海角大神

A sculptor's garden in Seattle

Talk about an uphill battle. When sculptor, landscape architect, and Renaissance woman Louise Durocher and her husband, Michael Nelson, reluctantly acquired a yard with their first house, the steeply rising land was shrouded with thorny blackberry vines, towering laurel bushes, and invasive plants everywhere.

鈥淲e couldn鈥檛 see the hill at first,鈥� says Ms. Durocher. 鈥淎fter we took out all the bad stuff [enough to fill two dumpsters], we realized we had a crumbling hillside. And there was nothing worth saving except three magnolias. We had to do something quickly because the whole thing was sloughing down.鈥�

To shore up her still-vertical backyard, and to gain access, she designed a series of terraces connected by steps and paths.

鈥淚 knew I had to create all sorts of different levels,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e had to rebuild the hill.鈥�

Because Durocher is an architect, she is used to building things, and she began her career as an artist studying environmental sculptures, which involves moving large amounts of earth. (鈥淭he land becomes the medium,鈥� she says.)

鈥淲e used dry-stack stone so as not to alter the drainage of the land,鈥� she says. 鈥淲ater will drain through a dry-stack wall naturally.鈥�

This also means she didn鈥檛 have to install drainage pipes or French drains (covered ditches filled with gravel). And because she avoided large areas of hard surfaces underfoot, water seeping from the retaining walls is easily absorbed by the land.

Her plan meant hauling 67 tons of stone to the backyard by hand, but none of the walls were built higher than four feet tall.

Although this was done to conform to the permitting process, it also makes for walls that aren鈥檛 tall and looming. And with plantings inserted into many of the cracks, greenery also helps reduce the mass.

Michael couldn鈥檛 believe that it all came together, that we didn鈥檛 have to redo anything,鈥� Durocher says. 鈥淏ut as an artist, my main media is stone. I cut marble. And when you cut a piece off, you can鈥檛 glue it back. In landscaping, you are cutting earth.鈥�

鈥淢ichael wanted an integrated backyard,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he inside is connected to the outside, and the outside is connected to the inside. There is openness and movement. It is very people-friendly. We have had 200 people here and no problem.鈥�

This on less than a half-acre.

鈥淧eople can sit on the steps,鈥� she mentions. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why the koi pond is raised 鈥� so people can sit there. Last summer, a friend asked to marry here.鈥�

It鈥檚 hard to believe that all this work 鈥� and beauty 鈥� is the work of two people who five years ago really didn鈥檛 want a yard at all.

鈥淲e were living in a very small condo before, and we didn鈥檛 want any land at all,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he surprise for us was how rewarding it became. We became very passionate about it. I鈥檓 very physically involved with it. Michael likes to water.鈥�

So who does the weeding?

鈥淎ctually,鈥� she says, 鈥渢hat鈥檚 what I like the most. As a sculptor and architect, most of what I do takes a long time. So I like things that I can go at it and look at it, and it鈥檚 done. It鈥檚 kind of Zenlike.鈥�

The plantings were installed with the collaboration of the famed design team of Glenn Withey and Charles Price.

鈥淚 was working on Victorian architecture at a house, and when I ... saw them literally cutting that yard with scissors, I have to tell you I was stunned,鈥� Durocher says. 鈥淪o I had to talk to them and liked them and got very interested in what they were doing.鈥�

She brought them over to her own house 鈥� a 1902 Dutch Colonial 鈥� and they dug in.

鈥淚t turned out we were very complementary in our palettes,鈥� Durocher says. 鈥淚 especially love the tulips. I have thousands of parrot tulips and French tulips. Tulips truly are animated 鈥� moving all the time, very sculptural.鈥�

Throughout the garden, she has placed much of her sculpture 鈥� all steel pieces: rebar, metal mesh, and sheet metal. 鈥淭here are two groups,鈥� she says, 鈥渢he powder-coated pieces, which are all fire-engine red. The others my husband calls 鈥榯he rusters.鈥� You have some people who like the nice finish and some people who like the emotion.鈥�

While the sculpture changes as Durocher鈥檚 artwork gets snapped up by collectors, two pieces will always stay 鈥� at Mr. Nelson鈥檚 insistence.
They were an engagement gift from Durocher and are titled 鈥淩omeo and Juliet.鈥�

An artist talks about placing pots

Louise Durocher integrates not just artwork, but large containers into her landscape. Some pots contain plants; others are just architecture.

鈥淲hen we went shopping for pots for the garden, my husband was like a child in a candy store 鈥� 鈥業鈥檒l take two of this, one of that,鈥� 鈥� she says. 鈥淪o I had to arrange them.

鈥淚 look at landscaping as like painting. You have a foreground, middle ground, and background. And each part of the garden has to talk to one another. If one of the pots takes too much attention 鈥� if it separates areas or stops the eye 鈥� we use a different pot.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 like to use the same kind of pots in groupings,鈥� she continues. 鈥淲hen you buy them, they often come in groups of three, but I like to separate them.

鈥淧ots are something to be played with. A pot is just one piece in the puzzle.鈥�

In the dark about shade?
Much of Durocher鈥檚 garden is in the shade, but that doesn鈥檛 stop her or her garden.

鈥淪hade gardening is very misunderstood,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e have many visitors to our garden, and they always are surprised about how much you can grow in the shade.

鈥淭here is a variety of plants you can use in the shade. It can be very lush. You can get blues in the shade. Everyone likes blue. We have (foliage) plants that are burgundy, plants that are chartreuse, plants that are yellow-green. And we have lots of variegated plants. I have some very primitive, huge plants there right now. There鈥檚 tons to be done in the shade.鈥�

Coral bells, hostas, and creeping Jenny add little beacons of light throughout the back yard.

鈥淲e have yellow, chartreusey grasses around 鈥楻omeo and Juliet,鈥� surrounded by boxwood, and they never see the sun.鈥