STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Seven fairy houses popped up amidst the snapdragons in Susan Flynt’s yard as the Sawtooth Botanical Garden threw its annual Garden Tour last week. And those who traipsed through the yard were offered the chance to toss some glitter, or pixie dust, in the air for good luck, while a bubble-making machine in the party garage spilled bubbles through the air.

“They houses are in honor of my daughter Reta. She always believed in fairies as a girl,” said Flynt.

The fairy houses were built by Rachael Palmer of Earthwise Gardening, who foraged in the woods for driftwood, moss and other found objects to build them, before stringing blinking blue lights around them.

“I can’t build a giant cabin but it’s lots of fun building these fairy houses,” said Palmer. “I haven’t seen any fairies take up residence yet but it’s fun to think they might.”

Susan Flynt’s garden was one of seven gardens on this year’s tour, which gave garden-goers a peek at the gardens in Lane Ranch, Weyyakin, along the backside of Dollar Mountain and along River Ranch Drive and the Big Wood River.

They ranged from the Z Heart Ranch, first established in the late 1800s, to Lisa Adam’s lakeside garden, which blends in with the surrounding natural landscape under red rock cliffs.

Cheryl and Murray Hall purchased the Z Heart Ranch in Weyyakin and instantly went to work restructuring the pond, which is big enough to paddle little boats around. They also built water features, in part to cover the noise of the nearby highway.

Today the four-acre property boasts a handsome assortment of outbuildings, including a milkhouse, bunkhouse and outhouse. They converted a Sears & Roebuck Catalog horse barn into their primary bedroom and attached it to another beautiful barn that the previous owners had remodeled into a party barn.

The Halls then took down a hundred aspen trees, some of which were diseased or threatening structures, and reconfigured the creek to splash its way down stone steps and boulders against the backdrop of the mountains to the north. And they filled their yard with color—dahlias, salvia phlox, daylilies, echinacea and Shasta daisies.

“I’m pushing the envelope with some of my flowers to what I call Zone 5B,” said Cheryl.

All of this is couched amidst whimsical airplane, bicycle and bear sculptures, flanked by three large silver stallions that greet guests.

“That was a joke,” said Cheryl. “Given the horse barn, my husband said: Please tell me we’re not going to get horses. I said, as a matter of fact, the horses arrive today. They were, of course, the sculptures.”

Lisa Adam’s garden boasts an archway and raised beds with grapevines spilling over the rock walls near a large pond flanked by native grasses. Cynthia and Blair Hull’s home along the river is highlighted with a kitchen garden of raised beds planted with tomatoes, lettuces, chives and herbs guarded by a fabricated steel Moose on Rollerblades created by Chuck Christopher

Ron and Susan Greenspan moved overgrown evergreen trees that blocked their view of the Lane Ranch bluffs and put in a lovely circle in front of their house accented by colorful flowers and sculptures. A fun walkway through tall grasses leads to the backyard where Ron has his Barbecue Palace with several wood-fired and charcoal barbecue cookers,

Susan Flynt’s gardens have appeared on three tours—two of them being her former garden in Gimlet and the latest being the current garden situated on a steep hillside butting up against the backside of Dollar Mountain.

Her garden bursts with the colors of snapdragons, daylilies, rudbeckias, echinacea and phlox amidst more unusual plantings like Bristle Cone pines, Korean and Weeping Larch.

“I tried to have less maintenance, but I love snapdragons and their color,” she said.

Flynt is quick to point out her goddess sculpture on the hillside. which looks small from below but required the use of a crane to put it in the ground. A large bonsai poodle takes its place on the other side of the house.

“This Garden Tour is a great beautiful fundraiser for the Sawtooth Botanical Garden,” said Flynt who served on the board for 20 years. “And it’s a great way for home gardeners to show their work and creativity.

MISS THIS YEAR’S TOUR?

Don’t fret. The Sawtooth Botanical Garden will have its 30th in July 2025.