry, it’ll stunt its growth and burn the foliage. In fact, when Lonna tires of a hosta in the garden, she floats it in her pond, where it provides cover for the koi, who push it around the pond. The plants seem to thrive as floating water plants.

With 14 acres of neighboring woods, deer could be a real problem on her 1⁄3-acre property. In addition to running fishing line between the garden and the woods, Lonna mixes 1 cup of ammonia into 1 gallon of water and sprays it around the perimeter and over plants monthly. She theorizes that the ammonia odor keeps the deer from being able to smell predators, making the area too risky to enter.

Thanks to Jung Seed for providing a $100 runner-up gift certificate prize to Lonna!

Enter for a chance to be one of next year’s winners

For details on entry guidelines for submitting your garden in the 2026 Garden Gate Reader Garden Award, click here.

See Our Previous Year's Reader Garden Award Winners:

• 2024: Multiseason Beauty with Perennials & Flowering Trees
  
• 2023: Grand Garden Experiment
  
• 2022: Charming Southern Backyard Garden
  
• 2021: Beautiful Hillside Garden
  
• 2020: Urban Garden Retreat
  

Small garden with big impact

If you were walking down a sidewalk in British Columbia and happened upon this beautiful garden, I can guarantee you would stop to take a closer look. There’s a lot going on in this small space. And if you noticed owner Susan Koelink working outside, you’d probably want to ask her some questions. Would you ask the name of those starbursts in the center of the border? Would you want to know how she gets so many good-looking plants in a garden that’s only 70 feet wide and 35 feet deep? Maybe you’d just want to tell Susan how much you enjoy walking past her garden in every season. Let’s take a tour, and we’ll find answers to these questions and more.

Be bold with color

By contrasting two colors, like the shrimp pink of the door and the chartreuse euphorbias (Euphorbia spp.) framing the steps, you can pull off some really unique combinations. Repetition is another great use of color. See the purple smokebush (Cotinus coggygria) in front of the left window? Touches of purple and burgundy like this help tie the garden to the purple gate and the peak over the door.

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An invitation to enter the garden

It always pays to start with a good design. In a small garden like this, your temptation might be to leave as much lawn as possible to simplify maintenance or do away with grass completely and fill the garden with shrubs and perennials. But this design has struck a happy medium. There’s enough grass for visitors to stand and view the garden. Yet there’s lots of space for plants that, in many gardeners’ opinion, are much more interesting than grass. And that small bit of smooth green lawn on both sides of the garden provides a frame for all of the shrubs, perennials and bulbs.

Curved beds lead the eye

Walk through the gate and turn to the left. A gently curving edge like this along the planting bed leads your eyes, directing you to the backyard. Notice how crisply the flower beds have been edged and mulched above? If you have a small garden, maintenance is important because you see everything up close. There are no distant vistas where you can fudge on maintenance. A sharp spade, used several times a year, is the way to keep bed edges neat.

You can get a bit of privacy even in a front yard

If you turn right past the gate instead of left, you’d discover a narrow brick path. It’ll take you to the shady, secluded corner in the photo above. There are several ways you can make a private retreat more secluded. First, tone down its hardscaping. These bricks are mostly mossy — it’s a more subtle path than bright-red bricks would be. Second, you can narrow the entrance. The big hellebore (Helleborus spp.) on the left and the hosta (Hosta hybrids) on the right almost obscure this path. And a light-green full moon maple (Acer japonicum) and a saucer magnolia (Magnolia x soulangeana) help screen the view at eye level and above. Add a comfortable place to sit, and you have a perfect hideaway in your own front yard.

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Creative plant combinations

I bet you’re thinking it’s the plant selection that really makes this garden. I’ll agree with you — from the minute you come up the sidewalk, you’re greeted with gorgeous and creative combinations. Let’s take a look at some of these unique plantings.

Choose plants that fit the situation

Try to select plants that will fit the growing conditions you have or you’ll spend all of your time babying them along. The euphorbias, thyme (Thymus spp.) and alliums (Allium schubertii) above are perfect choices for this raised area because it’s dry there and they don’t require lots of water to keep them growing.

Give plants room to breathe

Want to know how to achieve the lush, yet uncrowded combinations you see here? Start by studying the ultimate sizes of the plants you want. See the hellebore (Helleborus spp.) between the ferns and a red astrantia (Astrantia spp.)? If you crowd them for a full look when you plant, before long you’ll be dividing them. But even though this is an established plant, notice how it still has room to grow? However, don’t be afraid to cut back shrubs you want to keep small, like the purple smokebush in the photo above.

