Lets Explore This Enchanting Garden

Explore the enchanting garden of my friend and mentor, Carol. Join me on a journey through her charming oasis and be inspired by her bountiful wisdom.
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this is a really special episode for me I have been wanting to do this for a very very long time and why haven’t I you asked it’s because I can never catch you in town because you’re always in Colorado or you’re in Portugal or you are someplace exotic this is one of my dearest friends and gardening mentors Carol Blackwood so gosh how long have we known each other probably 40 plus years 40 plus years May more 45 yeah so to give you context Carol lives just around the block a street over and a block down from my former house and we met I think through gardening circles didn’t we yes we did through gardening circles and at that time I knew absolutely nothing and you knew absolutely everything and to this day Botanical names and everything just roll off your tongue like you know like a second language the other thing you did for me which has been just so influential in my life is Carol was the one who introduced me to my good buddy Roger and and John John fluid you knew them you knew John when he was just getting out of school as a landscape architect I know and that’s that’s been a long time too yes it so okay so tell us since about the same time just before I met you not many years maybe five years before I met yeah five years and Carol was one of the few people that had the rights to at any time enter my backyard with friends and a number of times I’d be in my pajamas or you know that’s just what gardeners do it was a great uh privilege and something I prized because people always wanted to see the Lind Garden so I felt like I was very lucky well okay so tell us just a little bit first of all Stuart let’s do a little sweep of this absolutely adorable house and I’m going to point out Carol’s going to be leaving us she’s got an appointment but I’m going to be pointing out some features that were very influential in my own home design at the former home and my new home now so how many years have you lived here I’ve lived here since 1970 so I’ve lived here 54 years and I was uh total Sun Gardener when I moved here and so I planted trees and I planted a big tree just behind where Linda is standing and it was here until two years ago when an ice storm yeah damaged it was Water Oak and little did we know when we planted it was right over for a natural spring so it was one of the biggest ones in North Oklahoma City and it took me a long time to let go of it I kept thinking it would recover and it didn’t yeah and it had so I went from Total shade back to almost total and didn’t you tell me that it was kind of a twofer because there was an ice storm and then subsequently was the year that it got down to minus 18 yes within six months there was a devastating early ice storm in October and then in Fe February we had this super frigid yeah weather that went all the way through to South Texas yeah and uh my Oak tried to recover but it was just not meant to be with a lot of help from Roger John rer Mark B which who is the state arborist yes he is and they were all very patient with me and finally I said okay I’m ready to let it go it’s hard it it is just so everything you see behind Linda is all new since couple just two three years ago two or three years ago yes yeah it was all it was quite the buzz in gardening circles when that tree was lost and um and truly truly a real a real tragedy but you’re uh just a little bit more your son and daughter-in-law also live in the neighborhood yes they do and so it’s very it it you know once we once you and my in-laws live just down the street so we have three generations of people living in this neighborhood Crown hun yeah yeah and I and it was hard for me to leave mostly because of people like Carol that I have known for such a long time and have such a history with but you’ve been by my new Garden so and she’s not far away say not too far yeah I feel free to go in that Garden she can go in that Garden yes yes at any at any time however again we’ll go back to the beginning that would predicated on your being in in town and and in the states and Carol has very graciously because the inside of her home is every bit as magnificent as the outside of her home and when she gets back from Colorado in September then we might have to take a peek inside as well well it’s a house from 1936 and a and uh it is really pretty yeah it’s I have no credit for any credit for that it’s just a it’s just a just a beautiful home thank you thank you my friend welcome thank you oh and by the way I’ve sometimes talked about how when I hurt my back and I had to call one of my gardening friends to help get me out of the bathtub this would be that gardening this would be that Garden yes friends forever well this is one of and has always been one of my favorite houses in Crown Heights it is you talk about a quintessential English cottage this is definitely it and it’s especially near and dear to me since it does house my my good good