A True Gardener’s Garden

Linda's a little too far away for you to hear yet. You might be able to see her real tiny over there. I'm kind of middle bottom right. We are out here to show you this beautiful property and I'm going to get you guys closer to where you can see the whole thing. So here we go. Stuart, I want to make sure that you really focus in on this gorgeous bank of tiger lilies here. Are they tiger lilies? Just kind of common tiger lilies, but you talk about the right plant in the right place. Yes, it is. It is just stunning and the entire approach to your home, Linda, is just magnificent. So I am here, Stuart is still rounding the bend, but I am here with my good friend Linda Lambert who I have to say is truly one of the best gardeners that I have come to know. What a nice compliment. That didn't sound like me at all, but it sure sounds nice. Oh, she is being way too humble. So you have lived in this gorgeous home for about 30 years. Yes. And it is in just a really unique neighborhood in Oklahoma City called Lake Aluma, which is just a little jewel tucked here in the middle of the city. It is. And in fact, there are only 40 homes here and we're our own incorporated town. So we have our own mayor. We have our own town council. So we are a town of 40 people. Of 40 people. And as you will see, it's a very charming, it's got like a village-like quality to it and it is on a lake. And just, I don't know if you know this or not, but about 30 years ago when we were getting just prior to moving in our house in Crown Heights, we put a contract on a house here just up the street from you. You did? Oh, I wish you'd gotten that. I know. That would have been so much more fun. I know. We would have really been insane gardeners then. So, Stuart, if you would, speaking of, if you would look from this perspective over this charming stone drive bridge. Under which the troll lives. Which troll is that? Well, which troll would you like for it to be? Well, because there could be multiple trolls. I'm not really sure. So we have a little bit of competition from the lawnmower across the street, but that's just the nature of living in a neighborhood and having lush lawns and green spaces like this. But I want to talk a little bit about these incredible tiger lilies that are down in here and you made a wonderful point. One of the things I think that is the beauty, Linda, about these tiger lilies is that they're down in a ravine. They're in an arroyo and they're not up high at eye level. So what you see and what makes them so beautiful, I think, is that you see the flower. Yes. You just see the green with a little bit of orange up top. You really see them as though you're in an airplane. And to that I would add the fact that you see them just as you're surrounding, you're rounding the corner and not only are they planted low, so you see the tops of them, but they're planted in such great quantities. Though you said they just came up. They're just naturalized. They have been here for 30 years. Some years there are three. Other years they're like this. Why, I do not know, but they just naturalize every year and some years are better than others. Well, it is. It is magnificent. Talk to me a little bit about your arroyo, which means in Spanish means. It means a dip, a valley, a little, yeah. And the purpose of the arroyo is for water to go through. So it's not just a setting, but the arroyo here is for the water up the hill. Water always runs down downhill. Yes. For the water that comes down when the rain runs through here and then into the lake. So this is a utility. Yes. As well as an aesthetic, hopefully. Right. And we have added river rock every year because every year when it floods, the earth settles and you're going to add more. Well, and to this, this is another take-at-home tip. In addition to planting your tiger lilies low, it's that what I, one of my favorite things about gardening is when you can make something that is utilitarian beautiful. And look at the way you have landscaped around that so that it spills over and it almost looks as if it's a natural artifact, a natural feature in the landscape. And that's a tin horn. That's where the water comes through. Just amazing. So, and the other thing that I love about it is that this, what in other times would be a dry bed, is, but last night probably, had all sorts of water running down it. What I love about it is that it speaks to the overall aesthetic of your home, which is the same palette of this stone that you've selected matches the same palette of the stone that is on your house and the surrounding features. Thank you. Well, we've taken what is just an ugly dry bed and tried to make it into an aesthetic feature of the home and not just utilitarian, but something that is pleasing to the eye. Because you've softened the edges and you've made it look very, very indigenous. Yes. And I just think that's amazing down to the fact that you even have some stone outcroppings here which are just wonderful. Now talk a little bit about the fact that you lost how many trees? We lost, I lost 15 trees in the front garden and in the ravine, in the arroyo. There were eight trees in the arroyo. They were all