SUSAN AND JIM Pollock's hillside garden is so steep it won designer Dan Borroff a grand prize for artful engineering from Garden Design. The magazine's editors were amazed by the gracious entry and naturalistic garden where once a treacherous muddy slope threatened to slide away. Such topography is not unusual in the Puget Sound region, and most brave enough to consider building on this kind of unstable site are forced to choose between garden and vista. The Pollocks sacrificed level terrain for their view of Lake Washington and the Cascades. But they ended up with a great garden as well, even though they mostly gaze down on it from four stories up.
It's easy to tell a dedicated gardener lives here, where a cushioned window seat, piled with gardening books and magazines, overlooks the garden. "That's my favorite place," says Susan, who has devoted herself to making a real garden here for 15 years, despite the challenges.
Techniques for taming a slope
When Dan Borroff tackled garden-making on this near-45-degree slope, it was so sheer in places it was impossible to stand up. Since massive retaining walls and terracing weren't in the budget, these are the techniques Borroff used to turn things around:
• Before the bulldozer was brought in to contour the slope, huge sheets of plastic were anchored down to keep the rain from washing away the bare earth.
• The clay soil was seriously amended with organic matter and compost to help plants take root.
• Jute net was spread for stability, and the whole garden was planted over four days in November so plants would have months of damp weather to get well-established.
• Geotextile fabric underlies all the planting to help hold the hillside intact.
• Winding paths, stone steps, a low wall and clearings help create stability and good drainage.
• Native plants, such as flowering currants and Pacific Coast iris, were chosen for their ability to thrive in these less-than-ideal conditions.
"I would never have chosen this lot, it's so steep," she says, but now she gardens on every little peninsula Borroff was able to carve out. On the lowest level is a stone patio, designed to be so appealing that it draws you down from the top level of the house. A steep arc of stairs leads from the front door around the house and down to the lower terrace. "Then people have to figure out how to get back up," Borroff jokes. The journey to and fro is made as pleasant as possible with the fragrant, textural plantings flanking the steps. Hellebores, lady's mantle, Daphne odora and evergreen huckleberries coat the hillside, while a bank of native currant (Ribes sanguineum 'White Icicle') blooms from March into April.
Besides retaining the hillside, a major challenge on such a property is the relation of house to garden. Borroff tied the two together with a generous swathe of stone and decking at the entry, clusters of pots, and plenty of shrubs and trees.
From the lower level, the challenge is even greater because you're looking smack at four stories of house. Borroff minimized the looming structure by growing a vigorous 'Lawrence Johnston' climbing rose and honeysuckle up a trellis against the house. Shrubs of evergreen ceanothus skirt the back of the house, and golden locust (Robinia pseudoacacia 'Frisia') form a frothy yellow umbrella when viewed from above. Apricot roses and Viburnum plicatum 'Summer Snowflake' flower near the patio, the one spot where it's possible to feel enveloped in the garden.
Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and contributing editor for Horticulture magazine. Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net. Mike Siegel is a Seattle Times staff photographer.
