The upcoming DCMGA Garden Tour on May 18 will feature eight beautiful gardens, including the garden of Vera Guillén, as one of the stops on this year’s tour.

Vera Guillén (DCMG Class of 2018) is an easygoing gardener who declares that she “loves all plants,” so it is not surprising to find her yard filled with diverse specimens, ranging from Mediterranean Olive trees to exotic Japanese Maples to tropical Bougainvillea.  In fact, she has always required plants in her life, wherever she has lived—sometimes if only in pots on a small home patio, in containers on a concrete courtyard at her workplace, or in the sun-scorched parkway between the curb and sidewalk in front of a house without a true front yard.

In the front yard of their current Casa Linda Estates neighborhood home, Vera and partner Paula Selzer have filled freeform planting beds with sun-loving perennials, shrubs, and trees.  These are mostly native plants, with some adapted varieties mixed in.  Chopped blocks of limestone matching the exterior of the house outline the beds and help to unify the landscape design.

The star plant collection in the garden consists of Roses (Rosa spp.), which were propagated by Vera from cuttings taken from bushes belonging to her mother.  These roses are true heirlooms, both in the horticultural sense (plant varieties that have been handed down through generations) and in the literal sense—having come from Vera’s own family.  For this reason, she treasures them above all else in her garden.  The names of these precious antique rose varieties?  They are lost to the passage of time….

A collection of almost a dozen specimens of Japanese Maples (Acer palmatum) constitute the second most prized group of plants scattered throughout this yard.  Paula and Vera are always on the lookout for new additional plants for the garden.

The back yard is a private paradise.  The swimming pool is anchored by an imposing assemblage of stone boulders from which a waterfall tumbles into the pool below.  Above the waterfall, a pair of iron support columns salvaged from a remodeling of the house’s front porch features an oak leaf motif that is at home in the tree-shaded yard.  When the pool was built, Paula directed that plants and planting beds around the perimeter of the back yard, which already existed when they bought the house, be carefully preserved.

The cuartito (small room) at the rear of the yard is a multi-purpose structure used for overwintering cold-sensitive plants, for starting heirloom tomato seeds every spring, and for garden storage.  Paula envisions using a bit of space in the cuartito as an alternate dining place, inspired by Country Living magazine.

A seldom-accessed utility easement hidden behind the back yard has been annexed for growing vegetables and herbs in raised beds:  this is the “secret garden.”  There the gardeners take advantage of the sunny exposure to grow unusual tomatoes such as the striped ‘Large Barred Boar’ and the multicolored ‘Bosque Bumblebee.’  The curious Egyptian Walking Onion (Allium x proliferum) is a mainstay of this alley garden, which also includes herbs such as Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum), grown in abundance from seed, and Garlic (Allium sativum).  Perennial Mexican Hat (Ratibida columnifera) and Frostweed (Verbesina virginica) anchor one end of the planting space while a Fig tree holds down the other end.

While Vera is a Texas Master Gardener in Dallas County, both she and Paula are also New Mexico Master Gardeners, as the pair have a second home in our neighboring state to the west.  As such, they have a double perspective, since almost everything about gardening is so very different in the two states.

A visit to Vera and Paula’s Dallas garden is warm and welcoming—just like its creators.  When you visit, slow down and stroll through to experience this calming garden retreat.

Please watch the DCMGA website for more information on the featured gardens. To purchase tickets to this year’s garden tour, click here: Garden Tour – Dallas County Master Gardeners Association.