gone. Huge trees, one native oak was so large that it was pulled up out of the ground and took my gas line with it. So in the winter storm of October, this is a totally different landscape now than it was then. We had eight trees in the ravine. Unbelievable. So what you learn is that when disasters happen, you have to be nimble. So we have planted boulders. I'm going to quote you on that. In disasters, you have to be nimble. You have to be nimble and and what do you learn from that? Learn that we're not going to plant any more trees in the arroyo. We're going to plant boulders. Yeah, okay. That's just brilliant. So that is making something beautiful out of something catastrophic. And the other thing that I love is that it does allow you then being able to see things like the stone outcroppings. And the other thing that I also love, one of my very, very favorite things that I have done over and over again is you have thinned out. Tell me about this beautiful tree here. This is a paperbark maple. And that is my Christmas tree. That's what we light at Christmas time. Oh, and I bet it's glorious. And the paperbark maple, what we love about them is it's got that peeling bark. So the trunks of it's absolutely beautiful. But you have really turned this into a larger specimen by pruning it up, thinning it out, and also creating a window from inside out and outside in. Yes, and that that is really a key is how do you prune a tree that doesn't just have it grow naturally? You prune it up, you thin it out, where you really can see through and it doesn't block your view, but you still have the beauty of the natural specimen. And the architecture of the of the branches. The other thing, I just did a garden design video on framing the view. And so the way it kind of frames the view of what is beyond and in both directions is just beautiful. And to really emphasize that point, what would it look like? What would this vignette here that we are standing on look like without the presence of this tree? It would be naked. It would be without clothes. It would be, and that's just wrong. We can't run around naked. Maybe it's the Garden of Eden, but it's not for us people. That is wrong on so many levels, on so many levels. So the other thing is your attention to detail is just exquisite. And let me discuss one thing about the tree. Sure. I buy trees for their bark more than for their foliage. I love that about you. And so when I'm looking at a tree, I want to see what is the bark going to look like. And as you walk around and see the trees, then I'm much more interested in the character of the bark or as much in the character of the bark and its shape and what it does as much as the foliage. And the color of the bark and the color of the trunks of the trees and the way they create wonderful shadows. And the other thing is this area is just breathtaking in the snow because I've driven over here before when it was in the snow. Though I have to say that this last time when I came through, I hadn't been here in a while and I barely recognized it because it looks so different with the loss of all those trees. It is. The natural world took a huge hit. Just a huge hit. Okay. So over here, Stuart, behind you, these are absolutely exquisite. Oh my gosh. A wonderful focal point as you turn the corner and come down a drive. Well, you know why these are here? It's because I began to realize that everything in my garden is either very low or very tall. There was nothing midpoint. There's nothing midpoint. So these are this, in my opinion, kind of balances the height of between the very low and the very high and just makes it makes it make more sense. Yeah. Well, and it gives it that wonderful layered quality that I think is what makes us a good garden exceptional. And you do my favorite thing, which is you put just evergreens in pots. So you have, this looks like an Eliagnus. It is. And are these gray owls? What are these? These are feelin' blue. Feelin' blue. Okay. Feelin' blue junipers. And these are exquisite. And you said many, many years ago you got these at TLC. Many years ago, I got these at TLC and you cannot find them anymore. I know. We're going to break lots of people's hearts because they're going to they're going to comment and they're going to want to know where. I wish. Where we got them. Which leads me to my question of the day. And that is if you have a large landscape or you have a small landscape, have you identified certain design voids like you did that said, okay, I need something mid-height. So if you've got an example of that where you identified for the important layering that is our garden and then how did you address it? Yes. And you addressed it with these pots. How do you guys address it in your own gardens when you need to elevate something or whatever? And it is more interesting with and you don't only layer horizontally. You also layer vertically. Yes. Yes. And I think it's certainly imperative on a large landscape but I think it's even more important on a small landscape because you can squeeze in that many more plants then. So down the drive, I don't want to talk about this too much, but we have some oak leaf hydrangeas down there and just more