A garden is often a reflection of the owner. And a beautiful, well-designed front garden like this is a sure way to introduce yourself to lots of folks who pass by.

Garden update! Watch our latest Talk & Tour with Susan

In 2025, we had the chance to revisit Susan and tour the same garden — almost 20 years after this first feature in Garden Gate Magazine! She's continued crafting a space that delights all the senses and welcomes every guest. Watch our Talk & Tour video above to see what she has done with the space.

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Designing a drought-tolerant landscape

Starting a garden from scratch is a big challenge. But it was one that garden designer Rebecca Sweet looked forward to when she and her husband, Tom Urban, moved to Granite Bay, California, 7 years ago. The 1-acre property had plenty of room and potential, so she brought a rental truck full of plants from the old garden and started ticking off others that had been on her wish list. Rebecca was excited to experiment with new plants and design combinations in her zone 9 garden to find the ones that are tough, drought-tolerant and resilient. She shares the results with her clients as well as those following her blog, Harmony in the Garden. Watch the Talk & Tour video above to get a personal tour of the property, and read on to learn more about how she went about designing this impressive garden.

Sunny drought-tolerant slope

It can be hard to know where to begin when the whole yard needs work. So Rebecca started with the large berm next to the driveway because it was well defined and the area she sees most often. The 6-foot-tall southwest-facing berm above is one of the hottest spots in the yard —it’s in full sun with lots of reflected heat from the driveway. This region can go without rain for months, and temperatures regularly reach 110 degrees F in summer, so plants growing in this spot have to be tough.

Spring bulbs kick off the growing season, followed by the pink blooms of ‘Long John’ grevillea. The Stoke’s aster (Stokesia laevis) and tall sedum (Hylotelephium hybrid) are in full swing by summer, with ‘Wynyabbie Highlight’ westringia (Westringia hybrid) blooming off and on all year. ‘Meerlo’ lavender (Lavandula allardii) doesn’t flower, but its variegated foliage is a real head-turner and has a strong fragrance.

The sturdy shrubs provide plenty of structure for the design and screen the view from the neighbor's backyard. And now that the plants are established, their extensive root system helps stabilize the slope along with a line of carefully selected stones help prevent erosion. Rebecca found the stones in the yard and likes the colors, shapes and textures they add to the border.

Water wise front yard

The driveway turnaround has become one of Rebecca’s favorite spots to enjoy her morning coffee. It doesn’t rain much in this area during the summer — some years not at all. On the other hand, winter often produces downpours. Rebecca expanded a low spot in the border here to create a rain garden. It catches the water from the driveway so it doesn’t flood the neighbor’s yard or rush into the street.

Design a garden border with multiple seasons of interest

Layers of trees, shrubs and perennials around her morning coffee bench help dampen the sound from the street and provide privacy. It looks especially pretty in fall when the Japanese maples glow with color. Oak trees (Quercus spp.) provide dappled shade, but Rebecca and Tom have lost six of the originals since they moved in due to age, storm and disease. Though she’s always sad to lose a mature tree, there is the consolation of new planting opportunities. Japanese maples (Acer palmatum) are one of Rebecca’s go-to plants for filling empty spots in the garden and grow beautifully in full sun to part shade. If the loss of an oak tree leaves Rebecca with the need for some screening, she chooses evergreen plants, such as knife-leaf acacia (Acacia cultriformis) that has blue-gray foliage and fragrant yellow spring blooms. Horned spurge (Euphorbia ceratocarpa) is another favorite with slender blue-green foliage and long-lasting yellow-green blooms.

Degrees of dryness

The front yard slopes down to the street. A 3-foot-wide strip with a slightly higher water table along the front of the yard allows Rebecca to grow plants that, while drought tolerant, need more moisture to thrive than the ones at the top of the slope, near the house. It’s a great spot to grow the Little Lime panicle hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata), Arkansas amsonia (Amsonia hubrichtii) and New Zealand sedge (Carex tenuiculmis) above. In fall when the hydrangea’s blooms fade to brown, the amsonia has bright yellow foliage.

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Repetition creates unity in the garden

Trying out lots of different plants in a space is fun but can result in a garden that doesn’t look pulled together. Rebecca’s solution is to stick with a color palette of yellow and cream. Threading flowers and foliage with a similar hue through all the borders creates a cohesive look, even if the plants themselves are different. Repeating a favorite plant here and there helps too but isn’t strictly necessary. ‘Meerlo’ lavender’s creamy yellow edge in the photo above echoes the bright yellow of the Jerusalem sage (Phlomis fruticosa), ‘Peaches and Cream’ grevillea and quirky drumstick flower (Craspedia globosa) throughout the garden.

