One garden I was eager to see during the Puget Sound Fling (on the bonus day in Seattle) was that of Richard Hartlage, head of design firm Land Morphology. I interviewed Richard years ago for an article in Garden Design and follow his work. To my delight, I discovered his home garden is a playful space with a flair for the theatrical.

It’s also a garden scaled for intimate gatherings, and I was there with 50+ people. I know I missed the overall feeling of it while squeezing along paths and trying to see the garden around all the people. To get a better overall sense of it, I encourage you to pop over to Land Morphology and Miranda Estes Photography, especially to see the front garden’s unusual serpentine hillside hedges.

But never fear, I have plenty to share with you. Let’s start with the corner patio with pink Acapulco chairs.

Eye-catching foliage stands out against a rusty steel fence. The woven pink chairs and black-and-white stools provide lightweight, airy seating and a zing of color and pattern. A vintage kiddie-ride duck adds a little humor.

The garden is nearly all in containers, from what I can tell. Tall galvanized pots, blocky industrial containers, planted-up driftwood — it’s all fair game for lifting plants up and getting them closer to eye level.

Another area — all containers

Pink flowers and cinnamon foliage look pretty against the rusty orange of the metal fence.

Long stone strips lead through the garden, threading a path between elevated planting beds.

Are these zinc containers? They are handsome.

Along the back fence, large steel planters display a mountain range in miniature — a crevice garden of vertical slabs of rock, with dry-loving plants tucked between the stones. A wire trellis of artistically arranged panels makes an airy screen, breaking up a view of behind-the-fence houses.

Salmon agastache echoes the metal fence color.

The elevated crevice garden wraps all the way around the back corner. Go big or go home! It’s an amazing feature.

Chunky rock slabs

Yuccas thrive in the gravelly soil, whether in the planter or beside it.

Turning the corner, I discovered that one of the raised steel planters is a pond. Another kiddie-ride duck hides in yellow-green grasses and spouts water into the pool.

I was charmed by this unexpected toy duck fountain!

The chartreuse pond grass fountains over the water, where glass floats add shine and color.

Now I was seeing kiddie-ride animals everywhere. A silver seahorse peeks out from under a standard hibiscus.

And a ride-on chicken roosts on a deck of shiny diamond-plate aluminum — another unexpected element.

A crevice garden in a pot overflows with purple daisies.

So many pots in this garden!

Including supersized ones like this tall, narrow terracotta pot

Hello, silver elephant. There’s a whole shopping center’s worth of kiddie-ride animals here!

Wyatt Emig getting a photo of another pot vignette

A wire gate leads to the front garden…

…which slopes steeply down from the house. And it’s where everyone was all of a sudden. Sinuous boxwood hedges barber-pole-stripe the steep garden, and while I didn’t get a good photo, you can see them here. I love the bold red and slate-blue paint on the house, which stands out against the green lushness of the garden.

Across the slope, boxwood hedges swirl diagonally. Flowers and grasses fill the gaps between them.

A tumble of lilies, alliums, and more

Nestled in the gravel paving is a stone sow with nursing piglets — or that’s what I see anyway. The garden offers up lighthearted moments like this at every turn.

An enormous terracotta pot sits at the top of the slope, with other pots circling it.

Here’s my friend Cat for scale. That’s a big pot!

Another stone pig, a little bashful, sits on aluminum stairs.

A pair of blue ducks too

A glorious hydrangea, the signature plant of the Fling, shows off blue-and-cream flowers against the red house.

Up next: The elegant and flowery Pepper Garden. For a look back at the serene green garden of Tanya Bednarski, click here.

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Digging Deeper

Come learn about gardening and design at Garden Spark! I organize in-person talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, authors, and gardeners a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance; simply click this link and ask to be added. Season 8 kicks off in fall 2024. Stay tuned for more info!

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