evergreens. I love the fact that you haven't just done that thing of planting 500 flats of begonias. Like we used to do. Like we used to do. You and I were laughing about that. How we have redefined our concept of beauty. Stewart, as we walk this way and over here again, you find a plant that works and you repeat it. You have a great affection for oak leaf hydrangeas. And this was a twig that fell off of this plant. So I just took it and plopped it in here and nurtured it and it's here you go. Yeah, and it's stealing from Peter. Don't throw anything away. No, no. Stealing from Peter to pay Paul. And again, that reinforces the point I always try to make and that is it doesn't have to cost a lot of money. And it shouldn't cost. And it shouldn't cost because you and I are cheap. Well, we're prudent. We're prudent. Yes. Yes. Thank you. That's a more delicate way to put it. We're prudent. And resourceful. Resourceful. Yes. And resourceful. Um This looks is this a dogwood? Oh my gosh Okay, and this yeah this reinforces the part, okay, this is brilliant. Do you know what variety of dogwood this is? Oh my god, it just it cries out for you just to touch it Doesn't it? Yeah, yeah, let's get out of Stewart's way Sorry, get out of the photographer's way And this is pruned so so beautifully Do you have? Is your soil naturally acidic? No, no, it's naturally alkaline. So we have to in fact when I moved here we have reworked all of the soil in the garden because it was red clay sand it was just Yeah, and I I think if you don't know where to start if you're moving on to a new property that's a good place to start is maybe having a soil sample exactly taken and really assess what the The default setting is for your your soil in terms of its ph Its minerals all of that and in our part of the state Just assume it's going to be alkaline. Yes. I mean it there I know I hardly know any soil in our part of the state and maybe you do I have I do Underneath my oak tree because oak leaves tend to be naturally acidic and that tree has been there for almost 100 years so By virtue of that. I know that that one spot that one microclimate is kind of acidic Look at this. You've got a seating area and as well as a focal point utility meets beauty Right here under planted with beautiful hostas. And is this a chinese pistache? Yes Which is and this is a a really fabulous chinese pistache which You know, they're not pretty teenagers. That's right. That's a great They're great when they're mature But they're they're kind of awkward as teenagers And you have to be willing to go through that awkward stage and I bet in the fall when this colors it is breathtaking It's magnificent. It is magnificent this That is bright yellow and orange it is just like on fire in the fall, it's just Is it a cat oak? It's a cat oak. It is a cat oak And and again, you have layered it you have judiciously pruned it you can walk Underneath it you can see to the beyond which is all just brilliant And the other thing is is you know One of the most valuable things in a garden isn't what you plant. It's what you don't plant It's what you what you choose to edit out And having enough negative space that the other things have a beautiful negative foil against which to play So your stone Home you have lived here for 30 years. You said the original owners A couple a man and a woman built this house themselves. They built a house themselves And I was telling you between the two of them. They didn't weigh 100 pounds It is I have photographs it is and they have built a really strong house It it is amazing What they have little problems I have had with this house with as little people as they were Yeah, and structurally and particularly given the slope upon which you sit where if you hadn't taken to account The way the water ran and all of those kinds of assessments. You could have really run into some issues Which is that's a good point because nothing Here is level No, it's not everything is on a slope and so you've got to take that into consideration what to plant How to water like here grass will not grow Back in here. So we've had so what do you do when grass can grow you just make it a prairie, right? And and that's a no that's another tip. That's another tip Don't try to be fancy when nature doesn't want to be fancy. So you've just got some liriope over there You've got some ground covers, but nevertheless, it's very restful. You've got a focal point of some huge slabs of of red rock and it's But the nice thing is is it's very calming Hopefully hopefully and the thing about the boulders is they take no maintenance. No No, they take I know they take no no maintenance and it's the same reason sometimes i'll say okay Let's put in gravel instead of grass. No maintenance and you still have that kind of homogeneous Expanse that is a canvas upon which everything else you have to listen to nature Yes, you can't force it. You gotta just and it's a conversation that takes place over time and speaking of Stewart while we're visiting if you'll kind of go from here You've got a little bed here that relates because everything in in the garden relates to everything else in the garden So you've got some beautiful lilies and this