Photo/Illustration: Courtesy of Irvin Faria
Today’s photos are from Irvin and Pauline Faria in Carmichael, California. We’ve been featuring their garden on the GPoD for months now, every few weeks, and I’ve loved having a glimpse of each season in this wonderful garden. Here’s a peek at May.
Irvin says, “This year we celebrate 48 years of living in partnership with nature at its best. The greatest pleasure of Pauline’s Garden has been creating a woodland garden paradise, then watching as it grows and the mature garden emerges. In collaboration with nature we sought to discover and enhance the best features of the property. A site once covered by blackberry vines shaded by 70 oak trees on two steep slopes divided by a creek has become an enduring and ever inspiring source of a wonderful life. Oak trees have remained the global foundation of the garden while companion Japanese maples, dogwoods, azaleas, ferns, perennials, etc., fill out and complement those throughout the year.
“We continue to marvel at the glorious spring foliage of the trees and plants. To achieve an interesting scene, different colors and textures were paired. The richness and texture of ferns have been used for a naturalistic feeling. The freshness of ostrich ferns provides an airy framework and a rich green background or foreground scene. Delicate maidenhair ferns soften the structure of a stone lantern and leatherleaf ferns define the pattern of a brick walk. Old-fashioned garden plants of purple-flowering lunaria (silver-dollar plants), with green circle seedpods that become translucent, enhance the natural ethos of the garden’s wildlife preserve.
“Each morning while strolling through the garden we gain inspiration and fresh ideas to enrich the landscape. It is an ever increasing source of peace of mind and appreciation for the opportunity to share the land.” As beautiful as ever, Irvin. Thanks so much for sharing again!
(See other seasons in this garden HERE, here, here, here, here, here, and here)
****ATTENTION!! FREE STUFF ALERT!!**** (In case you didn’t see it yesterday)
Hey all, I have a TON of gardening books (mostly on veggie gardening, Hot Topic #1 these days) laying around my office, sent to us from publishers hoping for reviews in the magazine. They’re all great, but we only have a tiny bit of room, and only once in a while, for reviews in the mag. While talking to my editor about it last week, we decided to spread the wealth. Sooooo…I’ll be randomly choosing two people each day from all of the people who to send me photos of their gardens (or their gardening travels) for the rest of this week to get a free book (my choice)! Email photos to me at [email protected]. No guarantee that I’ll post your photos on the blog (I explain why HERE (way down at the bottom)), but you’ll get a package in the mail in a couple of weeks. When you send in your photos, be sure to include your full contact info (and your username) and a description of the photos you’ve sent. Woohoo! Exciting, yes? I’ll announce all the winners sometime next week, since I’m out of the office most of this week. Now go dig out some photos, or drag your camera outside!
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Comments
Beautiful garden, very relaxing!
There can never be enough visits to Pauline and Irvine's garden. The woodland area is truly a paradise and Mother Nature must feel very well rewarded with the partnership. That thick clump of Ostrich Fern is particularly beautiful to me although I love it all.
Woodlands are my favorite, I almost expected to see Hansel and Gretel dropping crumbs... oh wait, there's a lovely red brick path! Ir's all good.
Wow! Just wow!
Idyllic garden. This is the time of year that I am late to work everyday because of strolling in the garden. This garden could get me fired because I would never show up! The primitive-looking japanese lantern is amazing.
This is a fabulous garden--the spring foliage is jewel-like. But, what I really want to know is: is that a wild turkey in the first photo?!
Absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Soothing colors, peaceful and serene, a heaven on earth.
Yes, Peony Fan that is one of many wild turkeys that visit each day. Other visitors include coyotes, raccons, possum, deer, fox and a vast diversity of wonderful birds. A red-tail hawk has her nest high in an oak tree next to our home. She returns each year to the nest. Last week a rattlesnake was on our deck but not welcome.
We thank everyone for the thoughtful comments.
Beautiful, looks like a cool respite from the summer heat.
Stunningly beautiful!! Thanks so much for sharing!
Heaven on earth! Thank you for sharing.
Oh,Irvin and Pauline... once again you have brought a smile to my face. As Meander1 said so much earlier in the day... there can never be enough visits to your gardens!
A magnificent naturalistic setting in your garden! Peaceful and FULL of beauty. My first visit to your garden, but I will revisit again.
Spectacular! My jaw drops with awe every time your garden is featured. Truly a work of art!
Beautiful!!! The color are so vibrant they just pop! Waking up to such a beautiful garden must be like being in heaven!!
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