Peter designed this border, visible from a nook in the cottage’s kitchen, with layered shapes and textures. The steps are flanked by clipped Euonymus japonica. Maidenhair and Japanese holly ferns, hostas, and Japanese forest grass make up the floor of the bed. White enkianthus, a small flowering tree with vivid fall color, grows at the back, and a spot of color is provided by blooming Satsuki azaleas.
eenie weenie daylilies
single-petaled poppy
The dawn redwood, called shui-sa or water fir by the Chinese, is a relative of the giant sequoias of California. A weeping blue atlas cedar grows in the foreground.
The Gentlings have spent 40 years cultivating Blue Briar Garden.
Named The Three Stooges, because one is weeping, one bushy, and one upright.
Two Chamaecyparis trees tower over the terraced garden, which descends seven levels from the house to the street. The top lawn is clipped short and hosts a small Japanese garden at the far end. Bears like to sleep in the gazebo.
A potted succulent.
Setcreasea pallida or purple heart.
The 30-foot weeping blue atlas cedar creates a screen between the vegetable garden and pond below. The branches of a trident maple in the background are pruned to provide height contrast.
Peter grafts a dwarf cultivar of Euonymus.
A bucket of tags is a testament to the variety of plants in the greenhouse.
The gardener tends to a fuschia.
A Canadian hemlock goes by the name Sidney Waxman, who was a professor at the University of Connecticut and friend of Peter’s.
The Gentling's home and garden sits on a terraced mountainside overlooking Asheville.
The Gentling's garden
Delphinium
Daisies
Wine bottles add interest to a garden border.
Succulents grow in Peter Gentling's greenhouse.
