Gene Zieman and Kim Cox

Kim Cox’s and Gene Zieman’s garden on Pair-A-Dice Ranch Road is a Van Gogh painting with brush stokes of vegetable plantings. It’s a garden I absolutely loved that left a lovely memory in my mind and heart!

The couple moved here from San Jose six years ago in order to be closer to parents. At that time, the home was a stone-scape of white rock covering hard clay. But according to Kim, “The bones of the yard were there and it had rock terracing in the front. We began by adding deer fencing, then removing and giving away white rock.” Then, tons of soil amendment was brought in and the “canvas” was ready. Kim’s art degree and background in clothing design are evident in the application and use of color. Further, her experience as an innkeeper honed her love of applying her art to designing gardens.

Waves of color catch your eye as you drive up to the home. The real joy is as you enter through the gate, walk to the front door, and view the front. Gene offers-up the heavy labor for the garden but is also the creator of the rustic entry gate, which is a dynamic example of what you will find in the rest of the garden.

With no front lawn, a chartreuse mat of creeping jenny, thymes, and sedums form much of the yard. Every now and then a fun random piece of old iron junk pops up, creating a story of its own! An old green tin lid is a tipped backdrop to thymes and sedum, as they wander and grow into other sections of “jenny.” Some of the “old junk” pieces came from their Nevada home which Gene now uses to create pieces of garden art!

The more you look over the front, the more you see. For example, orange poppies and iris mix in and out along the front fence, with deep purple lupine majestically accenting the oranges. Then layers of the rock terraces, filled with flowers, cascade down to create individual art-scapes of color waves. I couldn’t decide what was so unique about the tranquil scene, other than just being pleasing and being such a flowing canvas of color. Kim explained, “I don’t use white or pastels and all colors have the same value.” With that, I noticed all the flowers were solids, with no two-toned, white or even white centers! The effect was noticeable and beautifully effective, and I loved that I couldn’t figure it out!

An amazing feature in Kim’s garden is her companion planting with veggies, which is noticeable as we walked along the terrace path. One corner of the yard has a smoke tree, magnolia, and butterfly bush, but tucked at the base of the bed were potatoes! A strawberry-lined path leads you to the side of the home and a classic veggie garden. Along the way you pass a few boxwood, lavender, and beautiful alliums with striking purple heads. Tucked at their feet is lettuce, zinnias and a pyramid topiary built from re-bar for the sunflowers! A peony towers over cool dark chard. The true “veggie garden” sits at the side of the home and is full of rows of other eatable fare. Nasturtiums guard the row ends and the massive row of the most dynamic deep amber iris, hide the deer fence. And just six inches above the iris heads, a back field of tall grass with wheat-colored heads carries your eye out to the most amazing view of Mt. McLoughlin – it’s beautiful.

As I turned toward the back yard, I was actually stopped in my tracks by the contrast of 200-300 solid yellow irises circling a mass of deep green lawn. There’s a wide bed with clumps of grasses that form the bed for a row of Madrone that tower and divide the yard from the back field and view. A small patio with pavers and chartreuse creeping jenny and thymes are home to a black patio set, perfectly accenting the chartreuse. More yellow pops the color pallet with deep amber iris – a reminder of Kim’s favorite iris. A second patio along the back is elevated from the yard by a rock wall. Built of shale, it is topped with Mexican feather grass that rises from a cushioned 5’ x 20’ carpet of thyme and Irish moss.

Kim’s only garden regret is the critters! Coming over and under the fence are raccoons, gophers, and ground squirrels – all have created havoc and forced her to give up on planting bulbs. Although it seems obvious why they garden, Kim mentioned how much she enjoys creating and nurturing the beauty. She even LOVES pulling weeds! But even more, it seems gardening enables her to create art with flowers. Other than creating art with flowers, her greatest joy in the garden is sitting and admiring it, especially at her favorite time of day – early morning with coffee.

Kay is the owner of Blue Door Garden Store, located at 155 N Third St. Specializing in paraphernalia for the home gardener, she carries garden gifts, decor, and a wide variety of pots, tools, gloves, and organic product.