My dear, and long time friend Panayoti Kelaidis and his partner Jan came over to tour the gardens this July. Panayoti is the Senior curator and Director of Outreach at the Denver Botanical Gardens. I’ve known him for 25 years, from way back in my Landmark Education days. I did the Forum https://www.landmarkworldwide.com/ with his then wife, Gwen Moore, in 1993. They were instrumental in guiding me through my early years of gardening at my house in Aurora. Over the years Panayoti has brought me many botanical presents, all of which are growing in my Brighton garden, Wellyssa’s Womb.
Jan, Wellyssa, Panayoti, Brian
OMG! I was soo nervous and desperate to impress! But they both said they thoroughly enjoyed the garden, and being the good friend, and kind man that he is, Panayoti heaped praises on the garden. The garden was very happy.
The Garden is looking beautiful
(sorry for the blurry pictures, I think I finally figured out which setting to use on my camera that isn’t too big for download, and won’t come out blurry for the future.) I’m a gardener, not a photographer! Hearing the voice of Dr. McCoy in the back of my mind . . .
We’ve been wanting to do this project for 10 years, but there has always been something more important going on, or a bigger project I was more invested in. Now that’s it’s finished, I can’t believe we waited this long, the difference is amazing. To be able to define the space at the bottom of the exterior berms from the edges of the drainage ditches surrounding the property makes such a difference.
As I laid out the 800 yards of hose, rope, electrical cord and whatever else I could find to set the straight lines so I could paint where the edge was going to go, I realized that what is visually equal or straight from the viewpoint of the berm, is NOT straight from the viewpoint of the road.
Sculpting around the curved edges of the noodle gardens
So I had to lay out the lines, according to what I thought looked good, or where the existing berm and mulched plantings ended, and then go stand on the street and take a look. Yikes! What a difference. I had to move the hoses, etc., to be in line with the edge of the straight line of the street, as viewed from the street, to get it to look good. This was really tedious, I had no idea it would be such a pain.
Looking from east at the front of the property to west end
Then we laid 24″ width’s of weed barrier, double layer next to the lines for the rocks to sit on. I’m NOT gong to pull grass out from between 800 yards of rock! 12″ of the fabric ran up the berm to be tucked under the mulch, and then smaller fill rocks were added around the larger edging rocks to fill the gaps and hide the fabric at the ditch side of the edging.
This project used 25 tons of 8-12″ granite rip-rap. I had the truck drop 1/2 the pile in the south materials area and the other 1/2 had to be dropped in the street in the culdesac on the north side, so we had to do that side first (I didn’t want my neighbors to have to be driving around my rock pile for months).
We extended the edging to the rear driveway and created a rocked area to connect the culvert to the driveway concrete and up the slope to the main edge of the edging, and from the culvert up the other side to the street edge.
I had a 25% off materials coupon from Ewing Irrigation and Landscaping, as a “good customer” reward. Ha! they had no idea what was coming. When I told the lady behind the counter I needed 25 tons of rip-rap AND I have a 25% off coupon, she had to call corporate to get an OK, but I got that OK! but I got my 25 tons for $525.00.
For this project I used labor from my friend Jester Martin, at http://nadurragardens.com/. He sent me over a laborer, Thomas, to do the heavy lifting and the tedious job of measuring, cutting and placing the weed barrier down. Thomas dug out the largest rocks from both piles and spaced them equally along the entire length of the fabric border on the north and south sides. Between laying the fabric and pulling out the big stones, this took 3 days. After that phase was complete, I and my friend Sherry (whom I also paid, but not as much as the guy from Nadurra) began to fill in the spaces between the largest rocks with the next biggest rocks, tucking in the smaller 4″ and 2″ rocks to make everything tight and to fill in the gaps.
(Yes, 2″rocks. I bought 8-12″ rip-rap and I had probably a full ton of 2-4″ pieces. I was really pissed! I actually had to go back to the yard and hand pull another 2 tons of rocks, 3 loads in my pick up, to finish the job, because at least 1/3 of the pile was undersized. They refused to offer me a refund or exchange or replacement. I will never buy materials from Ewing again.) Wish I had taken pics of the piles though – they were impressive!
East end snake
Years ago, my now-moved-away-neighbor Roy, brought me this awesome snake head shaped rock and placed it at the end of the front/south rock berm. It’s about 3′ long and 18″ high and 24″ wide. I had a few large granite stones (18″ x 12″) in a pile in the back yard waiting for the right thing to do with them. So Sherry and I wrangled them up on the heavy duty hand cart and drug them one by one across the yard, out the back driveway, up the street to the east end of the property, down the ditch and then back up the other side and set them in place, one by one. We connected the rock berm to the head of the snake and then incorporated the head of the snake into the rock edging. We turned the snakes tail around in a bending pattern, propping the last stone up in the air like the tip of his tail.
We also had to drag over a few of the largest stones up out of the ditch around the drainage pipe that runs under street. These stones had to be dug up out of the ground where they had been sitting, and the rolled, flipping them over one side at a time, up the steep drainage pit that they were set into, and then towards the snake about 20′ away. People must have thought we were insane. We’d haul one stone, flipping it over and over, get it in place with sticks and crowbars and lots of grunting and then fall into the grass of the ditch and lay there panting and sweating for 10 minutes. Then we’d get up and go fetch the next rock. We got all 11 rocks in place in one 3 hours session.
Straight line viewed from the street!
Now we have a beautiful straight, decorative edge all the way around the property. Thank you Jester, Thomas, Sherry and me!
