Siri Hari's Garden!

Siri Hari Kaur’s Garden Sept. 17, 2006     Dear Garden Club Members,   Well, everyone who made it to Siri Hari Kaur’s garden on Sunday drank in pure, amazing enchantment!  Our most gracious hostess treated us to a truly grand tour that I know will be with me for a long time to come!   THE ENTRANCE:   Her sage green sliding gate in the rich brown adobe wall opened to a breath snatching vista where a large spouting fountain at the far end immediately pulled us!  To move towards it, we hesitated over her driveway entrance of pink stone tiles arranged in a very large circular pattern, walked in a straight line through the gap in a low adobe wall with espaliered fruit trees, over a grid of large white rectangular pavers with low creeping thyme fringed in between, through a courtyard of sparkling mica-like fine pink gravel lined on both sides with stately crab apple trees, until we came to the large spouting classic fountain!  And that was just for starters!   Her large two lot property is designed into “rooms” or areas—some grand and open, some tiny and hidden, interspersed with paths, walks and wide allees—from superbly formal to winding through close, hidden trails—never a dead end, with different sizes of splashing fountains both enlivening small spaces and taking center stage.  Several solid pieces of creative architecture—from two small elegant buildings, to patios with ample seating, to arbors of varied dimensions plus entrancing large pools anchored the grounds.  And well placed large trees both softened and shielded the perimeters of the property while giving weight, height and fullness overall to the grounds.    Every plant, every architectural piece, every activity, vista, and plant grouping has been carefully planned to give a sense of unending variety and charm!  Siri Hari described her design approach as the tension between the starkness of post-modern contrasted with the charm of the classic. This was evidenced in sleek lines of some architecture, pools, flooring patterns and a marvelous shaded arbor juxtaposed with classic statuary, fountains, columns and an ancient Greek styled portico. And they worked beautifully together!   She noted that she engaged a really good landscape designer who helped her lay out the foundation gardens with their architectural elements.  Then another designer who specializes in nursery material helped her choose the right plants to build the design.  This whole garden is the culmination of 3 years intensive work!  Some of Siri Hari’s rules of thumb are:   Build your gardens with greenery—trees and shrubs so that there is life in your garden year round, and to give your garden both height and a solid backdrop that shows off your flowers and other lower plants in front. “Layer” wide gardens as described above, using greater heights in the back, and lower in the front.  This height graduation was accomplished especially effectively on a graded hill with moderately tall trees and English style gardens and paths underneath the tree canopy on the hill that slopped down to a low garden wall (2’).  Then there was yet more garden in front of the wall, with a flat lush lawn in the foreground. Group your colors and stay with a disciplined color palette.  She especially loves placing silver green foliage with white flowers, along with light blues, purples, and various shades of pink and coral.  Although the colors fill her garden among the abundance of green lushness, they are grouped in a considered painterly manner, rather than using strong brilliant splashes.  She likes to use several different varieties and textures of flowers of the same color grouped together—very effective. She carefully planned for great transitions from area to area that are not jarring but rather inviting at every turn.  Variety that always piqued interest, provided a multitude of experiences and environments, and always interjected aesthetic intrigue was always evident.  Whether that was from grand to humble, hidden to glorious display, public or “party” to very private or “secret”, wide open to close in or covered, tall to low, hardscape (pavers, walls, statuary, pots) with moving or nearly still water and various plant textures, solid to mottled, stark to figurative, graduated levels with steps to a single level expanse, “stars” with “supporting casts”, and so on. She advises anchoring in the large parts of your garden first with your trees and architectural elements.  Then fill in the design you have set with medium and smaller plant material, etc. “Borrowed landscape” such as neighbor’s trees plus distant tree lines and vistas are always appreciated.  She especially enjoys the cottonwoods and globe willow in the distance showing above her garden walls. She advises making use of the many varieties of crab apple trees that thrive here, some for their magnificent flowery show, others for their various sorts of ornamental fruit. Siri Hari Kaur lives by her delightful mom’s adage, “Don’t live with a mistake!”  This means that when trees, plants or hardscape aren’t working, dig them up and replace them with those that do work.   On the practical side, she has had and continues to have lots of help doing the physical labor of such an immaculately groomed garden.  Hari Har Singh bulldozed the basic landscape and helped with other heavy construction.  And she uses drip irrigation that was hidden from sight.    She doesn’t rely only on local nurseries, but finds the plants that fulfill her design across the country wherever she can locate them.  She is abundantly familiar with all of her plants and what her design needs are.    Her soil is mostly clay.  So to prepare her soil, she digs her gardens 18” deep, puts in a layer of gravel (for drainage), replaces only part of her soil and mixes it with organic material/fertilizer such as metromix and uses plenty of pearlite (which makes the soil light and gives plenty of drainage.)  She suggests changing the soil in your garden every 5 years.   As for pests, she uses Nolo Bait early in the spring against tiny grasshoppers, but then hired a good tree spaying concern to give a full coating of an oil spray to the property to finally eliminate damaging grasshoppers.  And because of the comparatively wet and often shaded conditions of her garden, she finds snails in her lilies and irises.   When I asked if she had learned about gardening fairly recently or was it a long-term endeavor, she said that she had always grown up with wonderful and large gardens, some very famous.  And she especially credited the Siri Singh Sahib’s great love for gardens as her inspiration.  He evidently had a hand in her garden planning!   So, here is a brief “room by room” description of her gardens:       TO THE LEFT OF THE MAIN ENTRANCE:   SWIMMING POOL AREA   As you take a left from the main fountain, the entry to the next area is flanked by two identical small but full gardens centered on tall ornamental grasses with equally tall matching dahlias, along with other lower flowers providing elegance while creating a cozy passageway.   