Beautiful gardens don't have to be intimidating, says nurseryman Dan Hinkley. "Beginning gardeners have to realize that when garden scenes look perfect," Hinkley explains, "it's taken many years of trial and error to get there, of editing and removing plants and even killing them, until the gardener finally comes up with something that pleases them."
When people visit Heronswood Nursery in Seattle, they come as much to visit a plant collector's personal gardens as to see a diverse assortment of plants in the nursery. In the nursery, the plants that have had roots in Japan, Nepal, Europe or Chile are assessed for hardiness, stability and general behavior. In Hinkley's personal gardens, however, science takes rebirth as art.
Visitors can take a self-guided tour through parts of Hinkley's personal garden. The journey begins with a walk through a delightful woodland where a dazzling array of perennials flourish beneath towering Douglas firs.
On the five acres surrounding his home, Hinkley has created several different vignettes. At the rear of the property, there's a long curving arbor and a formal patio. On the side of his house, a dry garden sits beside a small pond. In front, raised beds are bursting with colorful combinations of unusual plants (figure A) and whimsical art pieces (figure B).
