Shady garden a colorful oasis
Driving west of Spokane to Terri Carstens’ garden this time of year is a study in the subtleties of how many shades of tan there can be. Mile after mile of cut and standing grain give a whole new perspective on that section of the color wheel.
Maybe that’s why when I finally reached Carstens’ farm on Coulee Hite Road, the vibrantly colorful gardens seemed that much more vivid and bright. It was like coming into a jeweled oasis after a long journey. For this reason alone, the garden deserved the August Garden of the Month award from the Inland Empire Gardeners.
The bones of the garden go back nearly 100 years. Their 1915 farmhouse is surrounded by tall locust trees planted when the first farmers came to the area in the early 1900s. Old rustic barns and farm outbuildings share space with the Carstens’ modern machinery sheds for their 3,000-acre, fifth-generation wheat operation. When Carstens moved to the property as a new bride 20 years ago, she had an empty palate to fill. “I started gardening as a way to keep busy while my husband was away farming,” she said. Over the years the garden grew but so did four kids and an assorted menagerie of goats, chickens, llamas, horses, dogs and cats.
Today the locust trees around the house create the perfect place for a shady garden filled with perennials and flowering shrubs like Annabelle hydrangea, hosta, rudbeckia, Joe Pye weed, hollyhocks and old-fashioned roses. “I’ve been trying to add more seasonal color to the garden over the last few years,” she said. In the sunny front corner of the yard, sun-loving plants like sunflower, coneflower, lavender, daylilies and a John Cabot Explorer rose fill the borders. Many of Carstens’ flowers end up in wedding bouquets she makes for brides in the Reardan area.
Beyond the shade garden, is Carstens’ large raised-bed vegetable and flower garden. The vegetables find their way into her freezer and canning jars and the flowers into more bouquets. At the moment the sunflowers are stealing the show. Not to be outdone by the flowers though, Carstens’ goats begged through the fence for a scratch and a snack of weeds.
“Would you like to see the greenhouse?” she asked. I’m thinking a nice 8-by-10-foot toy for puttering but no; Carstens’ is a 40-foot-long high tunnel hoop house filled with dahlias, delphiniums, liatris and more sunflowers and tomatoes. “The wind gets pretty bad out here and we can get frosts early so they need protection.” Next door is a smaller greenhouse where she starts plants and keeps a few fish in a tank. “It was a Mother’s Day present six years ago.”
With her husband off managing the farming and the kids’ school and activity schedules, finding the time to garden takes creativity and doing things when you can. “It’s a good life,” she said as we ended our visit so she could get the next goat ready for the Interstate Fair.