Karen and Jeffrey Moore make their home in a Denver townhouse, yet their garden looks and feels like a charming European courtyard. The couple owns Djuna, a Cherry Creek North home-design store, and they bring discerning, art-gallery sensibilities to their outdoor space.
Located off Mayfair Park, near East 10th Avenue and Ivy Street, the Moores’ urban garden measures just 30 by 17 feet but has huge impact. A tiered, ornamental concrete fountain trickles into a tiny pond. Terracotta containers spill colorful annuals. Two trees — a plum and a hawthorn — provide privacy from neighbors. Two market umbrellas add shade and acoustically contain conversations. Underfoot, tumbled pavers add texture and warmth, concealing a plain concrete slab.
For the Moores, more is more: “We like our stuff,” Karen said. “We like things that tell a story — a family story or a travel story — or appear to have some history to them. We’re definitely not about hyper-contemporary sharp edges and bright color. We like things that you’re not sure whether it’s old or new, things that look worn in a well-loved way.”
The Moores’ courtyard contains many items sold at Djuna. An assortment of molded red glass hummingbird feeders dangles, the creations of Parasol, formerly based in Denver, now manufactured in Mexico. Faux wicker chairs from France circle a teak coffee table. A dining room table and chairs made of iron with a mosaic tile tabletop encourage alfresco dining.
“We mix the old and the new, the super interesting boutique furniture with one-of-a-kind items,” she said. “We like things that look collected and don’t have much of what others have in their gardens. Each planter is unique and different.”
The couple scored many of the objets d’art on buying trips abroad. “We’re influenced by courtyards in France and Italy and how people make use of them as outdoor living spaces,” Karen said. “Those European spaces have an organic feel. It all looks a bit weathered, not new and shiny.”
Chipped and faded birdhouses hang here and there. A Buddha collection lines up on another wall. On the fence, vines wend around and through iron cemetery crosses and gates. And the couple inherited handsome containers and statuary from Jeffrey’s mother, Barbara Moore, the scion of Dorothy Stovall, another avid gardener.
“I grew up in Denver gardens — both my mother’s and her mother’s,” Jeffrey said. “They had huge English gardens with rose collections. I remember seeing each of them with bloody shins from working in the rose garden.” After Barbara’s death, when new homeowners opted to rip out her rose garden, they called the Moores to offer them the plants.
“We pulled out about 100 roses,” Jeffrey said. The transplanted roses found homes with many family members, including Jeffrey and Karen, who added bushes to their front entrance. They also adopted some of Jeffrey’s mother’s peonies.
“I love that people share plants from friend to friend or family to family,” Karen said.
The Moores don’t know the names of most of their plants. Frankly, they don’t care. “This garden is more aesthetic than scientific,” Jeffrey said. “Every year, we change it out for different plants.”
“I go for beauty,” said Karen. “Jeffrey and I shop for plants together. We go to City Floral and Associated Wholesale Florist. And one of our favorite places is Wildflowers. They plant our flower boxes at Djuna, and whatever’s left over we plant at home.”
The Moores stick primarily with terracotta pots, so colorful flowers and foliage take center stage against a neutral, natural, textural background.
Karen also loves to cook, so she cultivates containers of culinary herbs: basil, rosemary, tarragon, several types of oregano, thyme, chives, flat-leafed parsley. The garden includes raised beds of Windsor stones forming curvilinear lines. The Moore family, including three dogs and adult children who live nearby, enjoy the courtyard almost constantly.
“It’s completely an additional room,” Jeffrey said. “Most meals are served out there over almost six months of the year.”
Strands of lights, scads of candles and ceramic fire pots add twinkle to evening ambiance. The couple has lived in the townhouse 12 years this month.
“When we moved in, it was only dirt out here,” said Karen. “One thing I learned in all this is to look years down the road. I was terribly disappointed with how it looked in the beginning, especially since it was so open to other neighbors.”
The Moores and Djuna soon will have new business neighbors. After 15 years in Cherry Creek North, the couple will move their store to The Collection at Ninth Avenue and Broadway.
Any move is stressful, and moving a store perhaps more so. The Moores will restore themselves in the serenity of their courtyard garden.
“It’s a very pleasant place to hang out,” Jeffrey said. “It’s successfully grown up so we’re well-protected. For a courtyard right in the middle of our urban townhouse complex, it’s very peaceful.”
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Create a courtyard garden
Karen Moore’s designer tips for creating a European-style courtyard:
Plan for privacy issues early on. “Neighbors are right on top of us,” Moore said. “Plant larger trees so you don’t have to wait for them to grow.”
Start with table and chairs. “The most important thing for somebody who cooks and entertains is outdoor eating space. You can entertain around a table without dinner. But if it’s dinner, you need a table.”
Use umbrellas. “They’re as much for privacy as shade,” Moore said. “With umbrellas, you get the sense that your conversation is not traveling to three or four different neighbors.”
Small pavers add character to a concrete slab. Moore warns against flagstones in small spaces: “We tried that first, but they were irregular. Everything wobbled, and it drove me nuts.”
Dress up steps. “We used tumbled marble tiles: It looks beautiful and has lasted.”
Camouflage the air-conditioner. The Moores added a wood fence around their A/C unit. “You can still hear it, but you can’t see it. Nobody wants to look at a compressor.”
Decorate fences as you would walls.
Soften hard lines with plantings. “We let vines grow over everything.”
Consider leaving wood unpainted. “Natural, weathered wood, as opposed to painted, creates an older feeling.”
Add a brick or stone surface behind the grill. “We almost set the fence on fire one time, so we added bricks, almost like a backsplash. It looks better and is safer.”
Banish plastic. “I cannot stand plastic. In small spaces, pieces are super important. We use iron, stone, wood. Even our lanterns have an aged look.”
Stay true to style. “Those big, hanging sling chairs are inexpensive and comfortable, but they’d look out of place here. So would those woven chairs that immediately create a swimming-pool feel.”
Vary heights for interesting sight lines. “Hanging things and placing some pots up, some down takes away from rigid rectangular lines of the patio space.”
Don’t line up furniture around edges. “Move into the middle of the space.”
Paint your door. “We used a brick red for contrast.”
Add potted plants to sides of stairways. “I’ve always loved the look of terracing up to the door with potted plants,” Moore said. “It’s so inviting.”
Colleen Smith
