PGSU Garden Story: Edna

Edna spent years planning the garden she hoped to bring to life one day. When she and her husband purchased a home in Washington with a large backyard five years ago, the opportunity finally arrived. The yard, however, was in rough shape after poor renovations following a flood. What might have discouraged some people became Edna’s blank canvas.

With help from her brother and his mini-excavator, she removed the grass and dug trenches for a new water system. From there, she relied on her own persistence and a steady stream of YouTube tutorials to learn each new skill. In just 18 months, she designed and built a stunning European parterre garden—an ambitious, symmetrical design filled with vegetables, herbs, and masses of flowers.

A Builder and a Propagator

Edna installed the sprinkling system herself, built the wood boxes for the parterres with her children’s help in the layout math, lined the edges with metal, laid sand walkways, and hauled free brick she found on KSL.com to create paths and accents. Along the way, she learned some lessons—like the importance of sourcing clean sand, since the clay content in her first delivery stuck to shoes and tracked through the garden.

One of her greatest triumphs has been learning to propagate. Purchasing enough shrubs to outline her garden would have been impossible, so she took 400 six-inch cuttings from her brother’s hedge of Greenspire Humongous—a sturdier, more water-efficient, darker green alternative to boxwood. She placed the cuttings in vases throughout her home while they rooted, using them as decoration in the meantime. With about a 70% success rate, she continues to keep extras on hand for replacements. Two years later, the young hedges are thriving and filling in beautifully.

Inside the parterres, Edna has grown hundreds of plants from seed. What began in trays in her bedroom later moved to the patio while she waited for the beds to be ready. The timing was tricky, but she persisted, and now her garden overflows with tall, healthy plants nourished by rich soil and careful watering.

A Garden in Full Bloom

Visitors to Edna’s garden are greeted with a joyful abundance. Beds spill over with herbs and vegetables alongside flowers grown for cutting. Zinnias—direct-sown from saved seed—stand tall in multiple varieties. Dahlias grown from both seed and cuttings are protected from the summer sun under shade cloth. Towering sunflowers, some reaching 10 feet, pop up where they please, creating shade for smaller plants. Sweet peas, pincushion flowers, and countless others add layers of color and texture.

The surrounding walls are lined with fruit and shade trees, roses, and grapevines. A flock of chickens patrols the grounds, providing natural pest control while adding to the lively atmosphere. Looking ahead, Edna plans to propagate more roses to plant at the corners of the beds, further stabilizing and softening the parterre edges.

Structure Meets Abundance

When she began, Edna envisioned a parterre with rigid edges and tightly controlled flower displays. But as the seasons passed, she found joy in the unexpected. Today, her garden is a blend of structure and exuberance—a hybrid hedge-and-flower explosion that evolves with each new bloom. It is carefully built, deeply loved, and constantly alive with change.

Garden Wisdom from Edna

• Propagate whenever possible. Cuttings and saved seed dramatically reduce costs and bring a sense of pride when plants succeed.

• Use what’s available. Free brick from sites like KSL.com or cuttings from family hedges can be the building blocks of a dream garden.

• Check your materials. Make sure sand or soil amendments are clean and appropriate before laying them in bulk.

• Expect imperfection. Timing every task is impossible—embrace the unpredictability and keep moving forward.

• Let the garden evolve. Even in a formal design, it’s okay to let plants spill and surprise you.