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closelocal roots: A vision in the backyard turned into a realized dream come true
Nancy Draper / guest columnist
For the first 20 years Kerry and Sharon Yanasak lived in their house, Kerry had a vision of what he wanted his backyard to be. Five years ago, on Memorial Day weekend, he started what he thought would be a weekend project. It wasn’t really finished until Labor Day but the end result was just what he had always planned.
With a bit of help from friends and family, Kerry sculpted the yard, built the arbors and a raised patio, added the perennial beds and created a flagstone walkway through them.
The Yanasaks’ beautiful back yard is bordered with perennials, a dahlia garden and a 100-year old shed, covered in wild Honeysuckle. Also incorporated into the garden is an old lift chair from Snoqualmie Summit Ski Resort. When the resort replaced the chairs several years ago, they sold the original chairs, so Kerry bought one and hung it in a shady spot in the garden, to enjoy as a swing.
Over time, he has added plants or changed them out.
“Perennial gardening is about survival of the fittest. You figure out what works in certain spots and what doesn’t, so things get moved or replaced. It’s a constant work in progress, and I really love that,” Kerry explained.
He also continues to move the border more into the lawn.
“I like lots of lawn, but I love lots of flowers too.”
Kerry’s daughter Ericka shares her dad’s passion for flowers.
“I love dahlias and a couple of years ago told my dad I’d like to grow them. I wanted five or six dahlias. We now have 128, and they are all different.”
Kerry’s mother always had a row of Bonaventure dahlias in the front of his childhood home in Orting, so he has planted a row of them in this garden. They have also planted a raised bed with over 600 gladiola bulbs.
Kerry has some unusual plants tucked into his perennial beds, including a Buttons and Bows hydrangea, an Empress plant and a Mexican Shell Flower, which produces flowers of different colors on the same stock. Each of these flowers only lasts for one day. He also has an exotic Devil’s Tongue, which he said is well worth waiting to see the single bloom produced, which lasts only four days each season.
Kerry planted several varieties of Hardy Fuchsia, which are dotted throughout the perennial beds. This September, the NW Fuchsia Society has added his yard as a destination on their annual garden tour. People from all over will take this tour, including visitors from Ireland, where Fuchsias are well loved and are grown in abundance. The visitors are in for a treat, as not only will they enjoy the many Fuschias, but everything else Kerry’s spectacular garden has to offer to them.