The Ridge Garden

For people who love the bright colors of summer flowers and the warmth of the sun on their faces, a garden situated along a heavily wooded, northern slope provides numerous challenges, or numerous opportunities. Ilga Jansons and Michael Dryfoos see it as a world of possibilities—in fact, they wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

Ilga and Mike purchased their wooded property covered with blackberries, native trees, one lilac and hundreds of sword ferns in 1995. Ilga retired early from Microsoft, and she and Mike decided to pursue their dream of a house with a large garden that they could enjoy with their dogs and share for fundraising activities. Over 40 garden tours and philanthropic fundraising events are hosted each year. For the guests, the garden provides layers of mysterious beauty and promises the pleasure of exploration. After completing the house remodel, Ilga and Mike began reading gardening books and gathering ideas.

As self-taught gardeners, they employed contractors to perform the heavy labor and build structures they designed. But the garden was never planned on paper; the serendipitous results came about over time. Work began in early summer of 1996, and since then, property has been added and a complete transformation has taken place. As surrounding lots were purchased, new garden areas were created. Suggestions came from friends and garden professionals reviewing the garden. These ideas were considered and refined. What gradually emerged was a series of spaces defined by plant material, structures and art, and linked by gravel, bluestone, and tumbled granite pathways. Each area feels distinct from the other, even in this garden which encompasses over four acres of the total seven. It all begins after driving through the front gate and up the winding driveway.

As we turn the final corner, we see a gateway flanked by the traditional Chinese Foo dog statues. It is an entryway that sets a tone: the Asian feel is immediately apparent as is the attention to craftsmanship and function. The gateway draws us into the garden’s dappled beauty.

The tapestry of greens, yellows and variegated foliage is a hint of the variety of plant material present. Comprised of over 3,000 species of plants, each selected by Ilga and Mike, the lushness and foliar color are stunning. They are growing in filtered light: large Douglas firs and western red cedars loom overhead. By retaining the healthy, existing trees, the garden has a grandeur and mature stature even though many of the shrubs are still in their adolescence.

You expect to hear a stream in the woods, and there it is: a waterfall and stream surrounded by hostas, ferns, grasses, anemone, spurge and azalea, to name a few. The highlights provided by the variegated leaves and the diverse textures of plants pull the eye down the slope to the pond below. There an inky-black pond provides the perfect foil for enormous koi (up to thirty inches long) flashing auburn, gold and silver sparks.

The Koi Garden is anchored by a large joglo structure—a tall, open structure from Indonesia which Mike and Ilga collected. It not only provides a place to sit and watch the koi, but it also creates a space that describes an Asian scene, while adding a simple backdrop which frames the beauty of the pond itself. This impression of Asian tropical beauty is further supported by the large-leaved plants—some truly tropical and wintered over in the greenhouse.

Structures such as the joglo were brought back from travels abroad. Some were purchased with the thought they might be used someday, somewhere, and were stored. Other items were bought with specific places in minds. The joglo was put in place and the fence surrounding the Koi Garden was added later, in keeping with the style of garden one might see in Japan.

The Alpine House is stylistically a world away. This is the sunniest and warmest part of the yard. Sedums and other succulents are protected under a simply-constructed shelter covered with clear poly sheeting. On the other side, wisteria-covered arbors direct us to a sunny flower garden with a view of Mt. Baker—and a bench to admire it!

This garden is full of views. The Room with a View is a roofless cedar structure nestled into the side of a slope which was conceived with partial walls and inset with windows to frame the views of the woodlands. Only a partial view of the Room is seen from the path with the space opening up the closer we get. An irregular shape, the circular stone pattern of the floor helps to enlarge the area and pull our eyes to the walls. But it is the art and flower pots on the ledges that draw our eyes to the “windows,” and from there to the views beyond. This space invites us to sit in its rattan chairs and rest our drinks on the tables. It is only lacking a heat source such as fire pit to invite visitors to stay even longer.

The instant, big appeal of large structures is balanced in The Ridge Garden by the detail in pathways and the addition of small accessories that contribute to an area’s theme. For example, we see stone work reminiscent of the paths seen in China, with the spaces between larger stones inlaid with flat, rounded river stones about an inch in diameter. The patterns of these river stones echo the swirling effects of water, and in their midst we see carved fish curled in swimming ecstasy. And, as we wander throughout the garden, we realize that repeated representations such as fish, the lotus flower, frogs or horses are used to distinguish various areas. Whether they are embodied in the form of statuary, cut as shapes in stone pathways, or pressed into the clear glass of a water feature, their repetition creates rhythm within a space and helps to define it.

On Rhododendron Hill, a large Buddhist prayer bell suspended from a sturdy shrine contains antique sake containers symbolizing the traditional offerings given to the kami spirits. The bell is meant to be rung, inviting us to create music and further participate in a garden alive with smells, textures, and its own natural sounds of rustling cedar limbs or chirping birds hopping through the leaves.

Ilga maintains this garden along with her gardener. Because almost every inch is planted, many weeds are shaded out. But the flower garden is new each year, and must be planted, weeded and deadheaded to retain its seemingly wild beauty.

This is a garden with a wealth of ideas and good garden design from which we can all learn. For images of Rhododendron Hill, see: www.ridgegarden.org. Unfortunately, The Ridge Garden will have no visiting hours this year. The property is now on the market and I hope it will be reopened again by its new owners. Ilga and Mike have set their sights on creating a new garden in Edgewood where they will be opening a bed and breakfast in 2005. Weddings will be held there, and the fundraisers and garden tours will continue under the snow-capped cone of Mt. Rainier.

Nancy Tom is a freelance writer and garden designer specializing in drought-tolerant, low-maintenance gardens in Redmond.

I would like to thank Ilga and Mike for sharing their time and garden with me during a hectic fundraising schedule. Thanks again for the tea and the tour!