The artful collector’s garden of Helen Yoest
While visiting my dad in central North Carolina last week, I was invited to pop over to Raleigh blogger Helen Yoest’s garden after a morning visit to Plant Delights Nursery. My family and I spent several hours at Plant Delights and then had lunch, so by the time I arrived at Helen’s the sun was aglare and the temps steamy. Helen wasn’t fazed a bit. After introducing our kids to each other, she pulled on a hat and led me into her lovely garden for a tour.
Pictured above is her front-yard garden, anchored near the house by this visually refreshing tiered fountain. Helen has planted this full-sun, sloping site with xeric perennials for seasonal color and with plenty of evergreen trees and shrubs to give it interest in the colder months.
I met Helen last summer at Buffa10 and knew that she liked unique garden art because I saw her purchase a piece there. I forgot to look for it during my tour of her garden, but I did see numerous other pieces carefully placed amid her plants. She had a story about each piece or the artist who made it. Helen is not just a collector of original garden art, however. She also collects specimens of weeping trees, like this gorgeous blue Atlas cedar.
A metal fish (originally a wall fountain, I believe) swims down an ivy-cloaked wall in her side garden.
Amid xeric sun-lovers like yarrow and cleome in her back garden, a stacked-stone sculpture makes a striking focal point.
But Helen’s favorite piece of garden art is this scrap-metal hummingbird. Isn’t he fun?
A long, deep porch shelters the back of the house and offers a dry, shady spot to entertain and enjoy the garden, which slopes steeply up toward the back of the lot. To tame the hillside and create a pretty view for the porch, Helen planted a garden on the slope, had a naturalistic stone stair built between porch level and a rectangular lawn above, and installed a French drain along the top of the slope to divert heavy runoff.
The soccer lawn, as she calls it, is for her kids. But I think it’s a wonderful feature regardless of its intended use. Amid her naturalistic, cottagey plantings, this long rectangle of green, formally edged with boxwood, offers a resting place for the eye. Looking down its length, your eye is stopped by another bench and a pair of crepe myrtles. Eventually Helen plans to add a garden house where her children’s playset is just visible between the crepe myrtles.
Surrounding the lawn is a screening border of evergreen trees and shrubs. A rebar bottle tree adds color in the dense shade.
A curly willow shelters a dovecote-style birdhouse and Salvia guaranitica.
Back out front, Helen and her husband boldly planted vegetables in place of a traditional foundation hedge. It was a fun surprise to find edibles comfortably ensconced along the front walk.
Cleome grows with little attention down by the street.
I really enjoyed my visit to Helen’s garden and hearing its stories. She’s a delightful person to spend time with. Thanks, Helen, for a fun garden visit!
All material © 2006-2011 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
I love that metal fish! And seeing her fabulous Cleomes with their big leaves reminds me that I wanted to grow these!
Some vacation, Pam! Can’t decide whether I’m more jealous that you got to see Helen Yoest’s lovely garden or whether you visited Plant Delights Nursery in person. Delightful!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Helen, her kids and her garden — all delightful! So glad you got to visit with her. She does have a wonderful art collection and has added to it since I visited a couple of years ago. Great photos, Pam!
This is a fine garden. It seems to have the right touch of whimsy and formality. Thanks for bringing her and her garden to my attention.
Helen’s garden is a delight. So green and lush. How perfect to be able to include garden visits in your plans to visit your Dad. I love that fish too. Very clever to have it in among the ivy.
The scrap metal hummingbird, and the axial view down the soccer lawn are perfect! Wish I could borrow 1/10 of her green here at the other end of I-40.
Hey Pam, such a nice write up on our visit. It was great to see you and meet the kids. I hate that I won’t be in Seattle to see you again. H.
Helen, I had a wonderful time seeing your garden. I hope to return the favor one day if you’re ever in Austin. —Pam
Helen’s garden has grown so much since the GWA attendees visited a couple of years ago. She is a clever girl incorporated her art collection within her plant collection. I’m so glad you got to visit. Your photos are wonderful Pam.~~Dee
There is nothing like seeing one’s garden through the eyes of another, even better when the other is such a talented photographer and writer, not to mention sharp-eyed gardener like you, Pam. Well done. Helen’s garden looks to be a true paradise, full of wonderful art. How fun to visit a garden/blogger friend.
Is there anything more exciting than visiting a fellow garden lover’s garden? Your pictures are divine and I am sure you had lots to discuss while on the tour around the garden. Thank you for taking us along.
I love seeing a blogger’s garden through another bloggers’ lens. How lucky you are that you got to visit Helen’s garden. It looks fabulous. Someday, I hope I’ll get to see it in person.
Having met her I agree, she is a delightful person. One day I hope to see her garden, but in the meantime it is nice to see her garden from a different perspective.
I was able to tour Helen’s garden in 2009 during the Garden Writers of America conference. Your pictures remind me of just how delightful it was!
Helen – what a gorgeous garden!! Pam – what a beautiful post!! Lucky, lucky, lucky of you to get to visit a good friend with a garden to boot!!