should be just spectacular You'll be flanked by fragrance And the velvety quality of of the lilies here You love coleus. I see that as as a thematic throughout particularly in the back I don't i'm not drawn to red, but this garden needs some red. It needs some to pop green is a color But there's just so much green you can have and so the coleus. Yeah, it's a foil The other thing is if you are looking stewart, I don't know if you can even do it But if you do a sweep of this rust color coleus here These are the kind of things that make me swoon Okay, you've got this rust color coleus here and you come back up And you've got the rust color in the lilies And nor escapes me. What are those called? anyhow You have to the not the stamens Those those and you've got and you've got this beautiful rust color. That's another question Tell us what those are because we're both having a brain lapse And then and but that same rhythm of color goes all the way back down to the tiger lilies So it's a very restrained use of color But that also is picked up by some of the reddish hues in the red rock So it's a it's a color palette that makes sense That creates to the overall harmony and beauty of the entirety of of your landscape And then of course you've got the well Welcoming kind of vista that comes up and I I just love the topography. I do love nothing is even I love the topography And the way things feel nestled Nestled in place and this goes to your front door And and I just have to say That even though you and I have known each other for a very very long time before I knew you I was coveting this house in an issue of traditional home magazine Uh, because it's been in a number of different magazines and okay. This is you know, what just occurred to me I'm i'm reading, uh the book the gardens of bunny melon right now And you so remind me of bunny melon with your bucket hat and and your sunglasses and everything You so remind me of bunny melon with your innate sense of style And well, no you you yeah, I mean she I'm, just a pretend gardener. She's a real gardener Um, but just again restrained use of of color texture you like me love dragonwing begonias Just just beautiful hanging pots That you just plopped in it Because why make it hard when it can be easy Yeah, and they all look beautiful like that Also, they're all summer all through the the duration. How how large is the property? It's a little over an acre Okay. Yeah, because it's it seems it seems massive um and But you do something that is really really wonderful, which is another tip and we don't have it to show But when we do in our next video, we'll have it in the backyard Linda has over the years created a an an anthology or a collect visual collection Of your curated plants that you use in this garden. Yes, and it's bound It is and it almost looks like a catalog And it's just it is just wonderful. I call it my blooming bibliography Oh, I don't okay. Is that not just wonderful? It is a blooming Bibliography because it's it's a record over time The other thing that you and I have talked about at great length recently is how much our tastes have changed As we have matured as gardeners and so something like that in addition to a garden journal Something like that is it it just shows your development over time of your taste And how the garden has changed some things Nothing stays the same. No, nothing stays the same. That's what you just have. Yeah, and it's never perfect And it's never you know, i'm always when I do tours of my own garden. I'm always saying. Oh, well, this is it This is a a working garden So it's a work in progress constantly and other than snapshots in time for a photo shoot or for a garden tour It's always a work in progress and there's a difference in A home being landscaped in the home being gardened. Thank you The only thing that stays the same is change That's right, and it's never more true than in an oklahoma garden Okay down here. This is just lovely lovely And again all of these if I understood you correctly linda All of the stonework and everything was here when you bought the house You did not add to it over time other than the stone dry bed and that kind of thing But look at here. You've got this wonderful bank of tiger lilies That also serve as erosion control. Yes Brilliant, even if they don't bloom they serve as erosion control and in this area They have room to romp exactly and you probably wouldn't hurt your feelings if they really romped I've done nothing. They have romped all the way from the front back here So across the across the arroyo. Yeah, and that's the brilliance of having a large garden is that You I can't have something like this I don't have the space for them to because the beauty of them is that they're in these huge swaths These huge swales and I don't have that kind of I don't have that kind of garden But here they are brilliant and you have found the perfect application for them and they look like they were born here They do look they and they were in lots of ways. Yes Yes, but you've even pruned up that that little red bed There's probably a volunteer down there and you have probably also pruned it. These are the kinds of things Like tree pruning and