Photos by Steve Bloom/The Olympian
Japanese maple leaves begin to show fall color at Bush Prairie Gardens.

Helleborus orientalis sets off the color near a birdbath.

A new beginning

Fall starts an exciting phase in many South Sound gardens

SARAH JACKSON, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published October 8, 2001

OLYMPIA -- Rick and Chris Trosper -- though burdened with loads of fall cleanup work -- aren't bemoaning the apparent end of gardening season.

They know, in some ways, it's only the beginning for South Sound gardeners.

Though many plants will fade at the onset of the first frosts any time now, the Trospers won't be weeping for wilting dahlias, roses and hostas.

They are already admiring abundantly blooming asters, heather, lovely lavender as well as the gradually turning leaves on their scores of Japanese maple trees.

"People just don't think that they would have anything left in their garden, and we have so much stuff still blooming," Chris said. "It's just great."

Some of the best color, in fact, is yet to come, Chris said, along with the anticipated mid-October frosts, which have an enchanting effect on Japanese maples.

"You have to wait until the first frost to see the color," Chris said. "Some of them will come out so red, you just can't believe it."

Now, however, the Trospers are looking ahead to blooming beauties for the traditionally dreariest months in South Sound.

They enjoy hellebores, pulmonarias and primroses, to name a few.

"If you're into it," Rick said, "you can have a winter garden that's really nice."

"People really need to garden in the fall," Chris said. "People could do a lot of their planting in the fall when the ground is not so saturated."

Winter bloomers

On top of numerous trees and perennials already sporting bright foliage, the Trospers are planning for a variety of winter-blooming hellebores, which range in bloom times from December to March or April.

They'll also watch for winter blooms on pulmonaria as early as January and into March, and primrose flowers February to March, too.

Best yet, all three can grow together.

"The primula are kind of good for highlighting some of the hellebores because they both take the shade, and the pulmonarias do, too," Chris said. "There's not as spectacular a show, so you're focusing more on the individual flowers."

Home nursery

The Trospers -- who built their home 10 years ago off Old Highway 99 on 2 acres -- also run a part-time nursery.

Called Bush Prairie Gardens, the nursery offers primarily perennials in two sales areas -- one for shade and one for sun.

Visitors also can explore the Trospers' private gardens and see the same plants at work in different areas.

Their demonstration gardens display fruit trees, begonias, dahlias, more than 100 varieties of Japanese maples and numerous varieties of hypericum, hosta, heather, aster, sedum, anemone and evergreen, huckleberry as well as deciduous trees.

Gardeners could get lost on the grounds, where birds seem to chirp on every branch, as they chomp at ripening berries on mountain ash trees and fly from evergreen to evergreen.

Though Rick is semi-retired, he still works for the Washington Department of Health and Social Services. And Chris is a teacher and director at Westwood Baptist Preschool in Olympia. But the Trospers decided to expand their pleasure gardens to a small business six years ago.

Inspired

Both long-ago graduates of one of the first Master Gardener programs with the Washington State University's Cooperative Extension for Thurston County, the Trospers were always inspired gardeners.

But after seeing a part-time, specialty nursery in Vancouver, Wash., they were further encouraged.

"It gave us kind of, I suppose, permission to just be open a few days a week," Chris said of their operation that is open limited hours Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Rick said he and Chris were hooked on gardening before they moved onto the new lot, where they had what seemed unlimited space.

Now they change around plants -- even some trees -- every season.

"It's fun. I think it was in our bones," Rick said. "We rearrange plants like most people rearrange furniture."

Though the Trospers' multiple garden areas are far from finished, they find refuge in the rustling leaves and fall beauty.

"It's kind of like living in this nice, little paradise," Chris said. "If you're a gardener -- or anyone who has a hobby -- you just want to share it with other people."

Special sections

Chris and Rick refer to the garden sections -- substantial even without counting the nursery areas -- by names they acquired as they were planted over the past decade.

There's the "pear square" by the pear trees. After that, there's the "pear square extension" and the "birch border."

There's also a drought-tolerant garden and a miniature bog garden for moisture-friendly plants.

They call one area by the house and deck the "shady U."

Still another area -- once planted with only blue and yellow flowers -- is the "Swedish Curve" to honor Chris' heritage.

Chris said, though she'd sometimes rather be reading a book than planning a winter garden or cleaning up dying fall remnants, that gardening remains a constant passion.

"It's really kind of an obsession, I suppose. What we really love to do is the gardening."

Sarah Jackson writes for The Olympian and can be reached at 360-704-6871 or olyjax@yahoo.com.

Bush Prairie Gardens

- Owners: Richard and Christina Trosper.

- Where: 1321 88th Ave. S.E., Olympia. Take Capitol Boulevard south, which changes into Old Highway 99. Take a right onto 88th Avenue and look for signs on the left.

- Hours: Noon to 6 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays.

- Contact: E-mail: Rick_BPG@hotmail.com.

Fall color ideas

- Heather, evergreen shrubs, are commonly used for winter color. There are varieties for long blooming periods in all seasons.

- Camellia sasanqua, an evergreen with lots of blooms, blooms in fall and early winter and can be used for ground covers, informal hedges, screening and containers.

- Hellebores perennials -- including the Christmas rose and Royal Heritage -- will offer winter blooms in pinks and whites and deep purples winter to spring.

- Winter jasmine, a vinyl shrub that needs protection, flowers yellow and can bloom from October through March.

- Fatsia (also called Japanese aralia) are shrubs with long-stalked, big, glossy, dark-green, fanlike leaves. They offer creamy white flowers in fall and winter and black fruit in summer.

- Cotoneaster, a rosaceae, can thrive with little or no maintenance and offers white and pink blooms in the spring and red or orange berries in the fall and winter.

- Pieris, an evergreen shrub, employs elegant foliage and form year-round.

- Calendula is an annual that blooms spring to midsummer in mild-winter areas.

The Olympian Copyright 2001

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