longtime friend Carol so I tell you what let’s start here and we’ll kind of do a little sweep around now it’s important to say that for this house hers was built I think she said in 1936 that she has she likes spots of color but she has never liked a lot of color she has really typically as long as I have known her and it was probably it probably influenced my aesthetic she’s always like just green on green so a little bit about some of the plants here and how you can Romance the ordinary you can Elevate very common plants if you use them in a good way and if you have a good enough soil prep so this is just a ruby glow Barberry and she keeps this beautifully pruned so it doesn’t go extremely prickly and I can remember when we planted I helped her plant I believe I helped her plant or at least design these rounded mounds of boxwood these are winter green they’re in magnificent shape and she we wanted to do kind of a cloud thing here and of course when we put these in they were very very small maybe three gallon size and over the years they have just grown magnificently and they really ground the corner and they did just that it’s low maintenance she does travel a lot and they gave her that kind of cloud effect that she wanted and then and I can’t remember how long this possum ha Holly has been here but it’s been here for a very long time and she does keep it pruned up because as she alluded to earlier she had so much shade so she keeps this pruned up so that what is growing underneath H that’s a holly a variety well I don’t know if it’s a true Holly but it’s called a posum hall um and that that could be my question of the day if you guys are more familiar with posum Haw let me know it does put out beautiful berries and then she has I believe these are Valverde uh boxwood these are we don’t see these in Oklahoma a lot and she just did Victor helped her do a really good maintenance prune on these so they will start flushing out again and I love the slight differential in the color the kind of blue green gray of this it’s pretty noticeable isn’t it you can definitely see it yeah and and just the winter green which is probably one of the least expensive toughest Evergreens that you can get and then she’s just got uh I think I want to say this is a blue star Blue Star juniper here with some purple Oxalis just again green on green some sedums she said she had thought she lost this variegated Ivy but it came back she said with enough time it came back yeah and then I was asking her this is the kind of mailbox I used to have at the fairy tale house and then she got this for her larger type of mail and things and this is an old coal shuttle that she bought at an antique store in Atlanta it’s pretty cool now if if you recognize these steps in some fashion it’s probably because I have replicated to a certain extent these types of steps at both the fairy tale house and at the storybook Cottage because they just do that I think very very much they they speak to that aesthetic and then she’s got the gorgeous lead glass windows and her fixtures have always been fabulous the fixtures some of them were here but a lot of them also I think she has sourced over time in all of her travels and then she also it’s interesting that she also has this love for very traditional and again she’s a fabulous Gardener very traditional English gardening with boxwoods and things of that nature but then you’ll find surprising little pops of color like this this Cana and she and and and tropicals and then steuart if we come back out this way well I’ll tell you what let’s take a little break cuz I’m going to go get my sunglasses cuz it’s starting to get pretty pretty bright out here and then we’ll do the sweep before we go to her absolutely magnificent backyard well if ever there was a garden that is a testament to the fact that Gardens are always changing it would be carols because it has undergone so many different iterations in style in plantings um and even in the scale of the plantings over time starting with this gko tree which has been here for a very very long time oh that’s big it it’s gorgeous one of the largest that I’ve ever seen and if you stand back at the street you’ll notice that it’s a little bit misshapen it’s very full on the east side but not so much on the west side that would be because previously this was in so much shade when that Oak was here now it is slowly filling out on this side and that it will in short order hopefully be symmetrical it’s absolutely a gorgeous gorgeous tree and then down near the drive is a Cedar Elm a multi-trunk Cedar Elm and by the way that was the tree Roger or trees Roger wanted to plant um with a single trunk in front of my in front of of my window but you can of the cottage window but you can see how large and scale it gets and I wanted more sun and and less shade than that okay so here’s an here is here are a few examples of elevating the common Romancing the ordinary this is a $3 Pine some kind of Japanese Pine that she bought a million years ago and if Stuart if you follow the pine over that way you see this is all one this is all one plant and of