garden of the month
Most of us know Phyllis Stephens as the Inland Northwest’s garden maven, but behind her incredible wealth of knowledge and advice is a wonderful garden and a very special garden partner: her husband, Jim. For 30 years, they have been working on a labor of love that turned a one-acre alfalfa field into a luscious series of garden rooms with views of Peone Prairie and Mount Spokane.
Their efforts recently put them on the Spokane in Bloom Garden Tour. It also earned them the June Garden of the Month award from The Inland Empire Gardeners.
The garden began in 1977 when Phyllis and Jim built their house and moved in with four active young boys.
“The first 15 were dedicated to planting trees, creating a spacious play area for our boys and a 1/4 acre vegetable garden,” says Phyllis. “The last 15 years have been dedicated to creating a garden retreat filled with color, texture and interest throughout the changing seasons.”
Their garden is a wonderful mix of bright sunny spaces and peaceful shady corners. Their large front yard greets visitors with a wonderful series of beds anchored by tall blue spruces. Perennials, ornamental grasses and smaller trees and evergreens fill beds held back by rock walls the Stephenses built with rocks from the property. Phyllis’s beloved roses share a bed along the driveway with iris, daylilies, more grasses and small conifers.
Their backyard is now a shady retreat, changed from not so long ago when it was an open sunny play space for their boys.
“We still have home plate in the corner of the garden,” says Phyllis. Around the lawn and under the shade of maples, cedars and firs, the Stephens have planted more than 100 hostas and dozens of other shade plants. A small pond creates the sound of water in the garden.
At the back of their property, the Stephenses still maintain a small vegetable garden with just the things they like: tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, peas, corn and zucchini. Phyllis says she came to gardening through her parents.
“We lived on the farm and mother cooked and canned. Mother never, ever cooked out of a box. We always had a garden. It was just natural. My major in college was fine arts and music.”
“(Gardening) is a labor of love. It’s trying things and moving things around. It’s pretty neat to have something you love and be able to have it your work,” says Phyllis.