Patio of the Week: A Cozy Backyard Escape Warms Seattle Gardeners

This Seattle couple has more passion for gardening than they do for sports, so they replaced a full tennis court on their property with a vegetable garden, greenhouse and tool shed with a living roof. Located close to Discovery Park in Seattle, the garden's greenhouse provides a respite from cold and rain in the winter. Gold, yellow, orange, purple and red flowers, foliage and furnishings provide a riot of bright color that enlivens the entire yard, even under Seattle's often gray skies, while raised vegetable beds provide plenty of fresh produce for the table.

"It's a great space to pot up plants in the winter when you really want to work in the garden, but don’t want to get absolutely drenched," says landscape architect Jason Henry of Berger Partnership.

The greenhouse, complete with citrus and other tender plants that emerge from the flagstone paving, has a big counter and sink. It backs up to a new shed, which has a green roof planted with sedums and a water harvesting system for the greenhouse. "The shed was a big part of the program for the design; there was a strong desire to organize and visually contain all of the stuff including tools, pots and toys for the grandkids," Henry says.


Continuous bluestone flagstone paving and beautiful custom glass doors create a seamless connection between the greenhouse and the rest of the garden.

"There was a lot of cut bluestone used for the paving around the home, so we wanted to tie into that, but did not want replicate it," Henry explains. "Using the bluestone as flagstone allowed us to be softer on the edges and weave the plantings and paving together."

Pavilion doors: Architectural Glass/Greg Carman


Raised beds arranged in meticulous lines give the garden a pleasing and organized modern structure. Drip tubing irrigates the beds.

While the beds are aesthetically pleasing, function was the top priority. "Raised vegetable beds were the main focus, and we spent a lot of time weighing the pros and cons of the potential materials in the early stages of the project," Henry says. "We settled on concrete due to its longevity over wood and its ability to act as a heat sink." He also added benches to the two long sides to make it more comfortable to work in the beds.

The fiery orange flowers on the left are dahlias, grown for cut flowers.


An orange trellis covers the main crushed basalt path; the other end (behind us here) provides a view out to Puget Sound. "The trellis is the same color as the Pyracantha that are espaliered on the main house," Henry says. "There are several vines clambering over the trellis, but my favorite is a dark foliaged grape."


This quote from Mary Oliver's poem The Leaf and the Cloud holds a special place in the homeowners' hearts: "Eternity is not later, or in any unfindable place. Roses, roses, roses, roses."


Golden Adirondack chairs play off the garden's color palette. They also provide a comfortable place to gather after a long day of gardening, enjoying the warmth from the fire pit and watching the grandkids play bocce.

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