Garden Party Annual Showcase Features Some Of Spokane’s Most Beautiful Backyards

If you’re in the market for ideas on water features, raised bed vegetable gardens, roses, perennials, annuals or interesting garden features such as gazebos, arbors, bird houses, trellises and more - you simply can’t afford to miss the twelfth annual Associated Garden Clubs of Spokane’s showcase of gardens.

Sunday’s tour, which runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., features six gardens on the north side - three in the East Mission area, two in Legacy Hills off Highway 395, and one in the Whitworth area.

As I pulled up to the old graystone home of Dennis Langan and Jon Rivett, I remember thinking, “This is going to be very special.” Beyond the low, black wrought iron fence that borders the sidewalk was a preview of what was to come. Foundation plants sat nestled in among ferns, moss and a blanket of colorful impatiens. My senses were drawn to the garden by the incredible scent of roses and sound of rushing water. This was a garden paradise.

Beds of trees, shrubs, flowers, ornamental grasses and over 200 roses transformed this double city lot into what I believe to be one of Spokane’s premiere gardens. This is a garden you don’t hurry through.

A garden path runs along the side of the house taking you onto a brick patio and beyond. But the patio and that part of the garden would have to wait.

First, I had to explore the water gardens. Three water features separate the front yard from the back. You can meander in and around each water element on paths of stepping stones nestled among low ground covers and mosses.

At the end of the brick patio and in the center of the garden is a grape vine-covered gazebo. Dozens and dozens of roses mixed with perennials border the yard interrupted only by a Japanese-style house and meditation garden.

Even the blank side of the garage has taken on personality. Window boxes and hanging planters dress up fake windows and an antique door.

Of course, this garden wouldn’t be complete without a few decorative birdhouses, singing birds and music. This is one garden you must plan on spending a bit of time with.

Down the block is another colorful garden packed with interesting features. It’s the home of Grace and Larry Dyer. If certain aspects of the garden bring on feelings of deja vu, it’s because the Dyer garden was also featured a few years back on the Associated tour. And, it won an award in Country Women Magazine in 1995.

Because Grace tends to use mostly annuals in her flower beds, the look of the garden can easily be changed from one year to the next.

Many elements make this garden interesting, starting with the raised flower beds bordered with basalt rock. The soil in the beds is 100 percent compost. It’s no wonder that her plants thrive like they do.

A wide concrete driveway separates the front garden from the back garden. Because of the mass color from the flowers and the black basalt, the driveway tends to blend into the landscape.

The architecture of the garage doors and the planters on either side of the doors add charm to what could be a very harsh appearing area.

Another potentially difficult area could have been the dog run. But like everything in the Dyer’s garden, it too simply blends into the landscape. During the summer months, a grape vine covers part of the run, creating a natural sun barrier for the dogs while complementing the garden.

This year the Dyer’s have added a new raised flower bed in front and a series of raised vegetable garden beds in the back. The garden beds are brimming with tomatoes, peppers and a host of other delicious treats. Behind the vegetable garden is the compost, definitely the main ingredient to the Dyer’s beautiful garden.

I am always delighted with Grace’s ingenuity and practicality. If tulip leaves are in her way when it comes time to plant the annuals, she simply cuts them to the ground.

Tomato plants are planted into the soil when they have their second true set of leaves and covered with clear plastic half jugs. This year she shared her method of holding up floppy perennials. By simply cutting tomato cages in half and setting them over the plants in the spring, perennials maintain a showy appearance all summer.

The third garden in this area is the home of the Rev. Arthur and Violet Jacobson. Their garden is a bird sanctuary. Nestled among evergreens and deciduous trees and bushes are dozens of creative bird dwellings.

Even the bird bath is creative. If you look closely at the legs of the bath, you may note something vaguely familiar. The legs are made out of cardboard wrapping paper tubes. They have been painted and covered with some type of material to make them strong. You’ll have to ask the Jacobsons to divulge their secrets.