Rebecca's favorite yellow plants

Here are some of Rebecca’s go-to plants with yellow flowers and foliage and what she likes about each.

• Blanket flower (Gaillardia x grandiflora)
  Perennial; yellow and red daisy-shaped blooms in summer; 1 to 3 ft. tall, 1 to 2 ft. wide; cold hardy in USDA zones 3 to 10. “Its long-lasting blooms attract every butterfly in town.”

• Drumstick flower (Craspedia globosa)
  Perennial; yellow globe-shaped blooms summer to frost; 24 to 30 in. tall, 12 to 24 in. wide; cold hardy in USDA zones 7 to 10. “Ball-shaped blooms appear to float above lower-growing plants.”

• Jerusalem sage (Phlomis fruticosa)
  Perennial; bright yellow blooms at each leaf joint in late spring to summer; 2 to 6 ft. tall, 2 to 5 ft. wide; cold hardy in USDA zones 7 to 10. “Whorls of yellow flowers provide a unique flower shape, and the felty foliage is soft to the touch.”

• ‘Peaches and Cream’ grevillea (Grevillea hybrid)
  Shrub; spidery pale yellow to peachy pink blooms all year; 6 to 8 ft. tall, 8 to 12 ft. wide; cold hardy in USDA zones 9 to 11. “This variety blooms off and on through the year and is a hummingbird favorite.”

• ‘Wynyabbie Highlight’ westringia (Westringia hybrid)
  Shrub; small lavender blooms all year, variegated green and cream foliage; 3 to 4 ft. tall and wide; cold hardy in USDA zones 9 to 10. “The variegated green and cream evergreen foliage complements neighboring canary-yellow flowers.”

Backyard makeover

The backyard sits just off the driveway and several steps down. Thousands of cobblestone pavers, which Rebecca calls “ankle twisters” surrounded the pool when the couple moved in, and she determined that they needed to go. But because of all the steps, they couldn’t just pull a truck up and start tossing them in. Rebecca and Tom hauled them all out by hand, filling 5-gallon buckets and dragging them up to the drive. Sometimes they got up early to get a couple of hours of work done before heading to their day jobs. It took them several months to finish the project. Tom estimates they moved 5 to 6 tons of cobblestones, offering them free to anyone who was interested. They replaced the cobblestone pavers with mortared stone and steps that are smooth and easy to walk on.

Designing with boulders in the garden

Several unique boulders — some are up to 5 feet tall — stand in and around the patio. The challenge has been to find ways to soften the look of these behemoths and bring them into scale with the surrounding patio. Rebecca tried lots of plants around different stones but is happy with the results of this grouping above. The maple’s burgundy foliage turns a wonderful shade of orange in fall and as it grows, it will screen the view of the pool’s pump house behind. Even now the tree helps make these 4-foot-tall stones seem slightly less massive. Midsized Lime Tight mat rush (Lomandra confertifolia) and ‘Silver Mound’ artemisia (Artemisia schmidtiana) stair step down to the patio for a more graceful connection to the landscape.

Super succulents

A craggy old oak tree near the house creates a wonderful view from the kitchen window. But it was surrounded by lawn, and the irrigation that keeps turf happy often kills oak trees. So Rebecca replaced the turf with dry-loving succulents. And with all the stone in the backyard, there’s not a lot of room for borders, but there’s plenty of space for containers. Larger pots filled with drought-tolerant bulbs, perennials and small shrubs are hooked up to a drip irrigation system. Rebecca keeps smaller pots filled with succulents and cacti near the house so they’re easy to water by hand. Even these tough customers need afternoon shade to avoid burned foliage. Find more of Rebecca’s growing secrets below. She’s learned by trial and error which ones work best — just like the rest of her garden. 

5 Tips for growing succulents successfully

Succulents and cacti are easy-care container plants, especially when it’s hot and dry. Here’s what Rebecca does to keep hers looking great:

• Water Wisely Don’t water too much or they’ll rot. Aim for every 10 days or so, even during the height of summer.
• Feed Occasionally Feed every 6 weeks with an all-purpose water-soluble plant food at half strength.
• Get Soil Savvy Use a fast-draining potting mix labeled “cactus” to prevent root rot, and repot every few years to freshen up the mix.
• Pinch Stems If succulents get leggy, pinch them back by ¼ to ⅔, depending on the plant. You can let the cut portion harden off for a few days and plant that too.
• Carefully Clean To keep cacti tidy, use long tweezers to pluck out leaves or debris. Avoid prickles by wearing thick leather gloves and wrapping a narrow piece of cardboard around the plant for repotting.

