The Beautiful Path Garden

More about the garden:

This garden is in the heart of a vibrant neighborhood in downtown, Madison, WI.  Although it is a smaller city lot, Cynthia has used every square inch to weave color and contrast in to her garden areas, much of which has been influenced by her fiber art background.  She has various “rooms” (beds) that are home to varying colors.  “Miss Scarlet’s Room” is one filled with vibrant reds and golds.  “Where The Fairies Dance” has dusty pinks and purples that do a bit better being shaded from the intense afternoon sun.  She will ask the question, “is it stately, or is it elegant” and the plant will go in a particular bed dependent on her answer.  The beds are well represented in various forms by what she has collected over the years. The garden has an irrigation system that provides constant moisture during the growing season, contributing to the mammoth size of some of the clumps.    She moves plants around to other beds to optimize colors complimenting one another.  This is apparent with the effortless flow of colors.  Scattered within the beds are beautiful, playful pieces of glass garden art. There are brick paths on either side of the house to allow visitors a chance to view the flowerbeds.  Cynthia’s immediate neighbors have also joined forces with gardening, making it a challenge to tell where one backyard begins and the other end.  It is truly a mass of rich colors. Toward the back of the yard sits a massive, ancient Spruce whose branches drape downward, providing shade to the hostas and other shade preferring plants.  The path winds around the tree and a few roots are visible.  Visitors will need to step over them to continue on the garden journey. The garden is a wonderful example of how one can pack color, texture, interest and fun in to a small city lot.

Cynthia says, “What makes the Beautiful Path Garden special is the overall design and plant placement.  This is a city garden with between 225 & 250 plants and the plants must play well with each other.  Like everyone I love to see what the breeders are doing and I have recently introduced plants. But perhaps the color of a simple flower is perfect in its spot. I ruthlessly move plants around in flower to get the perfect fit, (wet peat moss is your friend).  I have a section for stippled daylilies or pastels with unusual undertones or the flower is not highly saturated.  I have a section where the color must be boldly saturated, but any color goes.  I use principles of quilting.”