Walking down the property line, it’s not easy to tell where Tom Zingaro’s garden ends and Niña Williams’ begins.
That’s the point.
A big locust tree, planted by Zingaro after he moved into the Potter Highland neighborhood in 2004, stands above evergreens, shrubs and perennials of various height and structure. Both light and neighbor pass through openings in the vegetation.
Rather than put up a fence, Zingaro and Williams have created a “living edge” between their two properties — and they garden it together.
“We have great artistic synergy,” said Williams, who purchased the Victorian clapboard cottage next door to Zingaro in 2008.”We love designing with plants — he’s a true landscape architect, and I’m more of a messy gardener. Between the two of us, we have a great time.”
“She’s brought a lot of different plant types into the mix,” said Zingaro, owner of , a landscape design and construction business. “The greatest benefit to me has been the combined experience.”
The neighbors have been gardening together virtually since Williams moved to the block. Zingaro laid the groundwork — and garden bed — with the property owner prior to Williams.
Admittedly, he was nervous when the house next door was sold, but he needn’t have been. Williams was on board with the fence-free concept from the get-go.
“I was just hoping that when the new person bought the house they would have the open-mindedness to share the garden space,” Zingaro said. “She didn’t want a fence. It was perfect.”
“He had created this wonderful palette, the structure for an incredible garden,” Williams said. “I’m a mad perennial gardener. It was like a kid in a candy store. I was just thrilled.”
The agreement since then has been an informal one — “no board meetings” required, Williams said.
When it comes to the shared edge, they make major decisions together, keeping in mind things like speed of growth, changing light patterns, pruning and passageway issues.
“We haven’t had a lot of chances to talk and coordinate because we’re both very busy, but when we do get together, I’ll ask, ‘Do you mind if we take this out or prune this back?'” Zingaro said. “Usually Niña’s been thinking the same thing.”
“Gardening is a performance art,” Williams added. “It never stops.”
As was the case with a discussion this past summer about an unruly Arctic blue willow.
“I’d as soon take it out,” Zingaro suggested.
“I think that’s a great idea,” Williams answered, without hesitation.
More thinning, to open up the shared area, was agreed upon, too.
Co-gardening is not a model that will work for everyone, though, Zingaro readily admits.
For starters, it helps that their houses are offset structurally and spatially. (Zingaro’s home is close to the street, while Williams’ cottage sits further back, like a carriage house on the larger estate.)
Co-gardening won’t work, either, if neighbors don’t share a similar sensibility when it comes to landscaping.
“It would have been an immediate indicator if she came in and said, ‘I just want grass from property line to property line.’ The fence would have followed,” Zingaro said.
“We share a livelier view,” Williams said.
“Color — we like our color,” Zingaro explained.
“We love color,” Williams added. “And we’re probably both romantics at heart.”
“And we like our evergreens, because we like structure,” Zingaro continued.
“Winter appeal,” Williams said.
That doesn’t mean, though, their gardens are mirror images of one another.
On Zingaro’s side, straight lines rule — in the hardscape paths, planting boxes and beds. An edible garden fills the front yard with vegetables and fruits.
“I call it the plant infirmary,” Zingaro said. “Almost 90 percent of it is from unwanted plants or plants that were removed from a landscape.”
“They’re not exactly specimens. They all have weird contortions and angles and mannerisms,” he said. “But they like it where they are.”
On Williams’ side, curvy perennial beds flow around a grass lawn.
“My wish was to make it a park-like sanctuary, and yet have it appeal to the neighbors and passersby,” she said.
Uniting the two properties also is a whimsical and open wrought-iron fence that spans both frontages.
Designed by Dave Johnson and Dennis West, owner of the , the fence was installed prior to Williams moving in.
But Williams loved it so much she commissioned from West a matching gate and arched trellis, now draped in wisteria vines.
“People stop constantly,” Williams said. “We have a park between us that people can really enjoy.”
Emilie Rusch: 303-954-2457, erusch@denverpost.com or twitter.com/emilierusch
