Sometimes, in order for a beautiful garden to be born, something else must die.
In the north Everett garden of Rebecca Frevert and Des Skubi, there were two monstrous holly trees.
They were probably planted after the construction of the couple’s 1920 bungalow. They ate up hundreds of square feet of yard, blocked a lot of light, and looked dark and menacing.
Still, after 15 years of living with the trees, their decision to remove them was painful.
“I bawled,” said 56-year-old Frevert, loath to kill anything, especially mature trees.
Now, five years later, it’s clear the change marked the beginning of their garden’s new and exciting life.
“It created a huge hole. That really got me kick-started,” said Frevert, who has steadily found more time to garden as their sons, Ben, 20, and Daniel, 17, have grown older.
Saturday the family will open their oasis to the public as one of six private gardens on the Gardens of Merit Tour, a fundraiser for the Evergreen Arboretum &Gardens of Everett.
Visitors to Frevert and Skubi’s corner lot will find a mix of open and secluded spaces.
Their back yard is a quiet sanctuary with a Japanese-style teahouse, a classic potting shed, gracefully hung Tibetan prayer flags, a bubbling fountain and myriad horticultural delights.
Ornamentals and vegetables mix fluidly in many spaces for quaint and well-designed displays more than worthy of a public tour.
Their front yard is a public space with a riot of plants, delivered in spurts.
One of this season’s triumphs is a circle bordered by small granite blocks and planted with white and purple alyssum in a yin-yang design.
There’s also a popular poetry kiosk the couple plunked amid perennials last summer as a way to highlight verse for passersby who want to enjoy a poem with the poppies.
The Gardens of Merit Tour ticket describes the couple’s garden as eclectic and artistic. Frevert, however, likes to remember a remark a stranger made when she was working in the yard one day.
“I really like your garden. It’s a little wild, but it works,” the woman had said.
“We kind of latched on to that,” said Frevert, a nurse midwife at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett. “It’s a wild jumble.”
Look closely at this garden, however, and you can see the backbone of the spaces clearly: Trees.
Where one horrid holly tree once stood, there is now a Bloodgood Japanese maple, and, in place of the other, a Persian parrotia.
“I’ve looked for small trees that don’t get enormous,” Frevert said, adding that the parrotia puts on an exquisite fall show. “It’s orange and yellow and red. It’s absolutely beautiful.”
Frevert describes her garden’s style as Northwest Asian fusion. It’s also an expression of her quasi-Christian spirituality. She describes herself as a “Sermon on the Mount Buddhist.”
“It is living in the now and not anticipating what’s going to happen next. That’s not an easy thing to do,” she said of Buddhism. “It’s like the journey is the goal. To me, gardening is like that. The garden is constantly changing.”
Skubi, 57, who sees himself as Frevert’s garden support staff, said he enjoys sitting in the teahouse, which was made from the basic structure of their kids’ old playhouse.
He also likes to kick back by the fountain: three basalt columns that burble water into a small pond.
“Both of them are really pleasant places just to hang out,” said Skubi, who works as executive director of the Interfaith Community Health Center in Bellingham. “It is really nice.”
In addition to the poetry kiosk, Skubi is particularly proud of the garden he and Frevert have created in the alley, complete with a whimsically painted back gate and garden beds filled with drought-tolerant plants, including wild roses and the weedy but beautiful Jupiter’s beard.
“I like the concept of alley gardens,” Skubi said. “Attractive gardens and things that create interest are things that will, hopefully, create a neighborhood.”
Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037 or sjackson@heraldnet.com
3 tips to take away
Hummingbird heaven: Want to bring in more speedy fliers? North Everett gardener Rebecca Frevert recommends fuchsia, cape fuchsia, penstemon, salvia, bee balm, wine &roses weigela and honeysuckle.
Container craze: Break out of your pot rut by using metallic horse troughs sold at animal feed stores for quaint raised beds, ideal for vegetables such as tomatoes. Drill numerous holes in the bottom and perch them on a couple 2-by-4s to guarantee good drainage.
Blueberry bonanza: You can grow blueberries in a container. Frevert has had good luck with the Sunshine Blue, an evergreen variety that grows to about 3 feet tall. Place the container in full sun near your house so the birds can’t steal all the fruit.
If you go
What: The Everett Gardens of Merit Tour, a fundraiser for the Evergreen Arboretum &Gardens, will feature six private gardens on a self-guided tour in Everett.
When: Tour hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. There will also be a plant sale from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the arboretum at 145 Alverson Blvd., Everett.
Cost: Tickets are $10 and are available at J. Matheson and Pacific Stone Co. in Everett; Sunnyside Nursery in Marysville; Emery’s Garden in Lynnwood; and at the arboretum on the day of the tour.
Information: Call the arboretum’s message line at 425-257-8597 with questions or go to www.evergreenarboretum.com/events.asp.
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