course it was supposed to be a compact form when she bought it and it was not and as it started I know as it isn’t it amazing as it started losing its lower limbs then she trained it in this kind of Japanese this kind of Japanese way this is another common plant that can really handle now that this has so much more sun this can really handle a lot of that South sun and this is a Rosy glow Barberry a very common variety that’s been around for years and the foliage is just beautiful was just noticing how like it looks like it’s has a purple look but you get closer it’s totally multicolored yeah yeah it’s variegated and the new growth is really really beautiful and I’m sure this started out as just a very very small shrub um this not anymore this is a Japanese spreading U I used to have all sort SS of these a whole a whole line of them in front of the curving wall at the fairy tale house this one is the variety that I had and look at how big it is look at that trunk W yeah and the trunk becomes exposed over time and then there’s another there’s another pine tree back here and it just goes to show what you can do as something matures and instead of I think it becoming unsightly I think it develops character as it matures and it really becomes graceful and beautiful in its old age especially when things begin to grow together these are PeeWee not PG hydranges hydranges she said and back in the distance you see just a Chinese Holly that she said was also a compact form when she planted it but oh contrary it had plans of its own this area she used to have lots of ivy growing in here you can see some strawberry Vine and things and she’s trying to slowly eradicate that clean this out and she’s putting some of this SE this golden Sedum in here that she hopes will eventually fill this um she’s got a limelight here that probably needs a little bit of iron from all the rain that we’ve had it’s chlorotic you can see those yellowing leaves so she’ll give that some iron I am sure this is a nine bark which is beautiful and I asked her I said so what are these growing back here these suckers and she said these are coming off of the nine bark and what she’ll do is she will cut these back so you can see what’s behind them the different kinds of hydranges and the silhouette of some of the beautiful Evergreens that are growing behind it and then she’s got a canart juniper here and these yeah right here with the gorgeous berries canart canart and these by the way are the plants that were installed to replace the mammoth Oak that was here before um and she planted them in a rather mature size as you can imagine because she lost not only all of that shade but she lost all of the privacy and Roger and John helped her with that um these are gorgeous red twig dogwoods that in the fall are simply spectacular and she has always liked um again green on green textural contrast but she’s also always liked kind of a little bit of an overgrown look and I think it works with her home there are some those look like they might be white wedding hydrangeas back there I’m not sure those are a Southern Living plant along with some boxwood and then some Cedars that were installed again after she lost the trees some native Cedars so they will be they will be tough she’s got some kind of cars here looks like she’s got um some kind of Oriental peie here and then around the front she has different kinds of I think faux maybe some faux bamboo more Sedum again just green on green things this is in the process of of Maintenance and probably get going to be getting some mulch here pretty soon and that might be Tris uh trisca I’m not sure yes I that it is I see the characteristic Telltale seed heads so it’s all green on green a little bit blue green on green but she is as I said just a fabulous Gardener and she likes things that are un usual or things that she’s seen on her travels and it’s really truly just a spectacular home now you and I as gardeners we both know that one of the most difficult things to grow in Oklahoma is just simply turf or grass and I know that you like me have tried just about every variety Under the Sun in the shade um and over time it has changed a lot but this is what you have now and you said it’s a combination of zoa zoa and the near the street and then up the hill is because of more shade it’s Fescue Fescue and there are a few wild violets that I let bloom in the spring just little baby ones and then we cut them down because they’re really deer I know that for a while this was largely Fescue and a combination of maybe even a little bit of Bermuda because that’s when you had the tree here and growing Turf under the shade is just problematic and that’s one of the reasons that we like flower beds under our under our trees true yeah but it’s just well it’s constant receding because you have to recede spring and usually fall and fall but not with zoa cuz it’s tough it’ll it’ll hang in there but it zoa does not like the sun either so it I mean does not like the shade excuse me yeah it’s a sun grass and the downside of that which is important to some of us who like to have a bit of a green lawn is