Down the garden path

“If you would be happy for a week,

take a wife.

If you would be happy for a month,

kill a pig.

But if you would be happy all your life,

plant a garden.”

17th Century English proverb

Five area couples are pretty much guaranteed lifetime happiness if there’s any truth to the proverb. Their vision, expertise and creativity will be on public display all day Sunday, compliments of the Coeur d’Alene Garden Club’s annual garden tour.

Underwritten by Duane and Lola Hagadone, this year’s featured gardens include the Hagadones’ own lake home garden in Casco Bay, Garden No. 5 in the tour program. Covering more than 10 acres and containing more than 12,000 plants, three waterfalls and three connecting ponds, it is one of the largest privately owned gardens in the Pacific Northwest. The Hagadones are providing boat transportation to and from their lake home, leaving the docks at Independence Point every half-hour. Pianist Robert Vaughn will entertain guests and light refreshments will be served.

I know a little garden-close

Set thick with lily and red rose,

Where I would wander if I might

From dewy dawn to dewy night.

William Morris

Back in town, four gardens are showcased, and guests are free to drive to each of them at their leisure.

Garden No. 1 is in Indian Meadows and owned by Keith and Barbara Gray, who have lived there since 1990. Situated on a almonst an acre of forest floor, the yard is home to more than 100 pines. The Grays have added a major feature almost every summer, including four concrete patios, two fountains and a brick walkway.

Keith Gray is an avid outdoorsman, and limits the garden improvements to one per year “to protect his golf, fishing and boating time.” Barbara dabbles in a variety of crafts and the garden and yard feature many of her mosaic projects. PVC pipe, bird baths and an interesting monolith are all decorated with bits of mirror and tile, but mosaic-covered bowling balls are her specialty.

I walk down the garden-paths,

and all the daffodils

are blowing and the

bright blue squills.

Amy Lowell

Garden No. 2 is on Deerhaven in Dalton Gardens. The cottage-garden style created by English owners Rusty and Pat Ballie, features “small, sheltered areas to relax: a patio with arbor and swing seat, a sandbox for the grandchildren, a fire pit and barbecue corner, and a small lawn for Tai Chi.”

Pat Hartman, president of the Garden Club, says, “This organic garden is different from anything we’ve had before. It should bring a different group of people to the tour.”

I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds

than of cherries, and very frankly

give them fruit for their songs.

Joseph Addison

Ed and Tina Hood have enjoyed their woodland retreat, Garden No. 3 in Dalton Gardens, for the past 25 years, during which time it has evolved as their family has changed and grown. The Garden Club has been “after them” for the annual tour for the past four years, but the Hoods wanted to wait until Ed was retired and could devote 100 percent of his time to the grounds and “put his best foot forward.”

Ed manages the perennials and Tina the annuals, but they both share responsibility for the 1,000 dahlias. Their acre of garden features an orchard and many grapevines, 80 birdhouses, five water features, including a pond with fish, a weeping wall, and an old goat cart with cascading milk and cream cans. Creative use of snags, driftwood and rocks make this landscape unique.

As long as one has a garden, one has a future;

And as long as one has a future, one has a life.

Frances Hodgson, Burnett, author of “The Secret Garden”

Garden No. 4, in the Bentwood subdivision, and the youngest garden of this year’s tour, belongs to Bob and Karen Hill. Bob, a Master Gardener, attributes the lushness of his garden to the 147 yards of excellent topsoil and compost he brought in. Together with his wife, he designed and built the lovely winding beds that frame the yard, and the multitiered redwood deck and pergola.

A vintage 1930s wrought-iron lamp post adds character to the center bed. More than 2,200 different plants make up the couple’s garden, “planted so closely that weeding is almost eliminated.” Karen adds, “It’s a real surprise to me what’s going to bloom next.”

Only 2,000 tickets to the tour are sold each year. Tickets cost $25 each and are available at the dock and at each garden if they’re still available. In past years, the event has sold out. Musicians and vendors of plants and garden accessories will be at each garden.

Gardens chosen for the tour must meet several criteria: public parking, ease of access, location, logistics, flow of traffic in and out of the garden gates, and unusual plants or features. People interested in having their garden considered for a future tour may contact Pat Harman at (208) 699-6864, or sign up with a tour guide at one of the gardens. Next year’s tour will focus on spring gardens.

This year’s Woodland Enchantments is sure to please. Pat Hartman, Garden Club president, says, “There’s something for everyone.”