Open Garden in Carrollton

     Back in June I was invited to an Open Garden event at the home of Bill and Linda Pinkham. This was not my first time here (nor this blog's), and I always enjoy visiting. The Pinkhams are consummate plant people, and over the years have designed some of the best residential landscapes in southeastern Virginia, introduced new plants to area gardeners, mentored many in horticulture (including myself), and they have created a remarkable garden for themselves overlooking the James River.

     In order to reach the front door of the house, a pond with enormous koi must be crossed first.

Another Visit to Federal Twist

     After attending the Perennial Plant Conference back in October, I was able to enjoy some of what fall offered in the Delaware River Valley. One of the things I did was to visit James Golden's garden as part of The Garden Conservancy's Open Days Program. On my first visit to Federal Twist the white glare of a blazingly hot summer afternoon made photography nearly impossible. On this trip the light conditions were much friendlier, however, word has spread about this remarkable garden, and I often had to wait for people to walk out of my viewfinder to get a good shot. James' garden is one of the most unique private spaces I have ever seen. The architecture, carefully chosen pieces of art, a blend of native and exotic plants - all seem to arise naturally from the surrounding landscape. I could attempt to describe it further, but the gardener is much better at that then am I.

     On the day of the tour, the look-at-me plant of the day was Viburnum plicatum sporting its red autumn blazer, and I heard more than one visitor inquire to its identification. The viburnum looks over the reflecting pool, which is one of the few bits of rectilinear formality in an otherwise naturalistic informal garden. The contrast elevates both.

     I was surprised by how much I admired the dormant form and structure of Inula racemosa 'Sonnenspeer', which was all over James' garden, weeks past its prime.

     I also admire my mother and brother for many reasons, but on this day for putting up with my photo-snapping, garden-obsessed self. BTW, don't you love these Wave Hill chairs? I think we may have to see some of these a little further south.

     Speaking of photo-obsessed, if you would like to see all of my photos from my visit, my complete set can be found here.

Private Garden Tour, Part IV

     This is the final post in my Private Garden Tour series, and I have saved the Campbell garden for last because it is my favorite. This in no way means the other gardens are something less, this just happens to be my personal favorite, but this one had an unfair advantage. One of my top favorite trees defines the back garden, and without them it would be an entirely different place.

     The Campbell garden sits on a large lot, compared to its neighbors, and although it is not right on the ocean, it is close enough. The house itself is old by north end Virginia Beach standards and was built in the 1920's. The first thing I noticed when we pulled up was a twisted Japanese black pine that has as much character as the house does. The tree is surrounded by bluestone, boxwoods, self-seeding cosmos, Russian sage, ornamental grasses and larkspur. It is a great mix of restrained and wild, befitting the setting.

    A walkway on the side led us through an arbor, into the back garden and to a series of sitting, dining and entertainment areas. Most of the back garden sits under a canopy of marvelous live oaks (the favorite tree of mine mentioned earlier). The Campbells apparently love these trees too, as they purchased the lot next door to ensure that nothing would happen to the live oaks. Some of the trees are growing on top of old sand dunes that somewhat form a small valley. A waterfall flows down from one of the dunes and feeds a koi-filled pond at the bottom of the valley. Decking from the back of the house was sensitively built and offers good views and access to what makes this garden special, the oaks.

     Thank you for tagging along on the tour. If you want to see Part I, Part II or Part III, just click on the hyper-link. If you would like to see the full set of photos, some of which I did not show in these posts, you can visit my Flickr set.  I would also like to thank Meg for organizing the tour and for suggesting it in the first place, my boss for making it happen, and I would especially like to thank all of the gardeners who graciously opened their homes to us.