I began this project in March of 2016. (see post in this blog) I got inspired by a facebook post of a garden sculpture made of willow branches, and immediately enrolled my good husband and my good friends D and Bear into helping me create her.
Willow Woman sculpture, completed summer 2018.
After running out of branches in 2016, I once again harvest the dead branches and trimmed back some more branches from my willows and hauled them out back to dry. I also got my large garden cart and went out back to the reservoir and cut down willows around the pond (leaving plenty behind for the local wildlife).
Waiting for things to dry . . . .
2017 I added another 2′ in height to the Willow woman’s skirt, and then started the whole process of finding, cutting and drying willow branches again.
2018 – Completion! I have finally harvested enough willow branches from the pond and from my own willow stands to finish the willow woman. Thank the Gods! Because I am SO over this project. For 2 years, it looked like a giant pile of brush, the piles got int he way of other yard projects and in the way of mowing, and Brian was complaining about them, and . . .
But I think she turned out lovely. I gave her a heart of pink rose quartz, a magic ball to scry into (it lights up at night), and a beautiful 30″ cast iron cauldron, which was given to me and my husband by his Aunt Judy from Missouri. She stands about 7′ high in the front and 5′ high in the back.
Willow Woman closeupWillow Woman, with her scrying ball and cauldronWillow Woman, from the back.
I went to the Denver Botanical Garden’s spring cactus and succulent sale, and lost my mind! I set up this cacuts display in pots. I drove to the ends of the valley to find to find the colors I wanted. I chose colors that give a nod to the bright Mexican calavera pottery. I will post more pictures in 2019 with species name and such.I bought these plastic cloches to help protect the agaves in the pot garden. “Some” say that agave will not overwinter in the garden here in Colorado, in a pot. We shall see. Cause I’m not going to haul pots around.so temps are supposed to be down to 10 degrees. So I wrapped the agaves in quilted packing blankets. they WILL make it through this winter!
These Iris were from an “exotic” blend I purchased from Breck’s bulbs. Baboon bottom, Zebra stripe, Tiger, and blue batik. They were supposed to be spotted and stripped. They came out as pictured. I complained to Brecks and they sent me a new shipment. They also did not show their stripes. sigh. They’re still quite pretty.Iris Spring 2018 (If I can remember the variety, I’ll update later.)These Iris were moved last fall from the base of the south berm, street side. The carpet juniper over took them. I didn’t expect them to bloom, but their first year after transplant was surprisingly pleasing. White alium is in the foreground, and blooming red twig dogwood in the background.Gypsy Queen Spring 2018Midnight Black Iris Spring 2018The yellow and white Iris in this bed are a gift from my Mother. She planted these Iris in her garden in San Jacinto Ca. in 1972. (I think she got them from her Mother’s garden, but I’m not completely sure about that.) She took some with her to Salt Lake City Ut in 1974. When I bought my first house in 1989 she sent me some in a box, to Aurora CO. When I moved to my current, and permanent home here in Brighton CO, I of course, took them with me. These Iris have a long and loving history.
apricot puntia, screams with color!Giant aliums are the first burst color in the south Willow GardenSpring is so glorious and messy, all at the same time. Everything is bursting from the ground at the same time, including the weeds.My Mom made these for me. (She’s very skilled at ceramics.) I love them soo much.This area was all grass. Hard to mow. I had the grass dug out and new top soil tilled into the clay. The clay is really heavy right here for some reason. So far, I have added iris and several other plants that I divided from other places in the garden: goldenrod, Jupiter’s beard, red day lily, sedum, salvia, shasta daisy, Turkish yellow poppy, and echinacea.
the story pole looks much happier with some color around it.This year I decided to plant the vege garden with annuals instead of vegetables. I canned so much food last year, and worked soo hard in this garden, I decided to just do something beautiful and less labor intensive with the space this year.the tulips brighten up this corner of the garden. After the tulips, the purple alium will come up, and then after that the tiger lililes. This little triangle looks spectacular for 6 solid months. Finally! A plan comes together. Where’s my cigar?I just love how these orange and purple tulips look under the Linden tree.In the background, the fruit trees are blooming. They missed the late spring frost. There WILL be fruit this year!
Beautiful because the snow highlights the bones of plants and structures that you don’t see otherwise.
the Vege garden
Beautiful because the garden is at rest, so I am at rest.
Rabbit, catching some sun against the south facing side of the vege garden bedSouthern guardian, feeling a little out of his element.
Beautiful because thee is a deep silence and stillness that only winter brings.
Bottle bed, north/east garden. secluded up next to the north berm, and under the Canadian Red Cherry.The color on the story pole stands out in the snowy backdrop
Beautiful because even the smallest bit of color seems like a gift from God.
this bird feeder is very busy during the winter. It’s in the south facing willow garden. The large spruce to the left gives the birds a place to flee to when they feel nervous.
I love how the light shines through the bottle wall, even in the grey light of the storm. The elemental dragons seem undaunted.Womb of the Earth, looking through the butterfly garden
Beautiful because it magnifies the strength of all creatures exposed to it.
Witches Hat Cupola
Just, Beautiful.
Fountain, South Willow Garden. I love how the snow drapes the bowl. But it also reminds me that I need to get outside and clean it out, dry it and wrap it for winter, so it doesn’t crack.
Now that’s it’s finished, I can’t believe we waited this long, the difference is amazing. To be able to define the space at the bottom of the exterior berms from the edges of the drainage ditches surrounding the property makes such a difference.