We enter the garden by way of the carport. To help enhance the size of the garden, large beams have been used across the top of the carport giving the area the feeling of an arbor. A red rose climbs up a trellis on the outside of the structure while a pedestal urn filled with flowers, greets us as we pass through on our way to the garden.

Located near Whitworth is the Weston garden. Helen Weston is the primary caretaker, and her artistic style and country charm easily show through.

You will enter the yard by way of a swinging gate attached to an arbor. On either side of the arbor is a split rail fence dressed in pink simplicity roses.

Again, this is a large lot filled with beds of perennials, annuals and roses. Weston’s garden changes with each season. In the spring, it is a mass of blue - blue forget-me-nots, grape hyacinth and windflowers. By early summer, the garden changes to shades of pink - beds of pink columbine, pink flowering ornamental crabapple, rose flowering hawthorne, red peonies and white bridal wreath. The mass blossoming of the pink simplicity rose completes the picture.

Today the garden is filled with shades of blue, white and pink. None of the beds are bordered with any type of material such as wood, brick or plastic. Instead, the crisp, clean edges are maintained simply with a line trimmer.

In the backyard sits a charming gazebo filled with pots of herbs and flowers. The back covered deck is shaded with a prolific vining Virginia creeper. A vegetable garden once inhabited the back corner. Today it is a mass of colorful perennials, annuals and a few tomatoes. Everyone has to have a few homegrown tomatoes.

If you’re stuck with a door or window that cries out for a little sprucing up, take note of the natural twig shutters that flank a side door giving it a special bit of charm.

Definitely a country garden in the city.

And finally, the last two homes on the tour take us up Highway 395 off Hatch Road and Midway to the homes of Roger and Barbara Tompkins and Gary and Barbara Verhey. Both homes are fairly new with fairly young plantings. Still, there is a lot to see and great ideas to gather.

The Tompkins home sports a collection of lily-of-the valley shrubs, Hinoki cypress, red barberries and gold spirea. A low rock wall runs along the side of the yard, planted with a nice selection of various evergreens and deciduous shrubs. A collection of iris planted along the front of the wall compliments the rock with its spiky appearance.

The main feature of this garden is the beautiful waterfall off the back patio.

First, yards of soil were used to create a high mound. A large pond was then shaped at the base of the mound and lined with heavy-duty pool liner. From that point, the falls (two separate falls) were created one to flow down the front and the other off to the side of the hill. The large boulders planted into the soil give the landscape a very natural appearance. Japanese maples, weeping evergreens, barberries, Irish and Scotch moss give the area a finished, grand look.

The Verhey home is difficult to describe, since every part of it is quite massive. The white mansion style home sits up off the main drive. Its backyard is enclosed by a 6-feet black wrought iron fence. A wide concrete sidewalk leads you to the back patio of large proportions. In the middle of the patio is a swimming pool filled with ice blue water.

Surrounding the concrete patio are shrub and tree beds which are carved out of lush green lawn. Other than the mass planting of coral petunias and deep blue lobilia at the entrance of the home, annuals are only used as spot color in the garden.

Mammoth white boulders cap off this stunning home and garden. Strategically placed about the garden, these white rocks seem to tie the white home, concrete patio and garden together with elegance.

This tour is well worth the time. Each home is unique with plenty to offer.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Color photos

MEMO: Two sidebars appeared with the story: 1. IF YOU GO To get to the East Mission yards, look for signs in the East 2400 block of Nora; to get to the Legacy Hills homes, drive 10 minutes north of the North Division Y on Highway 395, turn east (right on Hatch Road, then east on Midway) and watch for the signs. The Whitworth yard is in the West 600 block of Graves Road. The three gardens just north of Mission are within walking distance of each other.

2. GARDEN TOUR The tour costs $3; children under 14 are free. Proceeds will be donated to horticulture projects in Spokane. For further information, please call 325-0575 or 838-1275.