August 08, 2024
Susan and Guy Risdahl-Pittman described their Milton, Washington, garden at the Puget Sound Fling last month as an eclectic plant playground. It’s also a beautifully designed space with winding paths to explore and a naturalistic pond to enjoy, complete with birch log lying across it.
I started exploring the garden on the far side of the house, where paths are shady and narrow, providing escape from the sun on a bright, warm day.
An etched concrete sculpture, vaguely industrial, rises from the ferns — a signpost of the Anthropocene?
Persicaria is one of my favorite flowering plants in cooler-summer climates.
Clematis clambering into a tree
Under a sculptural conifer, a blue hanging lantern adds a color-echoing accent.
Yellow loosestrife and azalea, I think
Uh-oh, a gardener’s been buried! Pairs of upside-down Wellies were accenting a few beds — humorous hose guides, maybe?
Glass art was a theme throughout the gardens of the Puget Sound Fling, fitting for a place famous for the glass art of Dale Chihuly.
Astrantia, another Fling favorite flower of mine
This bench caught my eye for its distinctive Pacific Northwest style.
Pretty foliage combo
The pond in the center of the garden is appealing with its tufts of golden sedge, birch log, and floating glass spheres.
A contemporary waterfall spills into the pond at the other end.
It’s planted up beautifully around the edges.
Tall pots are placed to good effect throughout the garden.
A spider lily leans out for inspection.
I love the foliage texture in this bed, along with the coral-pink daylily.
Inula appeared in several Fling gardens, including this one.
Bees love it.
Peeling orange bark
Hydrangeas echoing a blue wall and pot
Feeling the blues
And pinks
In the midst of my garden exploring, the blue ensemble of garden designer and ceramic artist Michelle Derviss caught my eye. I had to get a photo!
Look at her hat! It’s dressed up with a sprig of fir, a fir cone, and a rhododendron leaf (if I’ve ID’d them correctly), plus a couple of gardening pins. Perfection.
In the sunny front garden, I admired more stone garden art and colorful flowerbeds…
…and more large pots as accents — one of my own favorite gardening moves.
Up next: The plant yard and shop at VanLierop Garden Market, where we had lunch. For a look back at the Italianate Andersen Garden, click here.
I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!
__________________________
Digging Deeper
Come learn about gardening and design at Garden Spark! I organize in-person talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, authors, and gardeners a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance; simply click this link and ask to be added. Season 8 kicks off in fall 2024. Stay tuned for more info!
All material © 2024 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.