that kind of thing These are the kind of things that I learned from from my garden forebears people like you and did you know amy brooks? Yes Yeah, okay those are it's That's a gift that you guys gave me as the art of of pruning and creating. Well, it's a barter system We get a lot from you too. So well, we kind of I know we we kind of go you have to have a support system To garden here or we slit our wrists um And a lot of times that's interesting because what's the first thing we do after something terrible has happened Everybody calls all of your other gardening friends. It says oh mine looks terrible. Please tell me yours looks terrible, too So I don't we do so I don't take it personally. Okay, we're going to end this um By Going in we we could go through the front and she's you've got a beautiful home But right now we're going to go back this way And I hope you've stewart's brilliant camera work has probably given you an idea of how the pieces fit together But I I love this passage into What is basically a more of a front landscape into a real garden? Okay. So with that kind of titillating you Um, come on in stewart I love the thickness of this gate original gate. Is it really I was gonna say no Petty little gate for you. This is beautiful and stewart substantial. It's a substantial gate And I love how it sounds when it closes Because a true entry point is experiential in some way back to my childhood a clanking gate or or You know a Screened in porch door that slams. Yeah, it's it's very A good entrance is experiential It's also shady because we've got a shady bower here. But here is another tip i've done this I don't know how many times when you want something to be harmonious and consonant with the structure And with the landscape you paint something accordingly. Yes So this is very much a tonal paint that matches the stone of the house And this looks like a stain maybe of this Same paint and then this is okay. This is paint too, but it reads as a stain and it's all just Just a hint and and very much Is that what it is one of my favorites and it's in conversation with the stone And the stone also not only has those gray tones to it But it also has a little hint of red rock to it because of our red clay soil which then looks beautiful with your little collection of terracotta And I don't you think terr nothing is as beautiful as a stack of terracotta pots, is it? nothing and everyone and there's Again so utilitarian I used to dig up soil and I could plant them. I have a garden party outside of the centerpieces No, they're absolutely wonderful. And then that's why it's heartbreaking. This is this is in a sheltered location wisely Uh, because because it is heartbreaking when one of your prized ones blows over Yes in the oklahoma wind and you lose it and it will and it will and it has and it's just part of the heartache That is The anguish that is gardening yes to garden is to suffer that is wrong so So I I wrote in my book. Have you gotten a copy of my book yet? I've gotten a copy of your book. It is fabulous. And I in fact, I got two I sent one to my daughter in Richmond because it's just wow. I'm so excited friend. This is yeah Well, um again so much of it I have I've learned from you but in there and I want you to do this for me I'll do anything for you I I want you What do you want me to do for you your wish is my command Okay, so wishes so in there I have written what I call my garden manifesto I don't know if you've gotten to that yet But but my garden manifesto of things that over my years of gardening that I know to be true That I just really know to be true And that's helpful if you're a new gardener because if you're going to embark on this wonderful This wonderful world of a gardening lifestyle you need to know these things And I think number one on there or somewhere at the top is to garden is to suffer That is very true. Another one is and this is for a lot. You might be in charge, but you're not in control Exactly. No, it is it might be in charge. It is so trying to control so don't get those two Yeah, and control is just an illusion after all it is control is an illusion. Yeah, and now we're getting into philosophy Yes Yes, I'll get yes, aren't we aren't we um, and we could but you know what we'll we'll do that over a bottle of wine You've got some other gardening friends Other gardening friends. I love that idea. No, let's do that. Let's get you. Okay. Sorry. We digress. Let's get genie and carol And yes, yes over here. Got it. And and um Now what was I saying? We were talking about transitioning from the front to the back transitioning from the front to the back because this makes a wonderful segue and a wonderful stopping point Of this beautiful passage and the brilliance of this. This is another tip again It doesn't make any difference whether you have a large garden like yours linda or a small a small garden like mine my linda And that is that this workspace With what you need to manage and work in a garden space Is is easy Convenient uh access from front to back and so this is not only easy and practical but it unites the front to the back and It is just Very utilitarian. It's very functional and my favorite room in