Sunday, February 28, 2010

By robin robinson Key West Garden Club

The landscape artist who created the gardens and yards of the homes on the Key West Garden Club's annual garden tours have very different approaches.

"It's all one piece," said landscape architect Debra Yates, who designed the gardens and hardscape at 900 Flagler Ave. "I think of the landscape design as a large piece of sculpture.

"I like to free up space so that it enhances the plant that is there," she said, pointed out a cycad standing alone encouraging the viewer to treat it, not as a part of the whole landscape, but as a separate object d'art.

To the left of the home is a large sea grape tree that Yates pruned to a Zenlike simplicity, like a huge bonsai. Its unique bark stands out as it soars above the home's roof.

To enhance the landscape, Yates painted the house Tuscan red, bamboo and olive bronze in lime-based paint so that it would age like an Italian villa. In front of these colors are three groups of Queen Emma lilies bending around the building to drag the viewer's eye toward the path to the rear of the home. The brown outer walls recede, which allows the plants to take center stage.

Yates designed the asymmetrical, slanted bridge that goes over the pool, creating movement in the static object. She ripped out the messy landscaping and planted traveler's palms across the rear of the property, lighting them at night to create clean reflections in the pool.

A more exuberant landscape was designed by Pat Tierney at 901 and 1101 Casa Marina Court.

"I use lots of color in the landscape and that's I why I like the ti plants and variegated gingers," Tierney said walking past fuchsia ground orchids and peace lilies

There are five different, showy crotons in the garden out of the thousands of varieties available. Crotons, duranta and palms ring the perimeter of the property.

A sculptural, but subtle, garden was created by Craig Reynolds at 1206 South St.

The architect worked with the owners.

"They are on my top ten list of clients," he said. "We tried to make the garden contemporary but also tied to the local vernacular."

The rear gardens are marked by water sliding down a long wall into a narrow, pale-green pool and then down into a smaller lower level pool. The sound of water falling isolates the garden from the street noise.

This garden was created in between homes on either end. Because it is small, plant selection was important. A variety of palms shade the yard.

Reynolds' subtle use of textures creates serenity. It is a place for quiet conversations or the reading a languorous love story. You might even tuck a pua keni keni gardenia (Fragraea berteriana) behind your ear.

The final garden, designed by Raymond Jungles and Debra Yates, is at 1617 White St. As a backdrop, a long way behind the home, the largest waterfall in Key West pours over dark Chinese limestone.

The owners of this home wanted to create architectural rooms primarily for entertaining. The garden is divided into three major areas containing mostly native and Caribbean plants. I would call it tropical Key West formal.

The private garden tours are from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 6 and 7. Tickets are $20 and may be purchased at the Garden Club, 1100 Atlantic Blvd., or at individual gardens on the tour.

Docents stationed in each section of the garden have detailed plant lists and will provide information and answer questions.

Key West Garden Club's master gardener Robin Robinson was a columnist at the Chicago Daily News and syndicated by Princeton Features. This column is part of a series developed by the Key West Garden Club. Visit http://www.keywestgardenclub.com.