Skulls, skeletons, gravestone fragments, gargoyles, and other eerie tokens are tucked into nooks and crannies…

…and dangle from the eaves throughout Wamboldtopia, an art-filled garden (or garden of art) and stonemason’s paradise located off Wamboldt Avenue in west Asheville.

The Goth accents…

…are countered by a slew of whimsical fairy houses…

…stone maidens and other garden guardians…

…and life-affirming messages.

Light and dark, life and death—

It’s all represented in this joint creation by artist Damaris Pierce…

…and dapper stonemason Ricki Pierce…

…aka the Rock Pirate.

Hood ornament on Ricki’s truck

Formerly a couple but still friendly collaborators, Damaris and Ricki jointly created the hillside garden that is their home (each has a house on-site), office, experimental play space, and art gallery.

Our first stop on last week’s Garden Bloggers Fling, Wamboldtopia was our introduction to Asheville gardens, where recycled and handmade art often stand on equal footing with the plants that mingle in a lush tangle and cascade down steep hillsides.

From the street, a stairway rises through a brick arch, leading up to the houses and into the garden. The arch spells out “Wamboldtopia.”

I’m sure the owners, who are gracious and welcoming, are often surprised to find unannounced visitors poking through the fantastical garden. What a nicely worded sign asking for a little advance notice.

Handmade sculpture adorns the garden at every turn. This one is reminiscent of Georgia O’Keefe’s paintings, with a vaguely floral sexuality, don’t you think?

The stonework has a hobbity, fantasyland appeal.

This gravestone fragment is simultaneously Goth and life-affirming.

A jeweled scepter

Rock cairn

An old boot turned into a planter

OK, so I’m still on the entryway. I love this repurposed hoop installation along the stair rail, which seems to be bouncing down the stairs.

There’s Dee of Red Dirt Ramblings at the bottom of the stairs. The back of the arch spells out “You are loved.”

Drooling gargoyle? No, that’s a spiderweb catching the morning light.

As you reach the main level of the garden, the part that surrounds the two houses, you see this pretty fish pond at eye level as you ascend the stairs.

Rustic seating offers a place to sit and admire the view.

That’s what Buddha’s doing.

I love this groundcovering plant with big leaves with a red eye at the center and rosy undersides. Update: It’s Begonia grandis, or hardy begonia. Thanks to Jenn, Les, and Lisa for the ID.

A tiny circular patio, like a fairy ring

Another guardian face

The back of the garden is fenced with chain link. Damaris and Ricki have taken a creative approach to disguising it, by plastering a concrete-like mix onto a chicken-wire framework and making a fantasy-scape of belltowers…

…fairy houses and archways.

The marriage of recycled and handmade art…

…and a naturalistic hillside garden made for the perfect introduction to Asheville’s arty-hippie scene and great natural beauty.

For a look back at the Curve Studios garden, which blends lovely plant combos with recycled metal hardscaping, click here. Next up: A snapshot of the Burton Street Community Peace Garden and Sunny Point Cafe garden.

All material © 2006-2012 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Lunch on the first day of the Garden Bloggers Fling in Asheville, North Carolina, was billed as BBQ and gourmet ice cream from The Hop—yum! Shopping for locally made pottery and art at Curve Studios was promised as well—and was fantastic. But what I didn’t expect was the charmingly quirky garden filled with repurposed metal artifacts, pulled perhaps from the surrounding warehouses-turned-art-studios.

The garden is the creation of textile artist Pattiy Torno, who cheerfully introduced herself as she took her own photos of the bloggers noshing on BBQ throughout the garden. She has a talent not only for plant combos like the one pictured at the top of this post but also for creatively reusing cast-off materials, like this curving path of metal plates set in gravel.

Other repurposed objects are more subtle, like this tiny sedum planter made out of an old…what is that? I don’t know, but it’s cool. Surrounding it is a beautiful medley of rose campion, ‘Blackbird’ euphorbia, iris, and ‘Angelina’ sedum.

A closer look at the metal planter and the blooming ‘Blackbird’ euphobia

Pacific Northwest-style combos of glowing chartreuse and burgundy foliage appear too, like this pairing of creeping Jenny and barberry. A chipped granite block punctuates the outer corner of the stone-edged bed.

The garden stretches half the length of the parking lot between two art studios. A large shrub-and-perennial border along the sidewalk hides the interior of the garden from view, sheltering a formally shaped gravel patio which is entered on this side through an arbor and the metal-plate path.

A closer look at the rusty garden seating, and that beautiful table with leaf cut-outs

If I hadn’t read on the Curve website that Pattiy designed the steel fence herself and hired a local craftsman to build it for her, I’d have thought it was made of salvaged material too. Doesn’t it have the look of creatively repurposed wheels or something?

Larkspur blooms in abundance in front, nearly obscuring the fence.

A rusty metal post topped with a metal orb serves as a tall corner post.

Here’s another one that marks the doorway between the gravel patio and a lawn beyond.

A wider view: gravel patio in front (with Frances of Fairegarden and Barbara of Mr. McGregor’s Garden) and two metal posts at the far end that mark the transition to the lawn garden.

The variegated, nearly white shrub in back is unknown to me, but I love the way it echoes the daisies in front, with purple spiderwort providing contrast in-between. Update: Lisa has ID’d it as variegated Japanese knotweed.

The living sidewalk in front of the garden is paved in recycled bricks turned on their sides, filled with gravelly soil, and planted with tiny sedum.

What a lovely place to enjoy our lunch!

