Music in the Gardens 2015: Lynda’s Garden

Saturday, 18 July 2015

Music in the Gardens Tour, Long Beach Peninsula

a benefit for the Water Music Festival and music programs in local schools

ticket tour map

Garden 2: Lynda’s Garden

In this one-year old garden, all of the decks, fences, gates, and a unique water feature were designed and built by the owner.  Beside the lawn, a stage holds inset planters with aromatherapy plants such as jasmine, gardenias, and pinks, and is shaded by sails that dance in the wind.  A view of Loomis Lake is framed across the street through well-placed fences and a multi-grafted espaliered apple tree.

from the street

Our friend (and pro mower) Ed Strange had recommended that this garden be on the tour, and the day before he came over and mowed and trimmed the grass, saying “I got you into this!”  It’s just around the corner from our friend J9’s house, and when Allan and I went to scout it out for the tour, I wondered why I had not noticed it when I walked from J9’s to the lakeshore park.  Then I realized that was because my walk to the lakeshore park was over a year ago, and Lynda has done all this gardening and carpentry since then.  When Garden Tour Nancy and I went back to see the garden together, Nancy was thrilled at Lynda’s can-do attitude.  “The tour is July 18th?  Great, I have a month to get everything done!”

from our June 18th visit: one of Lynda’s two adorable dogs. The other is a big one.

Allan’s photo

front garden from the deck

Lynda’s water feature and privacy screen

photo by Kathleen Shaw

July 3rd

on the deck: coffee and cookies

from a pre-tour visit on July 3rd

Lynda, Kathleen, and Allan

deck is on east side of house

Allan’s photo

Here’s the photo I was taking.

more refreshments

privacy screen, all planted and built in the past year

view of Loomis Lake over the privacy fence

espaliered tree

stone path

the fence from outside, photo by Kathleen Shaw

view of park, positioned diagonally across the street

peekaboo lake view

After getting a big pile of rip rap dumped on site, Lynda sat by the pile and threw the rocks into place one by one.

from the south side of house

south facing deck

the fire bowl garden on June 18th, with lumber for a project

Waterlogued

tour day

tour day: photo by Kathleen Shaw

the stage on June 18th

Waterlogued

stage on tour day

music in the garden

Inset planters hold fragrant plants.

Jennifer Goodenberger

Jennifer Goodenberger

Just remember this was all built in the past year.

the dog run door on June 18th

tour day

As we departed for the next garden, we took some last photos driving past the house.

front

south side

south side

south side of stage

Ed Strange told Lynda that her garden was a “Neverland garden”.  She thought, “How nice, he means it’s a garden for children or fairies to enjoy” and he said that what he meant was that she will always have a new project and therefore never be done.

I so admire Lynda’s carpentry and design skills and the stage in particular.  Her garden is one that would intrigue me to take a closer look if I glimpsed its intricacies as I walked by.

interlude

Lynda’s garden is on the east side of the Tides West neighborhood, and the next tour garden is on the west side.  We like when tour gardens are close to each other.  After crossing the highway, on the way to the next garden, we passed this garden which is one that I would like to explore:

looks interesting!

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Music in the Gardens: Deemer garden

July 20, 2013

from the program: Laura Deemer is a passionate gardener who never has trouble finding time to work in her yard. As you enter through a gated archway you will be greeted by a cottage garden in small raised beds. Circling the property to explore the many planted areas and shady retreats you will find specimen trees, original metal garden art by husband Don, a quirky mix of mounted birdhouses and a gazebo perfectly suited for music in the garden. A pond built by Don and Laura is fed by a small recirculating stream.

The Deemer garden was discovered by tour organizer Nancy Allen when she was going down a tiny local road looking for an estate sale. She knew by peeking into the garden that something good was going on there, so she introduced herself and asked Laura if she would like to be on the tour. Nancy and I visited the garden again about a week later and were both impressed with Don and Laura’s garden artistry. Happily, Laura did agree to open her garden for tour day. (Again, because I did not photograph every last thing on tour day, I have included some photos I took of details on the two occasions that I visited the gardens before the tour.)

roadside fence

From the driveway, the main garden has two entries, one, below, leading to the front porch. The Deemers extensively remodeled their home and added decks over the years.

entry, looking south, with garden tour guest

Entering through the gate above, you will see garden beds on your right.

entering

Kathleen Sayce got a good angle on the symmetrical flower beds.

looking southwest

Another gate leads you below the flower beds, and that is the one we entered through on tour day.

looking south from the other gate on a pre-tour visit

Now the flower beds are to our left, and on tour day, Laura had put out informative signage about her favourite plants.

Geranium psilostemon

This is information that I did not know!

My friends were especially smitten with the Deemers’ artisitic birdhouse posts. Laura told me she had made this one since my previous visit which had only been a couple of weeks earlier.

shell birdhouse post

mosaic post

On my previous visit, Laura told me they had also made the leaf and round pillar birdbath.

birdbath

They also built their pond and streamlet water feature.

pond on an earlier visit

pond on tour day with garden art by Don Deemer

photo by Kathleen Sayce

head of recirculating streamlet

the tiny stream on a pre-tour visit. I love this!

stream and pond

Our friend Kathleen Shaw caught a slightly different angle.

another birdhouse creation

coming around from the front porch and deck to the south side of the house

looking west back to the pond

Above, the shady southwest side of the garden used to be a vegetable patch until Laura decided to turn it into a woodland.

On the south side of the garden, where she has planted specimen trees and shrubs, she set up a table with before photos of the garden. I remember seeing this garden in its early days, over the fence, before it was surrounded with trees and shrubs…maybe 18 years ago as it is near Andersen’s RV Park, one of our longtime jobs.

before pictures

rustic birdhouses in woodsy south side garden

another birdhouse with fanciful post

People could walk all around the house via what is usually fenced off as a dog yard where two Australian Shepherds romp.

dog yard

Laura told me she likes to create sheltered places to get out of the sun. Below is an outdoor room behind the house.

outdoor room

The wall was painted by Susan Wallace of the Painted Lady Lavender Farm, which would be our last stop on tour day.

Leaving that room, we go along a shady walk, still in the dog yard. Laura told us one of the two dogs has been quite a problem with digging, but she has still managed to grow hydrangeas, ferns and hostas.

a shady walk

more good signage in the shade garden

Leaving the dog yard, we enter a large, square sunny garden room on the north side of the house….a secret garden that you might not even find it you did not look for it. Along the back fence (to the right in the photo below) is a low area that is used as a debris and compost pile. I am hoping our friend Sheila may have photographed that, as we both like to see the work areas of a garden! The main part of the garden here has another outdoor shelter, a gazebo large enough to have dinner in…or place a Music in the Gardens tour musician.

Laura herself approaches as we leave the dog yard.

Between the two raised beds of ferns, to the left, a path leads to another gate out to the driveway. This garden is enclosed with a tall fence, and the construction of the pergola is absolutely solid.

musician Jennifer Goodenberger

Jennifer Goodenberger

An elegant garden of shrubs and ferns with a dry creek bed runs along the north fence of this garden area.

Note the hydrangrea blossoms in the birdbath

dry creek

dry creek with bridge

gazebo…note fire circle just beyond it.

looking northeast through the gazebo windows

I don’t see many “outdoor rooms” that are this beautifully built with windows…a perfect shelter from the beach wind.

another of Don’s old garden tool birds

The skills of Don and Laura are evidenced in everything from the well built structures, to the paths and decks and paving, to the birdhouses and pond and Don’s playful metal sculptures.

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