An NPA Tour

Many members of the Northwest Perennial Alliance (NPA) offer their gardens up for touring.   Another opportunity to see gardeners in action.  Being members, we're invited to go have a look-see and recently I spent the morning doing just that- having enough time to visit two gardens.

I came away from the first home I visited inspired by what people can do when they work in total harmony with what mother nature gives them.......

This home is deep in the woods, nestled into a natural bowl at the edge of a lake. Rounded rocks, mosses, ferns, hostas and other shade-loving plants are the predominant flora.  As you can see by these first two photos they have let nature dictate things.... letting the plants softly establish so that nothing looks cultivated.

As I explored the garden I found myself walking 10-15 steps, stopping and slowly turning around 360 degrees to take it all in.... each and every angle/view point had been carefully considered.  

Not a blade of grass could be found anywhere. While that looks like a lawn in the photo below, it's really a carpet of mosses....

Their attention to the little details is everywhere... the placement of stones and plantings - no nook or cranny is overlooked.

The garden just seamlessly blends into the hillside and frames the home above. Nothing is out of place or seems intentionally placed..... garden design at it's finest.

The second home I visited left me feeling I'd been to a mini arboretum.  On the one hand it was very impressive what the home owners had accomplished, transforming a multi-acre wooded lot into an enormous and spectacular landscape..... but for me it went against mother nature and that kind of rubbed me a bit. However, what I did find delightful was the use and placement of garden art.  Being a "reduce-reuse-recycle" gal I always like seeing how people take worn out stuff, or what might be considered junk, and giving it a second life.  Here are a few examples....

Or how about his one (photo below).... very cool!  A simple container full of sedums sits on a stand made of curved wood.  If you look carefully you can see a metal tube at the top end of the curve...... it's an old kaleidoscope!  Look down through it and you see the plants in a whole new way.  Very clever!

Speaking of sedums...... here are two creative ways to arrange them....... box frame on an easel and two new garden critters (I think they're meant to be hedgehogs)!

Out by the parking garage, there were a number of identical containers, each overflowing with a beautiful floral arrangement and finished off with.....

.... yes, an old parking meter!  Whimsy at it's best.  Keeps the meters out of the landfill and gives them a second life.  Great idea!

So, there you have it.  Two interesting and rewarding visits.  What a delightful morning it was!  If you ever get the opportunity to visit someone else's garden, go!  Sometimes the lessons learned are far more lasting than reading the lastest handout or gardening book.