Suzy Whittemore has sold Denver real estate for nearly 30 years. She’s well-versed in the value of houses; she knows that enchanting gardens can seal a deal.
“The landscaping gives the first impression of how a house looks from outside,” Whittemore said. “People are more cognizant today about outdoor living spaces as extensions of the house.”
Aside from increased curb appeal, gardens provide increased options for entertaining. It comes as no surprise that Whittemore’s own garden at her Hilltop home is nothing short of fabulous. With a large stone patio, a fireplace far too large to be called cozy, and plenty of furnishings, Whittemore’s back yard is an ideal spot to relax alone in the cushy black wicker rocker or play hostess to 100 clients for an annual appreciation party.
“Entertaining is a lot easier outside,” she said. “It’s much bigger.”
That and the inevitably upturned glass of red wine tends to do less damage.
In Whittemore’s backyard, trees stand like ever-present guests. Rather than just run-of-the-mill, they include a weeping redbud and a stately spruce known as a Norway fastigate with deep emerald green boughs that stand up to Colorado’s wet snows. The evergreen holds court in an island perennial bed where lacy hardy geraniums and yellow columbine soak up sun. Lushly planted containers, a small water feature and a state-of-the-art grill strike a balance between Old World charm and newfangled functional bliss. The garden – thanks to help from Whittemore’s gardening guru Lynn Gregory of Chelsea Gardens – approaches picture perfection.
Yet the sophisticated setting pales in terms of playfulness when compared to Whittemore’s secret garden tucked just around the corner. The slim treasure is situated in a corridor between the side of Whittemore’s house and the brick wall that separates her property from her neighbor’s. There, Whittemore gives full reign to her Francophile self.
“I love Paris,” she said. “I love France.”
And her secret garden proclaims that amour. One sign reads “Suzy’s Le Petite Jardin 1997,” and another reads “Jardin Prive.”
One lovely aspect is the path. Under foot, concrete blocks with diamond-shaped cutouts are planted with thymus minus and lemon thyme, forming unusual flooring. The blocks lend a quaint geometric punch and perfume, to boot, when visitors pass through.
Along with being pretty and fragrant, the path is tres practical: “You can drive a truck over this,” said Whittemore, who had 2 tons of pea gravel hand-sifted to form the base for the pathway.
Sweet woodruff and Johnny jump-ups form a low border. Honeysuckle snakes up a trellis. To the delight of visiting honeybees, catmint and lamb’s ears and hyssop thrive in the raised bed, which also contains culinary herbs: cilantro, parsley, chives.
Whittemore, true to Francophile form, loves to cook.
Her potting bench holds a colorfully painted window box lettered with Ralph Waldo Emerson’s endearing line: “Earth laughs in flowers.” Magenta geraniums and baby girl pink petunias prove Emerson’s point.
On the brick wall, Whittemore displays a collection of crosses – every style and material ranging from wood to wrought iron to ceramic.
At one end of the garden, a whimsical mural painted on the stucco of a garage wall depicts a bistro scene at Le Provence Bar. Whittemore has named the fictional characters. Colette and her poodle Coco pause at an outdoor table near a trompe l’oeil trellis. The rhinestone on Colette’s ring winks in the light. At another table in the mural, Claude slumps with an aperitif beneath an umbrella, a Gitane dangling from his lips. He’s a guest at the mural’s cafe Chez Moi – the name of the French cooking school Whittemore’s mother owned in Connecticut for 13 years.
Below Claude are lavender plantings. And below the lavender plantings are the cremains of Whittemore’s mother.
“She loved lavender, and she loved gardening.” Whittemore’s mother died four years ago. Incorporating the ashes into her garden soil keeps the mother and daughter close after death, as they were in life, and reminds Whittemore to cultivate joie de vivre – the joy of life.
