The Garden of Susan and Guy Pittman

 

 

One of the joys of getting to fill in from time to time at Jungle Fever Exotics Nursery, a place known for carrying weird and wonderful plants, is getting to meet the gardeners who share my plant addiction.  One day this summer, a nice couple came in, we started talking and, before you know it, I was invited to see their garden.  It turns out that they live very close to the school where I teach so we arranged an after work visit. 

 

The garden looks much better in person than these photos show.  It was early evening and the sun was still high in the sky.

 

 

We started at one side of the house which sits on an acre of land, although it feels like a much larger space!  The Pittman garden doesn't reveal itself all at once but rather leads you further and further in through paths and raised beds to discover layer after layer of  great plants, hardscape and artwork.

This wonderful shrub, whose name I forgot to write down,  looks an awfully lot like the one many of us fell in love with at Bella Madrona during the Garden Bloggers' fling tour in July. Does anyone remember the name of it? 

How beautiful the seed heads of the rodgersia look.

A nice patch of my favorite foliage plant, Podophyllum delavayi.

Kadsura japonica 'Variegata' aka Variegated Magnolia vine and Fallopia japonica 'Variegata' make a gorgeous foliage combination.  I killed my Fallopia so will be on the hunt for a replacement this spring!

Further along the garden path.

See the structure to the right of the picture?  Guy is building a greenhouse! 

 

Every inch of bed space is full of treasures but nothing looks crowded or unhappy.  (How do they do that?)

Again, my pictures in this light don't do the garden justice.  There are tons of lust worthy plants at every step.

 

 

Do you see the bright blue thing in the flower bed on the left?  It's one of Barbara Sanderson's fiddlestix of which there were several in the garden. 

Phytolacca Americana is a weed in some parts of the country but we love it here!  My seed heads/ berry clusters  hang down and have single glossy berries while this one bears them erect and the individual berries are each clusters of many small berries. Fancy hybrid or natural variation?

Ornamental apples glowing in the sunlight.

More fun!

A well-placed empty pot makes a great focal point.

Great ceramic sarracenias aren't fussy about soil type or moisture.

There were nearly no plants in the garden when the Pittmans first moved in but the large cement pond and some Koi were inherited!

Guy is a concrete wiz and created a lot of pieces for the garden.  Here is one of his giant spheres.

 

Guy's cast concrete bench which sits on carved rock. 

I've seen this fern in several gardens lately and should know what it is but don't.  Do you?

the front garden.

Guy made these concrete lamps  to line the driveway and provide illumination at night.

Guy's favorite, and mine too, is this concrete sphere.  He used a variety of concrete pigments and spread thin layers on top of each other then ground to different depths creating an interesting mottled look.

Here we are back out front.  Notice the opening in the porch roof to allow the tree to grow through.

And a view of the lake.  Delightful!

 

Creators and stewards of the garden, plant addicts, and really nice folk, Guy and Susan.

 

It is always a treat to make new plant addict friends!  Thanks so much Susan and Guy for sharing your splendid garden with me and allowing me to post about it.  I hope to return the favor once this construction business is over and I can get the garden put back together.