that zoa will turn brown in the winter time just as Bermuda does and it’s really difficult to overseed so if you like to have a Green Turf in the in the spring and a little bit during the winter then you probably don’t want to plant zoa but boy is it gorgeous in the dead of Summer yes and it’s it’s fine uh leaves and very thick yeah and it’s very very tough and it looks a little bit like Fescue so in the transition zone it does some of it gets mixed yeah some of it gets mixed but also it doesn’t scream oh I am Fescue and I am zoa so it really really is beautiful okay we’re going to take a break here and boy do I have a surprise for you in the backyard okay now I want to do an outfit of the day here first of all because I want to stand in front of this absolutely magnificent chimney isn’t it gorgeous but also because I want to share with you one of the best finds I’ve discovered in a very very long time uh so but let’s start top to bottom so these are the sunglasses Leah and I love so much that we bought online and I will of course put a link but this is the top I wanted to show you in fact I love it so much I bought three more now why do I love it well I love it because it’s got SPF 45 or 50 in it it’s very loose I sized up this is a medium I love it because it’s got these thumb holes so not only is it protecting your skin on your arms your shoulders Etc but it’s also protecting your hands then don’t look at my my dirty fingernails I’ve been pulling i’ been yeah I’ve been pulling weeds um and and and it’s very very light and it’s very comfortable B so even on a very hot day it’s not too sweltering it comes in all different colors I bought I think two in white and one in pink and I may order more simply because they are just they’re just wonderful and I imagine I’ll have them on constant rotation as I’m working in and out of the garden and in fact I keep one by the front door so I can just slip it on if I’ve got on a shirt that is sleeveless or something and then my belt I think I got at Nordstrom Rack these are thrifted uh shorts from J crew and my cute cute boots These are highy and we will put links to as many of these things as possible below now this is truly a magnificent incredible I there are not enough superlatives I can use to discuss this backyard it’s very near and dear to me starting with this incredible customade gate predicated on an antique one that I will show you shortly and and the hardware on it was is antique and was gifted to her by her son but look at how it has these panels so you can leave this open and I’m going to step out of the way Stuart so you can get a view of this Oasis back here all right I mean talk about Serenity talk about instant relaxation it’s feels like a combo of the English Countryside and maybe Bali I’m not sure what but come in this place Stuart and first of all just give people just an overview of the first impression that they get when they walk through the gate really gorgeous and now let’s meet back up with my friend Carol over here who’s going to tell us a little bit about some of the garden ornaments that you’ve got back here and let’s start with this incredible table oh my goodness this is fabulous yeah yeah my husband Charles and I had a priority of traveling and so we always took trips every year um as well you’re always yeah marriage of 62 years oh wow and um this was a table that my husband found and I was with him uh in an arts and crafts training school in Jordan and the school was started by the then queen Queen no and they taught people to do traditional crafts and what ways that were also very marketable and so this is a a mosaic table handmade and it’s the story of growing grapes and making wine and with a lot of n uh native animals wild animals in Jordan and so it’s become the garden table so Carol Charles was a geologist correct yes geological engineer engineer and you were a teacher yes and childhood Early Child and and she is also a very accomplished harpist oh wow um one well I wouldn’t call it that and one of the best red people I know and I think that’s another way we got to be friends yes we did through books through books because we would share books back and forth we would oh how many gardening books did we share back and forth and when you see the inside of her house steuart if you would just kind of point the camera towards those French doors which go inside to a room that is just well it’s a sitting area a TV room but it also houses your very extensive whose is more extensive yours or mine our garden libraries oh I don’t know we’d have to have account we’d have to have account and probably as we would go through our libraries I would find some of yours and you would find some you would find some some of mine cuz it was so influential I think reading all of those books and learning about different kinds of gardening Styles oh I think it’s fun I think it’s fun it’s like going on another Garden Tour and I reading those books and even though it’s not the style you’re going to have in your garden you really I really learned to love them and appreciate them and I think that that was another thing from