A Tour of the Gardens

In 1990, the terraced gardens by the front door of Our Home were 3-5 feet deep in blackberry brambles and there was a 5 foot high pack-rat's nest where the Bay Tree Terrace now is located. Many of the oak trees and the bay tree were a complete surprise when we uncovered them.

We've since been told that the patio area at the bottom of the terraced gardens was once a corral for a horse (Yes, it is the same horse that walked into the kitchen). Although the patio was added later, by the end of 1991 we had reached the area named "Kzinti's Garden" in memory of our orange tabby cat, Quisty, the Kzinti.

The gardens beside the deck, "Arnold's" gardens, are named for the Arnold Arboretum, the botanical garden in Boston, MA. Their renovation took several years as the English ivy was over 2 feet deep and it had to be removed including its roots. We knew that "Arnold's" gardens would be ideal for wildflowers because through the ivy, there were growing Trillium and Fat Solomon Seal.
Our property boundary along "Arnold's" is not straight. The story that we have been told is that a past owner discovered that our neighbor's garage was actually built partially on our land. So a small slice of our land was sold to accommodate the neighbor's garage.

The last gardens were those created after construction of our garage and driveway renovations. The "Driveway Center" garden was a particular challenge as, previously, a circular driveway had occupied much of that space.

All around our house, we have constructed sidewalks made of concrete paving stones set in sand. When we first moved to La Honda, the adobe soil was dry and hard. We actually thought it might be concrete. After the first rains, however, it became soft and slippery so sidewalks became a priority.

We couldn't resist filling this page with photos of some of our garden flowers.