Steep lots make gardening — or even just mowing — a challenge unless you figure out a way to create safe, usable spaces. Seattle gardener Bonnie Berk installed terracing to tame her intimidatingly steep front yard, adding large sculptures to entice visitors uphill. I visited her garden on the bonus Monday of the Puget Sound Fling, held in mid-July.

A tall stucco retaining wall with elegant double stairs (with access on each side) was already here when she and Larry Kessler bought their 1916 home, according to an article in the Seattle Times. However, it needed to be rebuilt, and Bonnie decided to terrace the slope above it and make a lush, foliage-centric garden.

Looking up as you climb the stairs, you’re almost seeing the plants from ground level.

Bonnie greeted us on the stairs…

…where we enjoyed face-to-face views with the plants.

A chunky arbor with an arch for a vine to climb breaks up the handsome stone-and-tile stairs.

A face planter with red and celery-green sempervivums color-coordinates with the stairs.

A contorted Japanese maple skims the slope. On a terrace above, an onion-shaped steel sculpture I recognized from Terra Sculpture, called Joy, draws the eye.

This narrow terrace has room for a stepping-stone path, potted plants, and a birdbath, but the sculpture is the star. Mondo grass provides negative-space greenery that allows Joy to shine.

On the other side of the stairs, a beefy steel moon gate beckons.

You can walk through it, and I should have. It’s the work of Seattle metal artist Jim Honold of MOD Studio.

The garden stair-steps its way uphill.

And then you’re in a level space around the house, where this dramatic vignette stopped all of us in our tracks. A 20-foot tall laurel hedge runs the length of the yard, shielding home and garden from view of uphill neighbors and providing a beautiful green backdrop. A wide steel arch by MOD Studio shelters a bench on a small patio adorned with potted plants and a face sculpture.

‘Chirimen’ kadsura vine, arching over the bench, offers a brighter evergreen leaf against the laurel’s deep green. A diagonal brick inset in the patio emphasizes the symmetry of the scene.

To the right, a narrow lawn stretches along the side of the house, taking advantage of the level space.

Looking left, a zingy garden of mostly foliage plants, with a stone path curving around it, offers a reason to explore.

The enormous laurel hedge stands tall beside it.

Porch steps at the front of the house offer space for potted succulents and another face sculpture.

View from the steps

The steel arch and bench powerfully focus the gaze and create a moment to pause in the long garden.

Lilies

Another steel sculpture draws the eye in the flowering border along the hedge.

This back porch scene appealed to me. I love the wide steps with a couple of red Adirondacks against the dark gray siding. A collection of potted plants in black pots, with a few terracotta, red, and blue ones to shake things up, brings the garden right up to the doors. Handy garden tools are contained in a red pot by the door.

Lots of lovely foliage plants, mostly drought-tolerant succulents. The nearly black foliage of a shrub in a blue-and-gray pot is wonderful too.

On the other side

A garden gate with an arbor leads to the driveway and garage.

A handsome rodgersia

Ligularia and lily

Ah, astrantia — my fave

Golden and white lilies

I think this is an old sewing machine table, which Bonnie turned into a succulent planter. That’s a view of Lake Washington in the distance.

Heading down the stairs to the street, I passed the gnarled Japanese maple again — a sculpture in its own right. Next up was a neighbor’s garden right across the street.

Up next: The elegant, cloud-pruned Bednarski Garden. For a look back at Part 2 of the exuberant Sparler-Schouten Garden, click here.

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Digging Deeper

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