As the saying goes, it was tough duty but somebody had to do it — sit on the patio on a pleasant Saturday afternoon talking plants with an avid gardener. The sound of her fountain gurgled in the background, a pleasant breeze was blowing and beautiful trees, flowers and shrubs surrounded us.
My benefactor was Barbara McFarlane, an extraordinary gardener who created a landscape that gets better each year. Since retiring as an executive secretary at the University of Utah law school, she is devoting time to several passions — including gardening. She also enjoys her four grandchildren and traveling to see gardens across the country.
Another passion is quilting, which was what brought me to her garden in the first place. Hers was one of the featured gardens in the garden tour sponsored by the Utah Quilt Guild, mentioned in last week's column. She and other members of the guild conceived the idea of displaying quilts in gardens after they traveled to Sisters, Ore., and participated in a similar tour there.
McFarlane admits to being bitten by the garden bug a little later in life than most gardeners, but what she lacks in experience, she has more than made up for in enthusiasm. She recently completed the master gardener course through Utah State University Extension Service.
"I started gardening when I lived in a duplex," she said. "It was something I enjoyed when I came home from work. It starts out very slowly. At first I planted one tomato plant, then that went to two and that went to three.
"The first flowers I planted were pansies, . . . in June, and obviously that did not have much success. In the late '80s I did marigolds, petunias and geraniums."
After the duplex, she graduated to her present home in a quiet Murray neighborhood, where she has gardened for the past 15 years. "My love of gardening forced me into buying my home. I was still not very good at gardening, and I bought this home in the winter. I had no idea how bad the gardens were until much later when the snow melted in the spring."
By that time, it was too late, so she buckled down and started to develop her own gardens.
"I started in 1990 by digging out a vegetable garden that was about 12 feet by 12 feet. I then went on to tear out an old concrete patio. Some of my friends from work came over, and we broke it all up and got it hauled out.
"Next, I took out the patch of grass on the west side and started planting perennials. The east side had nothing except probably 20 large overgrown arborvitae, so I have now taken most of them out so I could plant different trees and other plants. I just started digging and planting and adding more to my garden each season."
McFarlane believes that her greatest asset is that she isn't afraid to try. "I have had huge successes and huge failures. I am not afraid to take things out that do not work."
She has met more people than she could imagine just because they stop in front of her house and want to talk about her yard.
"I used to tell my mother that I loved gardening, because she would not let me get dirty when I was little," she said.
In spite of her teasing remarks, McFarlane admits to following her mother's advice. "You should always listen to your mother. I planted a row of shrubs, and she said they were too close. I told her they weren't, but sure enough, a few years later, I was back taking them out again."
So what are her favorites?
She loves her Japanese maples and tricolo beech. "My contorted white pine struggled for the first couple of years, but it has developed into a beautiful tree." She also likes flowering pears because they don't drop anything and are beautiful year-round. In the fall they have striking color; in the spring they have showy white blossoms; in the summer they have dark green foliage.
Her Forest Pansy redbud, an attractive smaller tree with dark maroon foliage, is another landscape asset. She also has a flowering dogwood that adds beautiful spring flowers.
And then there are grasses. "I am falling in love with grasses. Miscanthus "Morning Light" is a lovely grass with very showy seed heads. "Karl Foerester" feather reed grass, or Calamagrostis, is attractive all year.
Another grass she likes is the Miscanthus "Sarbonde."
Her perennial flowers add even more beauty to her garden. She is "very, very" fond of daylilies. She also loves heucheras because they are attractive all year. Fall asters, which are starting to bloom now, are also among her favorites.
"I am growing more and more penstemons. I love the "Husker Red" and I like the Utah penstemon, so I plant it out front by the street where it will have lots of sun. I also love the hostas, but I do not have a lot of shade . . . so it is difficult to grow them."
In addition to being featured on the tour, her garden has hosted weddings and other social events. Above all, it is her personal love and passion. "I make a few adaptations as I now buy my mulch in bags and move them around on a dolly instead of trying to move them by wheelbarrows.
"I do not think of it as hard. My garden is a labor of love."
Larry A. Sagers is the regional horticulturist, Utah State University Extension at Thanksgiving Point.