a mentoring standpoint in terms of teaching me so much about different things in Oklahoma and believe me I she knows more plant names that I have long since forgotten and I don’t know how you retain them it’s a a thing to Marvel at I think it’s just probably my love for plants and Gardens because I I certainly don’t remember a lot of other things have to do with so yes selective memory selective memory but I I think part of the garden mentoring process was not just the horiculture of it and I still have so much to learn but those things that you taught me about Linda read about Gardens read about styles of gardens read about the history of gardens read about Oklahoma Gardens but read about gardens around the world and whenever you travel go visit Gardens and I think that was one of the most influential things you shared with me so what give us us the speaking of inspiration give us the initial inspiration and as we talk steuart feel free to roam around and preferably not fall in when we moved here there was a Cyclone Fence and on both sides where the wooden fence okay what’s a Cyclone Fence it’s that iron uh fence that has aluminum poles and it’s a it’s about a 3 in square chain it’s also known as the chain okay okay and um and a small patch of grass and at the back of the garden by the waterfall was a covered patio so if you went back there you looked at the house and so when we built the pool in 86 we sort of reversed the view from looking at the Garden from the house and this small seating area back towards the uh waterfall and the rock wall at the back which is really my neighbor’s back wall but I certainly take advantage of it oh it’s fabulous and I think it’s a big piece of the charm of this Garden for me yeah very much that probably was my first lesson in a borrowed view in borrowing The View I’m going to get a little bit closer to you Carol to not only because I always want to be close to you but because I’m the one miked up and I um I wasn’t sure you were even going to be here when we got here so this is such a treat for me so who helped you come up with the layout and the design for it well I had a very bad back and I was swimming for exercise at the wife and um so I came up on the idea of having a lap pool here and I saw a picture in a magazine that had Boulders around it and uh so I came up with that idea and that picture and I asked John flu mhm and uh to help me design a garden around that and so he and um Bill rener yes who they had designed the first Garden in front not the current one that you just saw but the first one and so in my friendship with Bill and uh and John was very fundamental in me establishing sort of my garden style and uh and then I’ve worked with John uh through the years and with his new uh associate Roger rungi and uh I just tell them what they they know what I like now and I like this Garden to look almost tropical in the summer mhm and then when some of the plants like the big leaf rice paper plant dies to the ground in the winter it’s a true perennial uh are gone then I sort of look at it with impressionistic eyes and hope it looks a little Oriental Asian it’s what I love about it in addition to all of those things and all of those Muses that you have for the garden is that it in no way seems out of context for the context of your home because all of the stone mirrors the St St on your house it’s the same style or it’s it’s of the same Provence and it Blends beautifully with that stone wall in the back and it just is I don’t know if one of the words you thought about initially in your your inspiration for the garden was Serene but this is about as Serene as you get I feel almost like I am at one of those meditation those meditation places where you go and so I come here uh for several reasons to be in the garden and one is I eat out here in the summer as much as I can so sometimes in the spring when before it’s too hot I’ll eat all three my meals right here with this view at the waterfall and then in The Secret Garden I have a small little iron chair and when I really want to be contemplative and or relaxing or thinking about something I should work out I go there and so and then there’s a bench at the back of the garden and I can still sit there and look at the very different view of the house then would we first right and we’ll show that secret garden here momentarily I love the way you have all of the trees beautifully pruned and it and they seem to be variety that aren’t in any way messy or very messy with the pool is that true or not no and this pool uh it’s not a big space but it has the same motor as all pools and it really self cleans pretty well plus it’s a very small area and there’s this twostory garage apartment and the rock wall and fences so I don’t get as much wind I get wind up higher but I don’t get as much wind in in the planting areas the beds yeah and wind is is not always our friend and in Oklahoma and it’s present most every month of the year with the exclusion of July and August and a where it’s just kind of a dead deadly still so okay so now let’s go back to the secret garden and as you enter The Secret