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Spring in bloom at Dunham Massie Farm

A warm welcome and beautiful spring gardens greet visitors to Dean and Cam Williams’ Dunham Massie Farm in zone 7 Virginia. Summers are hot and extra humid in this area, so the garden’s focus is on spring, with all its fresh new growth bursting with life.

Nothing’s wasted here, and recycling is a high priority, so you’ll see lots of fallen tree limbs, stumps and found items put to work. Excess organic matter is tossed on Cam’s “burn pile,” which she says hasn’t been burned in 30 years so is really just the compost pile.

Dean and Cam lived at the farm for a couple of years before tackling the yard, so Cam knew just where to site her vegetable and herb plots to make the most of those sunny spots. Though it’s hard to be patient when you’re new to a home, she says it's a good idea to wait before you plant. Watching the light levels for a season or two will give you a better idea of where your sun and shade plants will be happiest.

Add herbs to your front flower garden

The herb garden above is sprinkled with spring flowers, and near the entry was the first garden to go in. The brick patio and geometric pattern of raised beds create a sense of tradition and age that fits right in with this historic home. Positioned by the kitchen door, it makes harvesting fresh herbs easy. The level surface of the patio and straight, wide paths mean Cam can make a beeline for the ones she wants to cut and get right back to cooking. If you don’t have room for a dedicated garden like this, even a few containers near the door can easily do the job.

Grow a veggie garden with deer

The 25×33-foot vegetable garden above is a short walk from the house in another sunny location. It has an informal layout, instead of rows, because Cam just grows small amounts of this and that — favorites for the family with some left over to share with friends and neighbors. Crop choices follow the seasons, with cool-weather spinach and lettuce followed by warm-season peppers and tomatoes. The garden is surrounded by a rustic fence that’s more for looks than to keep wildlife out. Check out Cam’s tips for living with deer below to see what she does instead of fencing.

Tips for living with deer

Cam didn’t want a big fence around the yard to keep the deer out. She loves watching these graceful creatures but has developed some strategies to minimize the damage to her garden. Here’s what she does:

• Interplant clover (Trifolium repens) and turnips (Brassica rapa) — deer like to nibble the new green growth — in areas far from the house and gardens to entice them to eat their meals elsewhere.
• Use a variety of spray deterrents on a rotating schedule so they don’t get used to one particular formula. If she forgets to spray and loses a few flowers or some foliage, she doesn’t worry about it.

Grow deer-tolerant plants

• Daffodil (Narcissus spp. and hybrids)
• Hellebore (Helleborus spp. and hybrids)
• Japanese pieris (Pieris japonica)
• Persian lily (Fritillaria persica)
• Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica)

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Mix flowers into vegetable gardens

Working flowers into the patch of edibles not only looks pretty but attracts more pollinators, which ensures a big harvest. Besides that, there’s a steady supply of cut flowers to dress up the dinner table. Don’t forget spring-blooming plants, such as flowering quince (Chaenomeles hybrid) to add a pop of color, and provide a steady food supply for early-season native bees that are super pollinators—even better than honey bees. Later, salvia (Salvia greggii), giant coneflower (Rudbeckia maxima) and other summer flowers take over.

Give old things a new use

Whether it’s fallen branches or found objects from the river’s shoreline, Cam tries to make use of them. She comes up with ideas, and farm manager Chris Brown uses his skills to build them. A lot of whimsical ornaments have come about from this creative collaborative team.

You can see several of their creations in the vegetable garden. The teepee trellis for the snap peas is made of 7-foot-tall bamboo posts leaning against each other. A wild grape vine twined around it provides something for the pea’s slender tendrils to grab on to. Cam and Chris take the trellis down in fall, store the bamboo and throw the grape vine on the compost pile. There's plenty to harvest again the following year. The garden’s rustic-looking fence was built almost 30 years ago and made to look old. Now it truly is deteriorating in places, but siding saved from an old building works perfectly for repairs.

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Birdhouse whimsy

Birdhouses have a special place in Cam’s heart because they provide a place to live for the feathered friends that make Dunham Massie Farm their home. There are more than 100 charming birdhouses around the property. This enthusiasm started with the gift of a bluebird house from a neighbor. Now birds of all kinds make their home in these charming creations.

Neighborhood birds claim many houses during the nesting season. In late winter the houses are all cleaned by removing old nests to get ready for the next generation. It’s also a good idea to scrub out mud or other debris, spray with a 1 part bleach and 9 parts water solution, then rinse with water to avoid disease problems.

