all contents of this page & website copyright Susan Goetz 2004-2010
2004 Northwest Flower & Garden Show
Lavender Myst...A Garden Tapestry
2005 Northwest Flower & Garden Show
"A Child of the Garden Grows"
My eleven year old daughter, Courtney inspired this design. She is a child of botany, growing up around our farm and gardens, imagine a toddler with an over-sized watering can learning how to nurture plants and spout botanical names. As she grows, her curiosity of the garden becomes more sophisticated. The mysteries of nature have a different perspective. As I observed, I wondered what a garden design would be for a child her age...that is how this garden blossomed. A place to read, to discover, plant favorite flowers of childhood, watch the stars and dream...
awarded a Silver Medal
Designed especially for the show the beautiful centerpiece of the garden is a glass conservatory from
The artistry of the knot garden is described as a garden made of evergreen borders interlaced and drawing together in skillful living arrangement. The corners geometrically mirror each other creating an unending pattern. As an artist pours over a painting, so the gardener tends a knot garden. Seasonally clipping and tending the appearance of lines and ribbons. The design resemble a tapestry...the earth finely embroidered with plants. The tapestry surrounds a elegant glass conservatory...a space typically reserved for nurturing plants becomes a private retreat to nurture the soul.
awarded a Bronze Medal
2007 Northwest Flower and Garden Show
Marvelous Night for a Moondance
Pick your passion and build a garden around it. Whatever the space becomes it surrounds the owner with things they love, be it a pastime or a collection. In this garden, a passion for the elegant art of dance becomes a dance floor in the garden surrounded by plants that capture the light of the moon....just in case the urge to tango at midnight strikes. The foliage, flowers and branching habits of plants play in the brightness of the moon with a palette of light and dark to capture natural illumination and create silhouettes. Thank you to the Ballroom dancers for sharing their talent and bringing living elegance to the dance floor!
awarded a Gold Medal
Thank you for the generous support with construction of this garden
Imagine the sip of a mint julep on a sweet summer day….join us for a gathering of friends and laughter in the garden. Cushioned and comfy seating set in the midst of blooming abundance is framed by the elegance of trellis work that creates an enclosed room. Blooms and vines peek through the fretwork as an outside glance in allows a view into the southern hospitality and charm of a courtyard garden.
Cobalt recycled "Beach" glass between natural stones brings colorful whimsy to the path
Aromatic herbs create a tapestry of color and texture. The warmth of the sun releases fragrances in the air. The rich Hazelnut patio stone combines with rugged ledgestone to create the look of old world , while mimicking the earthy clay colors of Mediterranean soil.
The handcrafted hammered copper colored gate opens to a path that leads under an arbor of stone columns and weeping Larch. Glazed elegant, pottery adds the richness of green earth, while exotic foliage textures and color tumble out. Framed by Mission Olive trees and stately Italian Cypress, the garden wall, seeks to give a sense of enclosed garden living where gatherings of food and the company of friends can be enjoyed “al fresco”.
Awarded a Gold Medal and the
Fine Gardening magazine "Best Design" Award
2005 Point Defiance Flower & Garden Show
Che Bella Giardino
2006 Point Defiance Flower & Garden Show
Sensory Alchemy
The alchemist mixes and blends, as does the gardener who combines and mingles elements to capture the senses.
The craft of a gardener…
is creating a space that makes the visitor want to touch, feel and listen. Plant combinations and artistic metal work enchant the eye, enlighten the nose and charm the taste with herbs and vegetables.
It all started with a French curve template on my drafting table...I began to wonder what a patio would feel like if it were shaped like the template. The organic feel and movement of gravel to make the curves began the next phase of the plan. The European effect of gravel terraces inspired a water wise gravel garden design titled L'eau sage.
eau (water) sage (wise). The plant palette was used and specifically adhered to for plants that could only be in a drought tolerant gravel garden.
The 2009 Northwest Flower and Garden Show
L'eau Sage
2011 Northwest Flower and Garden Show
Paradise (to be) Regained...borrowing Thoreau
re-purpose, recharacterize...reuse. The rain chain was old keys attached to a metal chain. The sedum patio was heater grates, cool metal radiators for the retaining wall along the pathway... and a shipping container as a potting shed
This full-scale garden display is the vision of a seventeen year-old Garden Creator whose generation is looking for paradise in a shrinking world. Borrowing from Henry David Thoreau’s Paradise (to be) Regained, this garden uses the power to reclaim and “re-characterize” what is left behind.
There is so much clutter in our lives and it continues to grow exponentially every day. While no universal remedy exists, it could start with simple changes that every person can make.
This garden offers ideas for all generations of gardeners. Spotlighting plants that “don’t beg” for water, this paradise holds several surprises including a unique garden shed from an industry we rely on every day.
So when Father Industry comes to battle with Mother Nature, who wins?
(This garden showcases the work of an actual 17-year-old student, Courtney Goetz. This is also her high school senior project).
For more about the garden follow Courtney on the Creative Gardener blog as she posts her grand adventure. www.creativegardener.wordpress.com
Garden Creator: Courtney Goetz
with co-creators
Creative Gardener of Gig Harbor, WA
Morrison Gravel, Port Orchard, WA.
And
Earthwise in Seattle, Washington
Awarded a
Gold medal & the Sunset Magazine Western Living Award!
