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| Alliums in the front border at Froggy Bottom |
As many of you might know, we are trying to sell our house on Bainbridge Island, and thus far, it seems that gardeners who might appreciate the garden are few and far between. Indeed, the lack of appreciation for gardening in the general public, and the total misunderstanding of what growing plants do is discouraging. To wit: the front border in my garden is one of my favorite areas of the garden, principally because I like the wildness of it, and the fact that it is totally deer resistant and drought tolerant is a plus to me. Yet the nature of a garden like this is that it changes over the course of the year. It is coming into its prime right now, but in the depths of winter there is not much going on there. That is, of course, true of many kinds of gardens, including perennial borders or rose gardens. Despite that fact of nature, it seems that real estate buyers and agents expect a garden which is practically plastic-- i.e., that all the plants look the same all year around. What is the fun of that? Anyway, this attitude was illustrated by the recent comments of a real estate agent that this area- the one seen in the picture above- looked like it was just weeds!
I will be posting pictures of this area in the next few days with a discussion of what I have going on there. Meanwhile you can see pictures of this from last year
here and
here.
Thank you for this! We are in the process of selling our house in Alabama and I know that our extensive garden is going to a tough sell. It is even worse here - at least out there, you have more gardeners than here.
ReplyDeleteThe realtors aren't spinning it accurately. What about, "Gardener's Paradise" "Beautifully landscaped garden dream home" "Exotic, breathtaking gardens surround beautiful home". I'm sure there is a gardener out there looking for your home. But maybe the realtors aren't savvy enough to sell it.
ReplyDeleteCan you post the real estate listing?
ReplyDeleteThe Redfin listing can be found at http://www.redfin.com/WA/Bainbridge-Island/10132-NE-Kitsap-St-98110/home/2473577#property-details
DeleteHi, Linda, your garden is gorgeous!! I love the alliums- they look like joyful lollipops- and the eremerus- WOW!! I also love the different colors of the poppies. I live in Port Townsend and have some very good friends on Bainbridge....love the garden center there. I have turned my front yard into a garden, but it is much smaller than yours....I would love to see your garden sometime before you move.
ReplyDeletemarilyn
Linda, I stumbled upon your blog a while ago while trawling the web for information on eremurus in the Pacific Northwest and was blown away by the images of your garden. People who cannot appreciate the beauty of what you've done (are doing) there really shouldn't buy your property.
ReplyDeleteMy garden isn't nearly as large or as stunning (yet!) as yours, but it's what I would call an actual garden. Yet I've heard a few comments from people who seem to be disappointed that instead of a vast, static, weedy lawn (like every single other house on the street) I have an ever-changing, colourful, fragrant garden that is almost never watered. Every few days, however, someone stops by to compliment us on the garden, and/or to ask what this or that plant is, so there's hope. :-)
Linda , I had my house up for sale for a time several years ago, and found myself in the position of having to dumb it down , but my realtor did try to pitch the 'gardeners paradise' angle. Your garden however is in a whole different category. In fact you could classify it as an important private garden. I hope your agent 'gets it' .
ReplyDeleteThe mature size of the Yucca rostrata and dasylirion, restios, established colonies of eremurus, alliums, and the judicious selection of self-sowers, this is priceless stuff! I thought it had already sold. I'm going to get your listing to So Calif Hort Society. How amazing it would be to continue on with your garden. Maybe other readers can notify local hort. societies too.
ReplyDelete