the house in your favorite room in the house Because you think of it as if you saw hamilton, this is the room in the room where it happens This is the room and I use that all the time the room where it happens is is right or begins to happen Or begins to happen where where the the dream is made manifest And so it just unites the front and the back and in it. It's got a great Great view and then you've got a wonderful potting table that I bet has been here for a very long time for about 30 years I had I had it built Did you yeah? You know, sometimes you just have to have something customized And had to customize because it's level this is not a level not level so this leg is longer than that leg Yeah, yeah So we had to level that on an unlevel surface Yeah, so you can't and it's semi-protected so you can kind of leave stuff out to a certain extent exposed to To the elements the other thing I like about this and that I rather covet Is the fact that you have a really large work surface And in my tiny garden any a large expanse of anything is a rarity Yeah, so this is this is pretty pretty incredible. So you do a lot with not as much I mean, yeah, and and you know, I'm learning from that and i'm okay with that. And the other thing is is I I I can I can really curate it um to my degree of Of perfection because it is smaller. Yes Yes, exactly and I don't know that I could do that if it were much larger there are times that I covet small Yes, you know. Yes Really just and and we'll leave it on on this after I point out this charming little, you know, let me pull this Okay, because you can't stand it. Can you? but You and I know this to be true You can grow anything in a container if the container is is large enough and are these these must all be frost proof Well, we we wrap it you do wrap. I do wrap it. What do you wrap it in? I wrap it in bubble wrap and uh in sheets and sheets Bubble wrap first and then sheets around to insulate it and boy, I bet you were glad you did Oh because you can't find these any, you know can't find these anymore And so you can see that the swale the river rock swale continues Goes all the way to stewart if you can just give a hint of what is beyond the lake which is beyond And then the beautiful garden Which is beyond and which we will do in another video But I started to say i'm going to leave you with this that a friend of mine came over last night Do you know jenny morris? No, anyhow, she came over Last night and I said oh but before you leave She used to live down the street from me and she moved And I said but before you leave you need to look at the back garden through my kitchen window and she goes. Oh my gosh It's absolutely gorgeous. And she said and I would be really jealous if I didn't know how much work it took And I thought truer words were never spoken So if you are watching this and you are extremely envious Of what linda has here just tell yourself that just yeah, just say well I But but it is a lot of work. It is a lot but if here's the other thing if I viewed it as work I probably wouldn't do it. It's play. It is play play if I if I thought it was work I really wouldn't be as enthusiastic about it It's it is a joy and it's it's play and it's and it's rewarding and it's it's your icky guy Your reason to get up in the morning is a glorious monster Yeah It is. Yeah, it is a glorious monster. It's a glorious monster But but but at least now you can enjoy the monster because I have known you for a long time and there was a time When you were on so many boards and so and you didn't have time to enjoy the monster. That's right And now these these are my children. Yes. I have now I don't have much family here So this these are my grandchildren. Yes that you very kindly share with your friends You do. Okay, you guys we'll see you tomorrow in the next video of her unbelievable backyard. Thank you stewart Well, if you've held on this long here is my outfit du jour my Straw hat is from kula bar Which is one of the brands that I just love because it's got sunscreen in it And I also love this hat because it can travel really easily and it's got a wide brim My earrings are some that I got. I don't know years ago. Couldn't even tell you where I got them My dress I think it came from world market Believe it or not, and I love it and some of the gals were commenting. Um, why am I all dressed up? but honestly You guys know that I I work outside and do stuff outside and these kind of loose dresses all the time because I find them Just so so comfortable now when i'm working out in the yard in a dress Typically, it isn't a long one and then i've got on booties because we got lots of rain again last night So these are from j crew And obviously they are waterproof And let's see my sunglasses. My sunnies are ray bands Via poshmark And my bracelets are just a fun assortment of all different ones This comes from my my friend at atrius tiles. She sent me one of these bangles This was a gift from hubs. This was a gift from one of my best friends This was a gift from hubs. Also my my one and only piece of jewelry from tiffany's I might add And this I got on on a trip, I think to To mexico, so there you go. There's my outfit of the day