Sunday, 22 June 2014
Hardy Plant Study Weekend hosted by the Northwest Perennial Alliance
Livingston garden
at street level, with Eryngiums
the front garden
walking around the right side of the house
first glimpse of the descent that awaits
a gorgeous Acer griseum
stunning glassed in breezeway
going down one level
a little ways down
further descent on the other side of the house
over the tree tops
a view of the compost chute; what a great idea
I see people way down there and didn’t know that the garden went way further down past that.
I had gone as low as I could go.
Given all day, I could have certainly worked my way partway down, but it would be slow going because of dizziness and the usual phobias, so I waited and explored, along with several others who for one reason or another could not manage railingless stairs. We still have one more garden to see after this one, with only about an hour left in the tour day.
a hidden water feature, found only because I heard it trickling
On the left side of the house, a sign pointed to the basement and a very welcome WC!
From here on, all the photos and captions are by Allan.
Allan’s photo: Not just a deer fence but art in itself
on the compost chute side, house to left
heading around the corner of the house
me, before I turned back
top of compost chute. Their wheelbarrows would face a lot of stairs but the gravel paths lower down were somehow maintained.
A fern covered old path wound down under the house while the main stairs were over on the natural stream side. We stepped carefully.
The stone path enters one of the patios. The tiled patio is upper right.
a few feet further on looking through the ferns
Astrantia
exiting the stone step trail to a patio
a few feet further overlooking the vegetable garden
You can see the bottom of the compost chute to the right.
bottom of the compost chute (enlarged for detail)
the kitchen garden
more stone steps
outdoor fireplace
He thinks the fireplace is on this terrace to the left, and that the kitchen garden was by the grass on the left.
rope bridge in a ravine over a natural stream, taken from the overlook terrace. [Look at those brave tour guests!!)
a gravel path leads down from the kitchen garden
The stairs on the left behind the three people…
…have inlaid pebbles and a rivulet on the left side.
a detail of the rivulet as it falls into a catch basin
The woman is standing at the near side of the rope bridge. Beyond, a steep wood stairway enters a woodland trail that hugs the ravine.
an enlargement to show the ladder-like stairway
Below me, on the lower patio, people were descending the path to the rope bridge on a path that had somehow been graveled and maintained beautifully.
a waterfall
looking up
looking down at the patio I photographed the ravine from
The other side of the mossy tree had a recirculating stream to the same viewing patio.
another view of stream, close to the previous photo, with a stone bridge at bottom of the photo
Looking back after crossing the stone bridge. Rope swing by trellis. Main steps on right.
I am heading toward the side of the yard opposite the compost shoot, and am being shown the bends where the grids cross that make this stronger fence and trellis material.
plants ready to dig in near ravine side
The overlook patio is in the upper right corner. This is the steep path down to the rope bridge.
same path with an adventurous log bridge going left over a real stream that the rope bridge also crosses downstream.
These women followed me down to this path that paralleled the natural stream. Note the stumps lower right marking the path going upstream.
stumps now to the left as I head upstream.
a bridge to cross the stream
Note its steel beam sides and rough textured steel treads. Very secure.
Now to climb back up. Two women are at the top. Even down here, shade plantings every bit as interesting as those close to the house.
the beginning of the recirculating stream to the view deck area. Another guest crossing the stone bridge downstream.
Barberry (something) Queen just going in.
the fence in background as another guest was also admiring these blossoms.
Thanks to Allan, I was able to join the rest of our readers on a tour of the Livingston garden. The owner must be very spry, with a great sense of balance, to handle all those steep railingless stairs.
To read about Alison’s adventures in this wonderland, see this post on the Bonney Lassie blog. Will she or won’t she cross the rope bridge? Alison’s blog explains better just how the fireplace patio relates to the kitchen garden and has a great photo of the kitchen garden tiles. Putting Allan’s and Alison’s photos together, I really feel that I saw the whole garden.
Next, the final garden of our north Seattle tour, to be followed the next day with more gardens in southwest Seattle.
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Tangly Cottage Gardening 