Garden you see the mirror doors that is at at the very end which reflects the garden back upon you as you enter and those doors correct me if I’m wrong those panels were the inspiration for the custommade gate yes that you had that leads into the backyard yes they were they were um I bought them from a gentleman who imported objects from uh Mexican hendes Old Ranch houses and those were Gates and so or doors into the house and I had them right here as the gates into the garden for years but they’re pegged with wood there’s not a nail in them and so they had some problems with not sagging and swaying so when we built this fence the carpenter copied them as much as he can for the present Garden game and then I had this idea to hang them on the wall back there and when I did that I the left side which you would see yourself when you would turn the corner I had them wedge the the mirror out a bit so you wouldn’t see yourself at first you would it was a continuous long path because it’s just a little slot of land beyond the garage apartment well and it’s very very shaded back there it’s it feels very secluded it’s it’s very private and it feels as if it’s just another little extra Jewel in addition to the Magnificent gym that is your garden so you have an assembly of oh you’ve got Japanese maples back here you’ve got even domestica Nandina domestica looks exotic in this backyard you’ve got some that are very tall some that are shorter you’ve got um a kuba chapon yes um and this is a Pome Hall holly tree that is a dous American holly it’s native to Texas and in the winter it’s covered in red berries and it’s a fun day when the flock of Cedar waxwing birds come oh I clean it of the berries so is the um is is the bunk is really gorgeous or the trunk is really gorgeous hole just before the Yol on the trunk and that’s uh the REM minder of the ice storm that we had in probably 90 something and we woke up and that branch that is now a big oval with a recessed area hole in it was lying in the pool oh my word and so um we cut it back and it it only had a couple of main branches and it was very deformed and it’s grown back to this it’s gorgeous it was a tough year or two looking at it from the kitchen sink and and the Japanese maple that is a a cut leaf or uh thread Leaf the one above our heads is just the original Japanese the pot yeah oh that guy over there yeah yeah I I that yes it’s just a cut Leaf Japanese maple but one of those fabulous pots you got from John yes well my daughter bought these from John Christa and um they’re red Ceramics and they’re really pieces of Red Cups like they have at the r Red Cup Cafe in Oklahoma City and so when you walk around and look at them closely the tiles are all curved and some of them have a little writing on them but they’re really masterpieces by this uh person who was associated with John for a long time and that what I love about it is it’s such a touchstone to Oklahoma City that’s that’s you know Johnny that’s my son Johnny’s very favorite place to when he comes to write it’s have to bring Johnny over to see oh yes I have three of the pots that must have be on I can imagine how many cups yeah yeah I can’t I can’t or much less how much caffeine and the rice plant you know you know this is a tough plant cuz it can be it’s a perennial and it’s the rice paper plant and if you happen to prune it and you can sort of crush the stocks or the stems they’re very piy and paper used to be made from them in Asia so they’re the rice paper plant they don’t look like rice at all uh growing uh but they’re wonderful and they bloom a very insignificant Bloom and and then they have these incredibly large leaves and yeah they’re really large one thing I want in my garden is a variety of leaf shape and size and color and texture yes and so um and and boy are they magnificent after a rain very prolific I’ve probably 20 plants from that one plant but after a rain the way they capture the raindrops and and the water gorgeous yes very very tropical looking now some people I never had a problem with them but some people told me that some of the sap that comes out if you could some people are sensitive to it have you heard that I’ve never had that experience but i’ let it go wild pretty much and if I’m printing I usually have on gloves and you not always but mostly mostly and you you gifted me one one of those well this is just spectacular this this is what kind of Hol this is a a nelly Stevens that was planted um there two of them very close together when we built the pool and that is uh the curling and peeling of the bark is from the ice and then above it you have this dot pattern and that’s from a woodpecker wow you’ve used Holly brilliantly and as Stuart and I are leaving I want to point out the Alle of foster holes one of my very favorite holes um that gives you magnificent privacy shade enclosure a deep green wall against against the small cutting Garden that you have there and gosh how tall are those now I remember when you planted them that but I would say they’re 15 yeah we can see them from here maybe huh yeah well we’ll we’ll see we’ll we’ll allude to