Gardening: California transplants found ways to work with critters in the garden

Bob and Pam Brown came north from California 10 years ago for the four seasons and a quiet life. They found what they were looking for on the site of an old dairy farm along the Little Spokane River near Riverside, complete with a 110-year old timber frame barn. Over the years they created a garden that celebrates the forest, river and critters they live with. Their hard work won them the September Garden of the Month award from the Inland Empire Gardeners.

“The first bunch of trees we planted by the stream, the beavers promptly chewed off,” said Pam as we walked along the boardwalk close to the river. “When we replanted we wrapped the trunks with wire to protect them.”

That inspired them to work with the wildlife. In fact, they went on to fill their garden with plants that provide birds and other small critters with food, shelter and water. Birdhouses sit on nearly every fence post all around the yard. “They are full every spring.”

The showpiece of the garden is the restored barn that was built around 1905. The Browns now use it as a wedding and event center. “We blasted the interior with corn to clean off the years of dirt and debris,” said Pam. The cleaning left the wood with a beautiful yellow patina.

Through a chance encounter a few years ago with a lady who once lived on the farm, they learned that sometime in the 1920s, a fire came through and destroyed the house, but the farmer saved the barn.

Below the barn toward the river, the Browns created a lawn area and surrounded it with beds that provide seasonlong color. They had to plan the space so that the garden would survive the frequent flooding of the river. They planted willows and aspens to frame the view of the river.

In front of the barn, they built low raised beds and filled them with perennials and shrubs. While the recent frosts took the flowers, the remaining plants were ablaze with fall colors of yellow, orange and red. Among the plants is Pam’s collection of funky metal yard art. “I love salvaging things and using them around the garden.”

At one end of the lawn is a gazebo perfect for a wedding party. Behind it is a large fir tree where a bald eagle regularly hangs out.

On the north end of the yard, they have tucked a small vegetable and berry garden and a small orchard inside a deer fence. Deer and moose are regular visitors. Inside the deer fence is also a collection of white and blue hydrangeas, clematis and peonies that thrive in the afternoon shade created by the old stand of fir and pine behind the house. At one edge of this garden right on the river is an old wicker couch. “That’s my fishing couch,” said Bob. “Just caught some trout a couple of weeks ago.”