STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Gary and Jodi Goodheart strolled across the expansive patio on the second story of the contemporary home built into the hillside of Greenhorn Gulch.

Peeking through the wheat-like feather grasses lining two sides of the patio, they were able to watch cars and bicyclists heading up Greenhorn Road towards the Greenhorn trail network, one of the most popular trail systems in the Wood River Valley.

Countless hikers and bikers drive up the road each day during summer. But few have any idea of the oasis tucked into the hillside to their left as they prepare to bounce over the speed bump onto the dirt road.

Jodi and Gary Goodheart plan their next move on the second-story patio of Katie and John MacCarthy’s house.

Those taking part in the Sawtooth Botanical Garden’s 31st annual Garden Tour on Saturday got a peek behind the curtain—or the feather reed grass—of Katie and John MacCarthy’s home, its landscape designed by Landscape Architect Ben Young.

They climbed pathways created out of Chief Cliff flagstone and boulders brought in from Montana, winding past silver buffalo berry, flame willows and Peking cotoneaster. And they looked enviously at a very inviting pool ringed by stone seats before topping out at the sky-high patio with its large entertaining tables and outdoor couches.

“It’s a very breezy and special,” said tourgoer David Kaye, as he looked out at 7,904-foot Mahoney Butte.

Tourgoers got to see six special places on Saturday as they strolled through six gardens in Greenhorn and at the mouth of East Fork Canyon.

Despite sitting on a lake, Tom Latour’s backyard is rife with water features, including this reflective pool.

Erendira Gama greeted tourgoers at the Tom LaTour’s garden in Golden Eagle Ranch with mimosas and icy cold water—a welcome sight on an abnormally hot Saturday.

LaTour’s estate was equally welcoming thanks to its many water features, which include a four-spout water feature stretching across the patio in view of the lake beyond.

Lavendar and purple May night salvia mimicked the purple majesty of the mountain backdrop rising above East Fork, alongside autumn moor grass and other drought-tolerant plants suggested by landscape architect Chase Gouley.

Mammoth bouquets of colorful hollyhocks, delphinium, artemisia and monkshood ringed Melina and Barry Pyle’s home near Limekiln Road where landscaper Gordon Knight described how he used bamboo stakes and trellises to meet the challenges of winds and the wildlife that meanders through the property.

Sage School student Brooke Vagias painted floral notecards inspired by the wraparound English garden of Melina and Barry Pyle.

There was no shortage of color for 16-year-old Sage School student Brooke Vagias to be inspired by as she painted notecards mirroring the luscious yellow sunflower that she had painted for the cover of the Garden Tour booklet.

“These flowers are insane, and the garden has a cool view of the hillside. It’s a dream come true for me to be able to work in a beautiful space like this,” she said.”

A showstopper was the Armenian Basket Flower, a hardy, low-maintenance perennial native to the Caucasus that has been likened to a giant knapweed with its large yellow flowers that resemble thistles.

Susan Woodruff was mesmerized by a tiny hummingbird that darted from one flower to the next. Bellevue artist Alicia Tormey who recently had an exhibition of her botanical encaustics at Gail Severn Gallery, reveled in the beauty.

Landscaper Gordon Knight created this mound of color in front of the Pyles’ home.

“I look for color, how people using natural color and shapes,” she said. “I look at form and light when I walk through these gardens.”

“I think it’s interesting how this property has used the same gardener since 2015,” said Tormey’s sister Mary Kaiser.

The color was a vivid contrast to the nearby hillside, which had begun to turn yellow-brown under the hot summer sun.

“It looks like it’s always been this way, but I know how much work it takes creating something like this,” said Katja Burmester. “It soothes my soul. It fills my battery.”

The Greenhorn area has a rich history rooted in the mining boom of the late 1800s shaped by the Imperial and Viana Lode mining claims staked in the area during the Wood River Valley’s silver and lead rush, said Kathie Gouley, board chair of the Sawtooth Botanical Garden.

In the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC, began building the area’s trail system, luring hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers. Residential development followed in the 1980s.

One of the Golden Eagle Ranch’s first properties was that of Kim and Eric Gill’s where dozens of trees have been removed and replaced by dozens more, including new lodgepole pines ringed by tor birch leaf spirea and salvia under the direction of BYLA Landscape Architects Ben Young and Chase Gouley.

A pathway of cut bluestone accented with creeping thyme leads to the backyard where residents can enjoy not one but two lakes from their wraparound patio. The patio’s not just for summer as heated pavers allow them to entertain outside all winter, serving pizza right out of their woodburning stove.

Around the corner, Gwen and Mitch August worked with Dean Hernandez and gardener Lori Anta to turn patches of grass into a cornucopia of color. Metal sculptures by Joseph Kinnebrew sit in the center of their driveway, while Jeff Fetty’s metal Daffodils “grow”  around the house.

The final garden sat across the highway on the secluded Channel Lane next to the Big Wood River.

There, tourgoers followed a sweeping driveway accented by fruit trees and potentilla shrubs to the house where a twisted tree looked like a piece of art in and of itself.

The back revealed what resembled the Courtney and Ward Loving’s own private park past a display of Shasta daisies, orange poppies, columbines and other plants.

Two water features and a hot tub completed the scene.

“The simplicity is what appeals to me in this garden,” said Susan McKee.

DID YOU KNOW?

The Sawtooth Botanical Garden holds Guided Garden Tours from 11:30 a.m. to noon Wednesdays through Aug. 19.

Free Garden of Infinite Compassions Tours are held from 10:30 a.m. to noon on Saturdays through Aug. 29.