Who Designed our new Western Cottage Garden

Our New Western Cottage Garden

  • Topic: Garden Design
  • Author: Cindy Bellinger
  • Keywords: history, cottage garden, cottage, western cottage, Other, gardens
  • Date: June 2004

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Who Designed Our New Western Cottage Garden?

Her name is Memphis. And she has no idea why. “My grandmother wanted to name me Memphis and never told anyone her reason,” she said. But it’s certainly a distinctive name, and there’s no doubt the garden Memphis re-designed is just as distinctive.

People in nearby office buildings are already eating lunch here.

When Memphis Barbree learned that, she was delighted. “I love the idea of landscaping public places,” she said. Thirteen years ago when she began landscaping, she ended up doing heavy-duty sweaty stuff like erosion control on steep hillsides. “But I really wanted to work on gardens for people.”

Then one day Memphis was at Donna Bonner’s, the woman who created Yum Yum Mix®. On a whim David Salman, owner of Santa Fe Greenhouses, happened to stop by. And the result of that fruitful meeting is our new 1/2-acre Western Cottage Garden.

And what fun for Memphis. After a few meetings with David to talk about the general thrust of things, Memphis was on her own. “He gave me free rein, and when it came to putting in the plants, I just decided to go until someone told me to stop.”

She is still going. The place is abundant and lush. And it easily shows what can be done with the soil and climate of Santa Fe.

What Memphis also wanted was to start designing gardens she knew would be taken care of. “You wouldn’t believe the number of gardens that become ruined because no one takes care of them. It’s disheartening. A garden is not static,” she said. “This garden was a real opportunity to do what I like and know it would be well cared for.”

Before turning to landscaping in Santa Fe, Memphis did farming and gardening in Hawaii and was stationed in the Army in Korea before coming to Santa Fe to reclaim her health. With a degree in journalism, she also writes travel guides to places such as Poland.

She’s had a crew of hard workers helping out, and what makes the new Western Cottage Garden immediately attractive is the multi-layered pathways and planting areas. She combined wood, brick, flagstone and river stone with accents of single stones, Buddhas and containers full of splashing color.

Then with all the varieties of plants she used it’s impossible not to run home and try some of the new ideas in your own garden.

One thing David did want was an African Garden to show off the plants he brought back from his travels there. They do quite well here, too. Another garden is the Prairie Native Garden.

The grand opening is June 10. Celebrate with a ribbon cutting and join Memphis as she and David lead tours through this sumptuous creation.