Then you open to a very large expanse with a wide green lawn on the left, a magnificent long double lap wide swimming pool appearing to be lapis in color, and with gleaming gold tiles lining its steps.  Its’ long stark lines spread straight to a marble classical Greek style portico at the focal far end.  And on the right is a very long, very party-adequate straight lined patio with a sage green arbor covered with camouflage leaf material that is actually used by the military, which creates dappled sunlight.  Under this housing were groupings of lovely and comfortable post modern wicker furniture.    To the left of the lawn are two main, very distinct large gardens laid at right angles to the pool area.  As you sit on the arbor covered patio, you have a clear view across the pool and down one of these gardens called, of course the Pool Garden.  These gardens are:   ARABIAN POT ALLEE   When you take a left at the Greek portico, you walk down the wide sparkling pink mica graveled area that incorporates borders on either side of weeping crabapples.  Between these trees are a series of large matching grey pots with “Arabian” designs in which are planted silver green and white foliage with delicate coral flowers.  A stunning formal effect!  At the far end, mounted on the perimeter adobe wall is a wall fountain of a fish cascading water into two levels of pools.  This is surrounded by a tiled arch.   POOL GARDEN, OR SIRI SINGH SAHIB GARDEN   This garden was especially inspired by the large amethyst geo pods in the Siri Singh Sahib’s dome!   On either side of this majestic area are wide “layered” gardens with tall green backdrops.  The colors are primarily purple and blue.  A wonderfully attractive stand of tall dark purple dahlias, along with other purple blossoms and striking blue delphiniums graced these gardens.  Between these two wide garden areas are strips of lawn used as paths that bordered the central flatter vegetation garden that is highlighted by wonderful sculptural mounds of chunked glass—some clear green, others amethyst in color with lights underneath to glow through them!   MAINTENANCE AREA   This was yet another fascinating plot that is essential to maintaining such a garden—where to keep the stuff!  We found it discretely hidden behind the Greek portico by the masking arbor vitae trees that are planted in two parallel raised beds, that when figured together run the width of this yard. The tree beds are staggered front to back with enough room between them to allow truck access into this yard.  This is where she stashes more statuary, pots, that fine mica-like gravel, and so on for future projects. And behind them are two large sage green storage buildings.  And this whole area is accessed through a large gate in the decorative tall iron picket fence to the alley-way behind the property.       TO THE RIGHT OF THE MAIN ENTRANCE:   Back at the main shooting fountain at the far end of the main entrance, you turn right.   “ISHNAAN POOLS” AND BATH HOUSE   These are a series of geometrically shaped dark slab stone—perhaps granite that are interspersed with planters of low silver green foliage.  The first is a shallow pool.  The next is a deep “sitting-in” pool with steps down into the heated water.  The third is a deep, one person refrigerated water pool!  Certainly Ishnaan!  Each pool was built on a theme from their family’s history!   And beside them is the most unique small sleek structure of pink glass block and sage green plaster walls!  It is quite bright inside with the sun shining through the glass blocks and the sky light, and its mirrored entrance.  It houses the necessities of a shower room, and toilet/sink room with dressing area.   BUDDHA GARDEN   On the other side of the bath house is a moderately large rectangle of lawn.  The wide garden bordering the left side of the lawn houses a large, delightful Buddha under a canopied arbor with morning glories and grapes cascading over it and full flowers and shrubs surrounding it under shade giving trees.  In the wide garden that runs along both sides of the central Buddha are heavily vine covered arched arbors that invite you to explore the hidden path moving to the right behind the Buddha.  That trail is covered by a succession of arched arbors that alternate with white grape vines and white roses climbing over them.    The left side of that trail is lined with lush arbor vitae trees in front of a tall, decorative iron picket fence—which runs all along this long back border of the property.  There is also a fascinating acequia that runs in front of the arbor vitae trees along this border.  It is about 2 feet deep, by 1 foot across and is lined with walls and bottom of stone.  Although there is no water running through it, she put it in on the Siri Singh Sahib’s instructions!   “SECRET” RUINS   The path that runs parallel to the garden behind the Buddha reaches a set of round flag-stone steps.  Patch gardens of wonderful tall grasses and flowers grow on either side.  On the “mount” at the top of the steps is set a small patio with seating and two walls reminiscent of gothic ruins.  It is truly a charming hide-away that is a favorite of her mom’s who was a classics scholar in her early days.   ENGLISH GARDEN & PATH   At the “ruins” you take a right to follow a rustic trail along the land that is elevated at the high right side perimeter of her property. This narrow dirt/sand path is tightly lined with all kinds of flower beauties, especially roses.  She uses wilder roses here in this more rugged setting, as opposed to showy hybrids in more formal areas.  And true to the English garden style, a wealth of flowers is packed in here.  There is a canopy of trees that give wonderful show, such as mountain ash with great bunches of orange berries right now plus shade in the sunny seasons.  But those trees will not get big enough to envelop that ecosystem.   This delightful English garden path switches back along the hill and then descends on more flagstone steps to a large rectangle of lawn at the foot of the hill.  This hillside slope is bordered at the bottom with a 2’ stone retaining wall.  And there is yet another length of flowers along the flat between that wall and the lawn.  So, when the slope is viewed from the other side of the lawn, which is the patio beside the house, the hillside looks like one continuous flow of flowers.  What a wonderful outdoor “room” to easily enjoy meals or relax!   CHARMING GARAGE WALL   Then moving around to the front of the property you pass a house wall without windows.  This is actually a garage wall that is charmingly set with a wall fountain and boarded with a rough stick archway.  And of course, more garden rims it!     This was a joy of a tour that will be with me for a long time, and will certainly influence how I work with my own yard and gardens in the future!  We are very appreciative for the time spent imbibing these garden jewels!