The Garden of Cleo Raulerson

"I have an over-the-top metro garden with over 600 varieties of floweringplants, more than half of which are perennials." So begins Cleo Raulerson's description of her garden.  Alsion, Emily, and I were greeted at the front of the garden by Cleo who, like her garden, has a joyous spirit and an easy laugh that makes visitors feel welcome.

"My goal is to have something in bloom every day of the year."

The garden features several wide concrete-edged, arch shaped lawns surrounded by mixed borders. Repetition of the shape of lawn adds continuity to the garden.  About grass Cleo said, "I challenged several designers to come up with a ground cover that looks and feels like lawn but isn't and no one could come up with anything like it so we decided on grass."

So nice of Cleo to have the initial of my first name placed in her garden. :) 

From this angle, the shape echo of the arbor is visible.  Clever yes?

Going around the side of the house, following a nice aggregate concrete path.  Notice the opuntia in the middle left of the picture.  We'll revisit it on our way back up.

Great dry creek bed!

"My garden design includes mixed flower/shrub borders that compliment our 1960's mid-century modern house with its views of the Olympic Mountains, Seattle, and downtown Bellevue.

"I have gardened in this space since 1989, making major changes every 4-5 years.  In 2011, I put in a new aggregate concrete patio and walkways, and expanded the garden beds to achieve a more cohesive and visually pleasing design."

Throughout Cleo's garden are hiding fun surprises.

From this angle, the patio seems to hover atop the rocks.  

Cute birds!  Is one of those the bluebird of happiness? Find them here.

The back lawn is a large oval, the connection of the two arches in the front or maybe the Raulerson's are alumni of the University of Oregon (Oklahoma, Ohio, Oberlin, Occidental.) Hopefully it doesn't mean that they have zero tolerance for stupid humor. Notice the stairs on the left as we'll go up them to get a cool view of the garden from above.

The juxtaposition of the formal shapes of lawn and the more informal exuberance of the plantings and water feature is quite interesting.

Purple and white in a shady walkway.

A closer view of the water feature from the floating patio.  The fish are jumping (and the cotton is high) upstream.

Finally up the stairs for a bird's eye view of the back garden.

Lovely view of  downtown Bellevue.

Emily and Alison admiring the glass fish.

Beautiful tapestry of shade tolerant plants having their moment in the sun. 

Groovy periwinkle-colored flowers.  (Gardener's Supply)

On the far side of the O.

Purple columbine.

A closer look at the opuntia on the way back reveals that it's made of rusty metal, the best example of this that I've seen.

Thank you, Cleo, for opening your garden for us to enjoy! Happy weekend everyone!