Artwork gives Spokane Valley back yard distinctive look

It has the look and feel of a spa, minus the masseuse and the ambient music.

Linda and Kevin Fairhurst’s back yard is that serene. From the 9-foot tall water sculpture to the Japanese artwork of ferns.

“We call it whimsical with an Asian flavor,” Linda said while sitting on her deck that overlooks their 65-foot-by-65-foot back yard in the Castle neighborhood of the Spokane Valley.

The Inland Empire Gardeners judges enthusiastically called it the July winner of its Garden of the Month contest.

“Good use of small area and the natural look,” said judge Chris Sheppard, “It’s very creative, definitely one of a kind.”

Linda, a Valley site manager at Holy Family Adult Day Centers, has the green thumb. Kevin, a construction worker, is the artist, designer and builder with the colorful imagination. (Kevin’s paintings and interior decorating are displayed throughout their home.)

Together, the Fairhursts have created a lovely garden with original artwork.

The couple, whose only “children” are springer spaniels Aramis and Boonie, bought the house in October 1996. They started cleaning the yard, which had been neglected by renters and turned into a sea of dandelions, the following spring.

Seven years later, the yard is a sea of lush green vegetation, set off with splashes of color from petunias and other annuals flowers. Over the years, Linda also has planted honeysuckle vines, hibiscus bushes, Japanese pieris, Japanese maple trees, Hinoki cypress evergreen shrubs, a variety of pines and ferns and an herb garden.

No Spokane garden would be complete without hostas. The Fairhursts’ yard has its share.

Kevin’s artwork gives the yard its unique look. Most of his compositions were done in concrete, including the three-sided water sculpture. It took 30, 80-pound bags of cement to build the sculpture, which is set in a shallow pond with a variety of plants. Kevin also cast the Chinese symbols for tranquility, beauty and peace into the structure. Other Chinese calligraphy is featured on artwork throughout the yard.

A Japanese arbor with flowering crab apple runs along the side of the house. The yard is closed in by privacy fences. Visitors get their first look at Kevin’s influence in the front yard, where he has placed a basalt rock. The boulder was brought in on a 70-foot boom truck. While some basalt rocks around town have been drilled and are used as fountains, Kevin did not go that route.

“I look at it as art. You don’t want to copy someone’s picture. You want to do your own,” he said.

There’s a story behind every piece of artwork in the Fairhursts’ yard, but nothing has more of a tale than the giant bone Kevin cast in memory of their springer spaniel, Oreo, who died last July. The stone, in the shape of a bone, sits in the back yard and has helped the couple get through the grieving.

Sitting in their beautiful yard and admiring their work must also serve as good therapy.