Barbara Katz's Garden - The backyard of my dreams

On the second full day of the 2017 Garden Bloggers' Fling, our first stop was the garden of landscape designer Barbara Katz, the owner of London Landscapes LLC.  Her garden is in Bethesda, Maryland and she was there to greet us in her front garden when our buses arrived.

The flower-filled front garden, photographed from the street looking toward the front steps of the house

A view of the front of the house looking back toward the driveway on the left, with lots of neatly arranged plants in pots waiting for a home

A closer look at the front porch with its attention-grabbing red rocking chairs

And a wonderful planter containing succulents, which made this Southern California girl feel right at home

Barbara told a delightful, fairy tale come true story of developing and maintaining the garden we'd arrived to see for a client who, years later, elected to sell the property.  Barbara and her husband purchased it so, as she said, she got the landscape of her dreams with someone else paying the cost of its development.

Barbara led us to the back of the property through a narrow side garden.

I could already tell that this property was going to be packed with beautiful plants

Barbara had mentioned that the back garden had a "wow" effect on visitors but I wasn't prepared for its impact on me when I stepped into the area.  Perhaps it's greedy of me to covet a garden like this one when I enjoy a very nice panoramic view of the Los Angeles Harbor and the surrounding city but, if I had my druthers, I'd have a garden like this one.  The lot stretched upward 12 feet with mature trees forming a green backdrop to the rear.  The steep slope was densely and creatively planted.  

I loved the beautiful smoke bush (Cotinus coggygria) in this area at the foot of the slope

Here's a view of the varied plant material that packed the area to the left of the stairs leading up to a flat lawn area

More succulents in pots arrayed along the steps of the stairway

The terraced area held a secluded seating area tucked into the trees on the left.

Take notice of the details here

I don't always like human statuary in gardens but this little figure seemed just right standing next to the pretty pink-flowered Hydrangea

A pretty pot that complemented but didn't compete with the planting bed next to it

On the other side of the lawn there was a good-sized gazebo.

This looked like a wonderful place to hang out and enjoy the garden

A close up of the planter to the right of the gazebo's entrance

Another packed planting bed lay alongside the gazebo where the property sloped downward

Below the gazebo was a waterfall that spilled down the slope roughly parallel to the steps.

View of the upper pond, complete with water lilies, looking downward toward the patio to the right of the pond

A close up of the succulent-filled pot on the pond's edge 

The main patio at the bottom the the slope provided the perfect vantage point from which to view the lower pond area and the plants surrounding it.

The water from above flowed into this pond adjacent to the patio

This is the planting bed that faced the patio

There were many plant vignettes I loved in this garden but the one captured in this photo is perhaps my favorite so I'm tagging it as this week's Wednesday Vignette.  Visit Anna at Flutter & Hum for more Wednesday Vignettes.

There was another good-sized seating area next to the house

I exited the back garden from a side area on the opposite side of the house from the area through which we'd entered.  I was amused to see still more plants in pots sitting there in a nursery-like arrangement, waiting to be used in this garden or perhaps that of a lucky landscaping client.

Plants waiting for a home

This garden was one of the highlights of the Fling for me.  However, there are many more Fling-related posts to come as I continue to slowly work through my photographic backlog.

All material © 2012-2017 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party