A Garden of the Northwest Tropics

An inventive pair of gardening novices transformed the tired turf of their backyard outside Seattle into a lush garden with a showstopping waterfall.

Written by Valerie Easton • Photographed by John Granen
Produced By Linda Humphrey

Nick and Katherine Stojkovic bought their home in Bellevue, a suburb of Seattle, with the intention of preserving its midcentury character. The garden, however, with its cracked patio and scrubby lawn, didn't have much character to preserve. "We looked at it and decided to bulldoze the whole thing and start from scratch," says Nick, who is new to gardening but experienced in design.

The couple edged their plant palette up a climate zone in order to invoke a setting warmer than that of the cool, damp Pacific Northwest. Canna lilies, the hardiest fan palms (Washingtonia filifera), bamboo and fat clumps of New Zealand flax evoke a leafy, tropical atmosphere. Even on the cloudiest days, liatris, crocosmia, agapanthus and other spiky perennials chosen for their hot-colored blooms make the cabana, which the couple calls the tiki hut, look right at home. And of the mature plants the couple hauled in to achieve the look of a far older garden, Nick says, "We like instant gratification."

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