Enchanting exuberance

Joel Koyama, Star Tribune

Over the past 20 years Kathy Fryxell Dirks has transformed her sloping backyard into a multi-tiered garden.

A St. Paul gardener carves an English-inspired garden out of her hilly back yard.

By Lynn Underwood, Star Tribune

Last update: November 11, 2008 - 3:30 PM

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TIPS FROM KATHY FRYXELL DIRKS Create rooms with a view: Landscape garden rooms so they have unexpected vistas and site garden rooms so they can be viewed from inside the home, too. "From my third floor office, I have a bird's eye view of the three gardens," Dirks said. For an English flair: Design a more formal structure and then soften it with dense, exuberant plantings. Use a limited number of perennials and repeat them throughout the garden. Plant for drama: Dirks put in a row of columnar arborvitae so the top tier double-border garden is hidden from view. Grow up: Plant climbers to crawl up trellises, walls and arbors for vertical interest. Keep the weeds at bay: Dirks mulches heavily in spring with pine bark mulch. It lasts longer and has a rich brown color, she said. Add focal points: Dirks' gardens feature a brass water fountain and large urns spilling over with annuals. "My garden didn't seem finished until I added the urns," she said. Visit public gardens and read all you can about garden styles you're drawn to. Lay the groundwork: Test your soil and establish a healthy soil system before you start planting. Dirks adds compost to her soil every three years. Most of all: "Don't worry about being an instant expert. Dig in and learn as you go," she said. "Make your garden personal and plant what you love." - LYNN UNDERWOOD

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Kathy Fryxell Dirks loves everything English - china patterns,
London theater, charming villages, and especially the English
country estate gardens she's visited on her many trips to England.

"Gardening seems to be England's national art," said the St. Paul
gardener. "Just about everyone has one, or if they have no space,
they have fantastic window boxes and hanging plants."

When Dirks moved to her St. Paul home in 1987, she wanted her own
English garden. And she wasn't going to let a city-size yard with
an intimidating hill stop her.

Over the next two decades, Dirks designed, built and nurtured
multi-level garden rooms, which create a densely planted,
well-composed tapestry of perennials, climbing vines, roses and
annuals. The three-tiered layout is as lovely as it is enchanting:
Its stone stairs beckon a visitor up to the next level to see what
lies beyond.

On the first level is a private patio garden, canopied by a
mature mugo pine. The intimate space is where the family entertains
and retreats to listen to the trickling water of a brass fountain.

Up the stone steps is the second level, the home of Dirks'
fragrant bee and butterfly garden, which is filled with masses of
monarda, David Austin roses and Russian sage.

The third level, which is hidden from view, is the
creme-de-la-creme. It features a picturesque, albeit small, English
style border garden, which features rows of flowers on either side
of a wide swath of grass. At one end, matching urns spill over with
trailing annuals, at the other end a teak bench offers a place to
take in the royal view.

"My gardens are like a type of English garden which has a formal
layout with a carefully planned combination of plants," Dirks said.
"But there's also a sense of exuberance."

Dirks, a self-employed recruiter, said she learned how to bring
an English sensibility to her Midwestern garden by studying the
techniques of two influential British gardeners: the pioneering
Gertrude Jekyll, who designed more than 400 gardens in the late
1800s and early 1900s, and Rosemary Verey, a celebrated gardener
for the rich and famous, whose many books include practical
gardening advice for everything from window boxes to vast English
gardens.

She was tantalized by the photos of the two renowned gardeners'
designs, and Dirks adapted their ideas to her back yard and climate.

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