them on the way out and they also we have this is something that’s not common in this neighborhood we have two n uh driveways together with this no more than 4ot piece of grass between them and so those holes have really helped soften that area I think and the fact that they can grow in a small space is a wonderful thing and birds love them and they’re relatively easy to keep PR I really like berries some people don’t so on the Nandina and then the fos at Christmas are beautiful yeah with the orangey Red Berry yeah and you know there’s that concern about Nandina domestica and the Sea and the Cedar Wax wings that they’ll Gorge themselves on the nandas I I don’t know that that’s has I’ve ever experienced that as as a problem do they ever Gorge so much on the psome hall that you’re concerned about that or no and and they don’t damage the tree at all um they just clean it up MH mhm but you have this allseason interest uh because it in the winter the tree is bare after the berries are eaten but much of the winter uh it has the red berries they come through usually in you know February March so a a couple of things and I don’t know how many different talks I have given over the years I allude to just how rambunctious sweet potato vine can be and I have told many times that I have a friend who came back from summer vacation and it had skipped over the entire pool and invaded the opposite side and if you have heard me share that little story this is indeed that pool and then let’s close steuart if you would back here on you have certainly influenced Me Maybe I influenced you a little bit with your topiary yes you did very much so and is that a summoned substance hosta it is and then and then that’s a um Oakleaf hydrangea which I like uh and that one I think is Alice and then Harry Lauder that is a Harry Lauder walking stick Bush and I bought that in the 70s and it was very small about 2 feet and it is a contorted hazelnut so it has this very cury stem and then uh it’s it is grafted onto a stronger root and um and in the winter they look like a pretty sculpture because of they’re gorgeous the movement of the cks and turns of the branches and the branches look beautiful in flower arrangements okay let’s close because I know we’re going to get some some viewers asking about you have well just tell us about the Mosaic of different Ground Covers you have well this is lamium right under the pot here but yes and in most Oklahoma Winters it stays it’s diminished it’s lower but it’s there in very frigid it will disappear but then it comes back then over by the uh turning s over by the the Lantern and the Buddha that is just something called ground ivy by me it’s a common name and I don’t know the botanical name it has roots that are no longer than an inch and it’s a good filler and it’s easy to groom or remove and so I’ve let it grow uh there and in this side too yeah and that was the variety in the front that you you alluded to reming some I’m eliminating some of that in the front so that I can plant more Sedum uh because I really like Sedum and uh in the the smaller sedums in the foreground of a perennial bed and and then just you’ve got just different kinds of I see purple over there is that Ox that is a plum U that’s leaning a little bit out over the pool and another um Oakleaf hydranga behind it okay and then there’s a golden boxwood on the right side of the pool and um and St is uh yes that’s the U right now and then at the back there is a spirit house that is illuminated at night oh beautiful um light under the the coral bark um Japanese Maple and um that’s I bought in California it’s inspired by the stone Spirit houses in Thailand and people put them in their Gardens for the spirits of their family ancestors well it’s I just love the way it is everything is so evocative of your interests of your travels of your life with Charles of your love for this neighborhood of your love for geography and and and also your your just love for serenity and and most importantly the takeaway of the importance of gardeners who give back by mentoring by mentoring others thank you dear thank you Linda now I’m I was remiss and not showing this to you earlier but I want to make sure that I show it to you now as I’m literally heading for the for my car but this is her cutting Garden that really over the years some of the the specimens have grown so much that kind of belies that word but she’s got Siberian Iris in hair look at this gorgeous sunshine lustrum I love the fact that it’s grown up seemingly almost like the one that was at at John’s house she’s got Pilla maybe with some Joe pie weed in there folding foliage a fabulous Peruvian lily I can’t believe how large these leaves are and an an antique yes some Claus at the back and what what was the variety of this rose again Queen Victoria Queen Victoria and antique rose and then another one that she bought at a sadly a nursery that from horns and then a clus that grows on the wall painter palet that’s a yeah and P’s palette and it it just and then this just kind of grows into this magnificent hedge This Magnificent Alay of foster Hol [Music] [Music]