Monday, January 25, 2010

Garden on Acid

When I moved out here years ago I would often pass by this house. It looked totally different at the time-a beige-y green bungalow, nice but no outstanding features - although it did have some pretty avante-garde planting-funny little hebes, grasses and phormiums (ooo...radical, I know. But hey, this was many, many years ago.) Over the years the garden began to look more typical. The plantings didn't change, the rest of the gardening world caught up with the gardener. Those unusual plant combinations began to look hum-drum and common.

About a year ago the owners (whom I've never met, nor even seen) decided to shake it up a bit. The house went under quite a transformation with new detailing and new color palette. The garden was also completely redone with new hardscape and new plantings that reflect the color intensity of the house. It is quite a show stopper, being right on a prominent corner of a fairly busy street.



I do enjoy the garden for the novelty factor although I wonder how some plantings will grow in as time passes. The front bed of Cordyline 'Electric Pink' is already looking less architectural and more blurry mass. I suppose a thinning of the Cordylines may be in order one day as well as an underplanting of something once those guys develop trunks and drop their lower leaves.


The undulating orange wall is really brave. The plantings in front of it keep pace and don't lack for intensity either.


I love the purple mulch. It really makes everything pop. Who would have thought that bark chips could be dyed such a vivid color? This garden brings to mind a masculine version of a Keela Meadows garden. Lots of vibrant color but less swishy.


The back yard is easily seen from the sidewalk, through the metal gate. The back reveals more interesting details. I love the stone mulch. I must use that someday.


My favorite part of the whole garden is the back porch. The magenta and dark brown are fabulous together. And the deck construction is simple and modern, just my cup of tea.



I really must try and meet the owner of this garden someday. It makes me wonder- will this garden predict a new trend in planting design? Will more and more gardeners start to find this look? Will this garden look typical and hum-drum someday? Wouldn't our neighborhoods be interesting if this was the norm!

3 comments:

  1. Shazam! I would love to see this garden in person too. Could I live with it? Probably not, but not because of the colors. I would just want more variety in my plantings. But I really like the way they keyed the plant colors to the house.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I followed Pam/Diggings tweet over to see this for myself. My eyes almost can't take it with all the white outside in my world these days.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pam- Yeah, I wonder what the neighbors across the street think. The view would definitely wake you up in the morning (substantial savings in coffee maybe?).
    Carol- Yes, I should have a warning to don sunglasses before scrolling down.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.