Disclaimer:
I know some of the pictures are not situated correctly. Don’t bug me about it. I have no idea why. They are turned the correct way on my computer; it just seems blogger read the way they were taken and ignored the fact that they were rotated the right way. Yes, it's annoying, but I wanted the pictures up for my own record. Just you’re your head to the side and call it good.
Yesterday I went on the Avenues Garden Tour which was a benefit for the charity "People Helping People". It showcased people's private gardens. I signed in in the morning and was given a map and a chance to enter tickets into a drawing for airline tickets (yes, pleeeease). I started at the houses by Memory Grove which overlook the Capitol building and the Temple and then wound my way up into Federal Heights.
The first home was previously owned by the original Catwoman (it was pepto-bismol pink when she owned it... surprising? No...). This was the most impressive one, by far, merely from the size and things to see there. Another, closer to the Federal Heights area, was also extremely cool, but much smaller in scale. There were a couple more in between that were okay, but mostly these two were the ones we found anything to write home about. Or write on this blog about.
At Catwoman's place I spoke with the landscapers for a while (two women) who told me it was designed by Gar... who cares- I have forgotten. He's a landscape architect here in SLC- does stuff for the Gugenheim (have no idea if I am spelling this correctly, as I just became familiar with this museum about a year ago) and other famous places. The lawns had been redone in several classic styles- first, a small medieval garden. I was impressed here by the texture they used- fine and dwarf species to make it seem larger (intentionally??). There were dwarf boxwoods and Japanese Maple (dissectums?), topiaries, fine gravel walks between the plantings, etc. This garden was sunken below the pool area (very cool area which is at eye-level from the medieval garden). There were waterfalls spilling out from here into the next garden, which was sunken as well. These waterfalls ended up in small watergardens on either side of a Roman forum (but made of grass) which had greek statues. (Did this guy study LAEP History from Timmons?). It was very formal and well done; it even had the open ends that look into the distance, like in Italian villas. This is the part that the main house looked over (oh, did I mention that the pool area has a bath house that also has a guest house over top?) This vista, from the direction I was facing, looked to a bronze Greek statue of a woman. It was at a higher level and was home to their small vegetable garden. Wide rows were cut out of the grass and then planted with flowers, herbs and vegetables, all mixed together and intensively planted. I loved it.
The house next door was cool in front and on the side. The front had a nice little water/rock garden surrounded by plants. Vines grew up the walls of the home. It looked sorta ummm, medieval. I think. Walking down to the back was a LONG set of stairs (can't really tell from the pictures) which were surrounded by a tunnel made of trees and plants. It was great- mostly because it was shade.
Another great garden had a small area in front that was done in miniature scale- a fine gravel walk surrounded with dwarf boxwood (hedges) on either side and small japanese maples, etc. Everything small, very cool. The borders were boxed in with rusted metal sheets, so it looked sorta modern, but earthy. The back had an AWESOME cabana, very lavish looking. Lounge chairs with pillows, and fabric everywhere. Great for outdoor dining and entertaining. I just imagined myself being brought v. pina coladas and sporting much too large sunglasses.
Whew. I loved that.
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