For a look back at my post about the mountainside Gentling Garden, click here. Coming up next: The Goth-meets-fairy garden of Wamboldtopia.

All material © 2006-2012 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The first thing you learn about gardens in Asheville, North Carolina, on the slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains, is that they have a lot of stairs. We’re talking serious elevation changes. What does this mean for the gardeners who live here? Well, for one thing they are fit and have great legs. For another, they are able to capitalize on stunning views that most of us can only dream of.

Last Thursday through Sunday I toured Asheville gardens with 90 or so fellow garden bloggers for the 5th annual Garden Bloggers Fling. (Previous Flings have been held in Seattle, Buffalo, Chicago, and Austin; next year’s will be hosted in San Francisco.) We were bused around Asheville and nearby Clyde on two buses, sometimes on mountainside roads with steep drop-offs and hairpin turns. On the second day we spent all morning and had lunch in the gardener’s garden of Peter and Jasmin Gentling, my favorite stop among many delightful gardens of the whole weekend. The Gentling Garden is big enough to ramble and get lost in, even with dozens of other garden bloggers, cameras snapping madly, fanning out to capture the scene.

Jasmin and Peter welcomed us into their garden with humor and generosity, giving us the history of their historic home and its terracing that was buried under rampant undergrowth when they moved in, explaining that Jasmin likes flowers while Peter values evergreen structure and foliage, and pointing out that there is plenty of seating throughout the garden because they believe in sitting and being in the garden, not just working in it.

We listened attentively with cameras at hand, ready to spring forth and capture the morning light. One nice thing about touring gardens in the mountains is that you can sleep in and still get great light, as the sun has to clear tall trees and maybe a mountain or two before it can light up the garden.

Two of our most excellent Fling hosts: Christopher C., aka the Planner Man, of Outside Clyde, and Frances of Fairegarden

Another thing you need to know about Asheville gardens is that they use a lot of stone and therefore often have a rugged, timeless character.

Christopher had instructed us that we would need sturdy shoes on the Fling, and he was right. Irresistible, primitive stone stairs like these beckon you to explore hidden overlooks and other secret spaces.

Above the house, along the driveway, sits Peter’s painting studio, a charming stone-and-wood-sided structure with a translucent roof for good lighting.

Inside, a peek at Peter’s artworks. Some of the pieces appeared to depict sumo wrestlers, and I noticed other evidence of Japanese influence in the garden…

…like this Japanese-style gate…

…and this fence, with a red-leafed Japanese maple blushing above it.

Peter said something rather extraordinary before setting us loose: he said that winter is their garden’s best season. How many of us can say that (assuming you have a real winter, as Asheville does)? Looking around the garden, I began to understand why. Rock walls and terracing, evergreen shrubs along garden paths, and graceful trees whose shapely trunks are revealed in winter must all contribute to the garden’s good bones, and I can imagine how lovely it looks under a soft blanket of snow.

Near the house, a collection of Japanese maples and other trees offers shade.

Grass paths lead from garden to garden, enticing you along.

I ran into Phillip Oliver of Dirt Therapy here; visit his blog for more gorgeous pics from the Fling.

Larkspur

In the sunny, open center of the garden, white rose campion, Arkansas bluestar, and roses offer seasonal color.

Another look at the rose campion and the crosshatched timbers that make up the stair treads

Pocket lawns appear here and there throughout the garden. Stone retaining walls frame the lawn and offer places to sit. In the surrounding garden beds grow giant allium and variegated grasses, punctuated by planters filled with succulents.

You can always find a place to sit and contemplate the garden.

Does anyone know what this flower is? The foliage is dark purple and lovely. Update: It’s possibly Clematis recta ‘Midnight Masquerade.’ Thanks to Freda Cameron for the ID.

An unseasonably early spring caused us to miss the big azalea and rhododendron display, but a few native azaleas were in bloom.

Poppies too

I like them just as well when they’ve gone to seed.

Small sculptures, thoughtfully placed, appear throughout the garden, like this nude striding through pink geraniums…

…and this one perched in a birdbath.

Plant curiosities abound too. This voodoo lily in bloom wafted its stinky odor a little way up the hill.

Silver-dollar plant. See the seeds silhouetted inside the flat, round pods?

Crosshatched timbers become nurse logs for other plants.

A pond with water lilies occupies a lower terrace, framed by surrounding trees.

What a great place to sit and watch dragonflies darting or birds coming in for a drink.

Another charming garden bench

Frilly pink columbines were blooming in front of a chartreuse-leaved plant…

…that also sported a few blushing-pink leaves. What a lovely shrub. Does anyone know what it is? Update: Corylopsis spicata ‘Aurea.’ Thanks to Scott Weber for the ID.

When lunch arrived, a group of us headed around back of the house to the rear terrace, passing this rustic, hip-roofed shed.

The large, brick terrace has room for several seating areas, including this oversized table and chairs…

…and facing gliders. A steep hillside on the left is held back by a series of retaining walls swathed in cascading foliage, which makes the terrace feel like a secluded hideaway.

Candy-striped amaryllis were blooming by the back door.

The front porch is equally charming, with rocking chairs galore. Rocking chairs are the official seating of Asheville, or so I believe after seeing them in the airport and on nearly every front porch in town.

After lunch it was time to say goodbye. Peter and Jasmin generously promised that any of us could stop by and visit again, should we find ourselves in Asheville. I hope to take them up on their kind offer one of these days, maybe one crystalline winter morning, if I’m lucky.

Tune in tomorrow for the lush garden beds and creatively recycled hardscaping of the garden at Curve Studios.

All material © 2006-2012 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.