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Discover woodland surprises

With an abundance of mature trees in the yard, it seemed only natural to develop a woodland garden, with winding paths for exploring and plenty of seating.

Creative shade garden ideas

Years ago, Cam thought the two trees would be the perfect entrance for her winding path. Adding the arch attracts attention from a distance and provides emphasis to this subtle opening in the trees. It’s made of old tree roots and branches that give the arch a rustic look in keeping with the woodland theme.

Each year this path gets a new layer of pine needles to freshen it up and keep the walkway soft and comfortable underfoot. To create a connection between the garden beds and the surrounding landscape, Cam makes sure to use mulch that suits nearby trees. So garden beds or the seating area that have an evergreen nearby get pine needles while those with deciduous trees close at hand have leaf litter. Most of the mulch comes from the on-site compost pile, but there’s a lot to cover here. Cam splits the cost of an additional truckload of mulch with a neighbor each year. She counts on help doing this job, and many others around the farm, from longtime gardeners Cindy Gephard and Rosalie Brown. Their help is a big reason the gardens look so great.

Spring woodland garden discoveries

Stroll through the woods at Dunham Massie Farm and you’ll discover lots of treasures along the way — beautiful flowers, upcycled ornaments and birdhouses like the ones you saw previously. Or how about a rotting tree trunk used as a planter for some pretty Florentine tulips (Tulipa sylvestris)? This small species type tolerates the shady conditions here and returns year after year.

Wander farther and you’ll come across the dramatic-looking Japanese cobra lily (Arisaema sikokianum), a cousin to our native Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum). Cam blew her plant budget to buy three of these beauties years ago, and it turned out to be a great investment. Those three plants reseeded enthusiastically, forming a small colony just waiting to be discovered each spring. Take a seat on the rustic bench — it’s made from an old fallen tree — to get a good look at this exotic beauty up close.

Hospitality comes second nature to Cam, and she often shares Dunham Massie with the public through local garden tours. Her hope is that visitors will leave their cares behind and enjoy the beautiful views she’s created from one of the many seating areas. Continue reading to see where family and friends gather to relax on a patio surrounded by a gorgeous spring border.

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Entertain friends and family outdoors

Situated along a river, the house at Dunham Massie Farm has a great view that family and friends often enjoy after a good meal. To make taking in those beautiful views more comfortable, Dean and Cam added two circular patios—one 23 feet and the other 33 feet in diameter—at the back of the house. The patios’ shape was inspired by a couple of antique millstones, and Cam chose to make one the centerpiece of each patio. Circles and curved lines are her favorite design element. Whether it’s the flowing line at the edge of a border or something more definitive, such as the line made by the brick patio against the lawn, curved lines have a laid-back feel that fits right in with the warm and welcoming atmosphere here.

Easy to access patios

The patio above is smaller and right off the kitchen and family room. It provides quick access outdoors to enjoy some passing wildlife on the river or to let the dogs out to play. The millstone is between the two benches and flush with the brick, and has a hole in the middle that provides just enough space for a lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) plant to grow. It’s easy to lean over, run your hands through the foliage and take in the relaxing fragrance.

A patio perfect for entertaining

Just outside the dining room and family room area is another patio. It’s bigger and perfect for entertaining larger groups. The centerpiece is another millstone that sits aboveground and provides additional seating or a handy place to set your drink.

Both patios are joined by a 4-foot-wide brick path, which is flanked by a pond on one side and a garden bed with a large tree on the other. Connecting the two spaces improved the traffic flow from one area to the next, especially for larger events. Moss and lichen on the bricks and furniture add to the casual atmosphere and provide a sense of age to these modern additions.

Site plants in the best spot in the garden

The plantings are loosely organized in beds with organic shapes — no rows or lines of hedges here! If there’s one thing Cam says she’s learned over the years, it’s to size beds or borders generously to begin with. Initially she just made room for what was going in the ground. But as plants matured or reseeded, they left little space for other plants, so she’d have to add on.

Choosing the right plant for the right spot ensures that Cam has great results from spring to frost. She’ll try a plant four times in different locations before giving up on it. Fortunately, hellebores (Helleborus spp. and hybrids), daffodils (Narcissus hybrid) and tulips (Tulipa hybrids) are perfectly happy in this full sun to part shade area. Later, bearded iris (Iris hybrids), daylilies (Hemerocallis spp. and hybrids) and other summer-flowering plants will dress up this patio, hide the fading bulb foliage and add to the beautiful view.

Whether you’re walking in the woods, gathering some herbs and vegetables or just sitting on the patio watching the river roll by, there’s always something to enjoy at Dunham Massie Farm.