During a family visit to Charlotte, North Carolina, last weekend, I took the opportunity to visit the garden of designer Jay Sifford, an online friend who graciously offered up his morning for a visit. When thunderstorms rumbled all morning, we pushed it to early afternoon. I arrived under leaden skies and drizzly rain, but Jay was undeterred and so was I. The garden sparkled with raindrops, its tapestry of colorful foliage glowing in the dim light. I knew immediately I was in for a treat.

Located in a suburban neighborhood at the end of a cul-de-sac, the 1/2-acre property perches on the edge of a wooded ravine and enjoys a borrowed view of a stately beech forest. Jay’s been living here for 20 years and seriously gardening for about 13 years. This was his first garden, he told me. Talk about starting with a bang!

Jay focuses on foliage texture and color, which suits his shady garden. He does have a little sun along the driveway and takes advantage of that to add a few flowering plants like Spanish bluebells and vivid pink azaleas that echo the blushing foliage of a Japanese maple tucked amid drooping conifers.

Spanish bluebells

Bleeding heart

Jay loves contorted, “arthritic” trees and grows many unusual weeping specimens, including a ‘Blue Snake’ dwarf deodar cedar in a tall pot.

Steel-blue and gold-tipped conifers mingle with burgundy Japanese maples, copper-hued barberry, and a nearly black shrub in a richly textured garden below the house.

‘Orange Rocket’ barberry (I think)

As you explore the driveway garden, you get glimpses into the ravine garden below, where a zigzagging, Chinese-red boardwalk leads to a small deck perched above a wet-weather stream.

Jay’s blue house rises like a mountain cabin over the garden, encircled by a wooden deck with views on all sides.

A wide timber-and-gravel path swirls down into the mid-level garden. Rich burgundy foliage glows vividly against the bright greens of spring.

Looking back up the path toward the driveway, you see one of Jay’s contorted trees supervising your progress.

A low stone wall curves back on itself to create a secret nook layered with ferns and Chinese mayapple. Planted directly in the gravel, a composition of ferns and stone is, Jay explained, a sort of botanical self-portrait. Interesting! Update: Jay explains on his Facebook page:

“It’s something I did a decade ago. At the time, I was more turbulent internally, hence the rocks with sharp edges that form sort of a spiral, with one vertical grounding rock. Then, over the top was the peaceful facade of moss and ferns. Turbulent interior, peaceful exterior… that was me. Now I’m more homogenous, thank God.”

A weeping bald cypress trained into a living arch beckons you down a flight of stone steps into the lower garden. Here’s the view looking back up. What I took for painted bamboo poles on this drizzly day are actually glass bamboo sculptures by Seattle artist Jesse Kelly.

Jay’s ethereal glass art contrasts with several twisted-metal, industrial-style sculptures of human figures, including this one of a crucified Jesus by artist Benjamin Parrish. Notice the pixie-like figure atop one hand, its pounding hammer raised.

Jay always wanted a mountain home, and although the Smokies are distant, these massive granite boulders along the edge of the ravine evoke the mountains for him. He built the boardwalk and deck as a contemplative space. Rather than have it blend into the woods, however, he painted it bright red.

An L-shaped bench overlooks the beech wood, formerly throttled by poison ivy but painstakingly cleared and replanted with ferns, sedges, mayapple, and other low-growing shade lovers.

More glass sculptures glow on the forest floor as a turbulent stream rushes downhill.

Heading back up the path, a ceramic totem sculpture caught my eye. Jay bought it locally but doesn’t remember the artist’s name. I love the texture and color. It reminds me of Marcia Donahue‘s work, and Jay actually has some of hers too, but somehow I didn’t end up seeing it. Dang!

Back up through the weeping bald cypress arbor…

…and past the house you enter a garden of light. On this rainy day, light was in scarce supply, but even so the garden glowed. The acid-green beech leaves, chartreuse ‘Everillo’ sedge, and copper Japanese maples all seemed to catch the light.

It was like walking into a cathedral, with pillars of beech and stained-glass windows of green leaves. Multiple pieces of art along a serpentine path give the space a sculpture garden aspect as well.

A steampunk metal sculpture by Pavel Efremoff sets the tone.

Aiming for the stars but treading on the back of another to get there — this is not just a decorative piece but a thoughtful one as well.

A transcendent entrance to the garden of light: that wriggly wall, glass spears like Star Wars light sabers, and yellow-green foliage like pools of sunlight.

Another metal figure at the end of the path draws you forward.

Suddenly the clouds parted and light flooded through the trees, amping up the wattage of all that yellow-green. The effect was fleeting but marvelous.

A dancing woman seems to spin with joy at the end of the path, another of Benjamin Parrish’s works.

A circular overlook contains another female figure, this one more abstract, and a view of the red deck and ravine garden.

Masses of ‘Everillo’ sedge, ferns, and mayapple ooze down the hillside.

Beech trunk

Walking back to the front of the house, Jay led the way up his front steps, a flight of narrow stone climbing past a grotto-like waterfall and koi pond.

Ostrich fern, Jay’s favorite, spreads massive fronds like frilly parasols.

A fishy paradise

This is the first space Jay turned into a garden, formerly a muddy, steeply sloped and nearly inaccessible front walk.

Now it’s filled with ageless stone and delicate traceries of fern and moss.

Shades of green

At the highest point on the property, Jay placed a red Chinese-style bench — his power spot. I exclaimed over the tall, 3-paneled, modern screen that blocks views of a neighboring house. Jay told me it’s constructed of concrete backerboard attached to a 2×4 and 4×4 frame.

The exposed hardware and smooth concrete panels give it an industrial look that contrasts pleasingly with the Chinese Chippendale bench.

Woodland flower

Japanese maple and Lenten roses

Circling around to the bench…

…you enter the upper garden through a Chinese gate, its frame painted red. A verdigris pot holds a sparkler-like grass or sedge.

A magical portal. Its tall, rectangular form echoes that of the backerboard screen behind the bench, and the reds speak to each other too.

Glass leaves and bulbs rise from shade-loving sedges, ferns, and hellebores.

The view back toward the house. Jay has so many wonderful spots from which to enjoy the garden.

Huge thanks to Jay for sharing his beautiful garden with me! I’m so glad we didn’t let a little rain deter us. Jay’s garden shows that you don’t need sun or flowers to have a colorful, glowing, plant-rich space.

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Digging Deeper

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All material © 2024 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.