Tour a Garden That Overflows With Plants and Color

One peak, four seasons of interest

Most of us need our gardens to look fabulous all the clock time , no matter the season . That ’s great if you are uncoerced to put in the time and money required to make it that way . Yes , it ’s certainly potential to have a garden that await like it ’s at its peak in springiness , summer , downfall , and even wintertime — peculiarly if your garden is large enough to accommodate the amount of plant ask to make that pass off . But allow ’s be true — stimulate the garden to beam all the time take a lot of effort . You ’d call for to engraft an evergreen model for the background , then tally spring - blooming lightbulb , early - blossoming shrub and ephemerals , summer stars , and downfall standouts . It sounds lovely , does n’t it ? Of of course , as these scores of plants die back , go out of bloom , or get too large for their allot office , they take to be pinched , rationalize , divided , skip down , and perhaps haul out . This carefully construct symphony train considerable knowledge , skill , exertion , and space to pull out off . Many gardeners might enjoy a certain amount of work outside but , understandably , might not have the prison term to pass the hour upon 60 minutes necessary to make a garden that is at peak performance in every time of year . For those folks , designing a garden that peak during a specific windowpane of time might be the answer to easily getting a landscape that look good most of the year .

Garden interior designer Sharon Nyenhuis is a master at design for one pinnacle . The landscape that she project , plants , and maintains in the Pacific Northwest are a staring instance of spaces that look magnificent during a six - to - eight - week window and then age gracefully into a more subdued — yet still compelling — sight as the month pass . Perhaps the best example of this coming to design can be find oneself in the backyard of Beth and Cappy Rothman and their garden that ride at the infantry of Olympic National Park . This private landscape painting , designed by Sharon , construct the surrounding scene of the gorgeous mountains and Pacific Ocean play second fiddle . Tour the garden to see just how project for one peak can result in a truly sorcerous quad .

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Tour a Garden That Overflows With Plants and Color

The landscape was planned, planted, and maintained by garden designer Sharon Nyenhuis, whose work has been featured in the pages ofFine Gardeningnumerous times. Sharon’s challenge for this particular garden was designing it to have a single peak. That might seem like a bad idea. But designing for one peak doesn’t mean that the landscape only looks good in one season; it just means you choose plants that put on their best show during the same six-to-eight-week period of time.Photo: Bruce Nyenhuis

This garden is in the Pacific Northwest, so a midsummer peak—when the rains have passed and the temperatures have warmed up—was ideal. The plants Sharon chose did not all bloom during the peak, but most of did. Some of her favorites were ‘Border Jewel’ Himalayan knotweed, the annual diascia, and an assortment of roses, Asiatic lilies, and perennial geraniums.

This garden is in the Pacific Northwest, so a midsummer peak—after the rains had passed and the temperatures had warmed up—was ideal. The plants Sharon chose did not all bloom during the peak, but most did. Some of her favorites were ‘Border Jewel’ Himalayan knotweed, the annual diascia, and an assortment of roses, Asiatic lilies, and perennial geraniums.

The garden consists of a series of bermed island beds, that all come together in a labyrinth –like layout. Between each bed are concentric gravel paths that crunch underfoot. The grey color of the stone presents the perfect stage for an array of colorful plants to spill softly into the walkways.

The garden consists of a series of bermed island beds that all come together in a labyrinth-like layout. Between each bed are concentric gravel paths that crunch underfoot. The gray color of the stone presents the perfect stage for an array of colorful plants to spill softly into the walkways.Photo: Bruce Nyenhuis