HomeMy Public PortalAboutCharlie's GardenA Late -Late Show for Iris Lovers
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The Story of Charlie's Garden at
Payette Lakes
By BETTY PENSON, Statesman Woman's Editor
"IT WAS THE ONLY UGLY PLACE at Payette Lakes," he said
as he vigorously sprayed water over a ferocious white por-
celain foo dog. His eyes swept lovingly across his bright acres,.'.
daring you to believe that this lush garden in the mile -high pine!''
country could ever have been a scar on the landscape. "But it,
was hideous," Charlie Davidson
went on. "MGM had built this Will bloom almost a month. If
big hotel ... 180 beds . to you cut the stalks they make.
house the people who were film-
ing `Northwest Passage'. Right
on this spot, Afterwards they
moved the building to Stibnite
for the miners. And they just
left the junk. Tarpaper ... old
;cards ... mess."
Charlie's parents, the R. M.
Davidsons, owned the land.
They were appalled. Somebody
had to clean it up.
"That's how I happened to get
started gardening in it," he
said.
* * *
And now Charlie's Garden is
one of the showplaces of the
state. Every tourist who goes to
Payette Lakes goes to Charlie's
Garden, or he's missed half the
sights.
"Some Sundays there are 100
people here," he said. "I've had
lots of garden clubs . the
Trowel and Error people, the
Petal Pushers."
Iris fanciers from "down
below" are special fans. Be-
* * *
* * *
cause the mountain season is
later, they get to see a second
blooming of some of the finest
iris in the Northwest.
good cut flowers."
His pride is a whole bed of
"musical hybrids" named Toc-
cata, Fugue, etc., and arare
purple from Burma.
Of a row of tall flowers with
bells, he said, "Foxglove . .
they seem to do better up here
because they seed themselves
... bloom every two years."
Fat purple globes rise on leaf-
less high stalks ... flowering'
onion. Nearby grows a gas:
plant. "On a very still eve-
ning," said Charlie, "it gives off
a certain gas. Light a match
and you will see little blue pops
of flame."
* * *
Many wildflowers grow in
the area and Charlie brings
them into his garden to improve
them. His pets are little orchids
called ladyslipper (cypridium
spectibili). Some are native or-
chids.
Also native are the wild
monkshood, wild geraniums,
* * *
STONE BENCH, carved in
Venezia, Italy, is in memory
of Charlie Davidson's parents,
pioneers Mr. and Mrs. R. M.
Davidson.
Still `covet.is pink iris, One
Desire: Mini the shade it will
;last longe r because the snow
was ovFn them so long," he
mid "'The snow was about ten
ilcep right here."
Another is unbelievably rich,
dark and velvety with midnight
taffeta edgings. Black Swan.
One of his favorites is a chif-
fon -edged white iris, Dancing
Bride. He points out others ...
Sterling Silver, Chinese Coral;
Rippling Waters, Prince Indigo
"But they're almost gone,"
he says a little sadly, as though
he hates to see even a single
flower die.
• * *
The delphinium, he said, is
just starting. Sometimes it is
tall and pink, sometimes white.
Most often it is tall and purple,
a deeper tone than the cam-
panula that spread in bright
clouds over the hillsides.
Poppies are just going. They
boast colors and sizes you
wouldn't believe . old-fash-
ioned Juliette, bold Crown
Prince. Some are eight inches
across.
The only blue poppy known to
gardeners, a very rare one
from Tibet, has been kept alive
by this Idaho garden genius.
* * *
"Lilies are just coming on ...
sensational," Charlie sighed
with a sad look on his sun -
browned face. His friends know
this means Charlie is extremely
pleased.
He pointed out a yellow -or-
ange lily with curving petals
and dark spots: "It's called
Buttercup. Who knows why?
even wild peonies, rather
scrawny, however.
He has a whole wall of rasp-
berry vines, some with tiny red
thimbles now. Huckleberries
grow thick in the woods beyond
the garden. Serviceberries are
already giving promise of a
fruitful August.
Syringa does not do well here.
The altitude is too high.
* *
There's plenty of water and
he has done marvelous things
with it ... fountains that spray
and shower and jet into the air.
The secret is bounteous little
Sylvan Creek that comes down
off the mountainside behind.
Back in 1875, pioneer Charles
Nelson got a grant (from Presi-
dent U. S. Grant) to the 160
acres of what is now known as
Sylvan Beach.
Elsewhere the Forest Service
often owns public beach rights,
but the Sylvan Beach owners
Jhave riparian rights ("like San.
Francisco Bay, we own clear to
the middle of the lake").
As a tribute to Charles and
Carrie Nelson, Charlie's Garden
includes an engraved stone
bench. Similar benches are en-
graved in memory of Charlie's
parents and a granddaughter
who died.
* * *
New this year is a secluded
Polynesian tiki garden, espe-
cially for visiting children. A
tall carved wooden tiki god
frowns down on a circle of
wooden -slab stools, a rusty old
ore bucket from Warren, and a
sacrificial table made of a
sliced log showing 470 rings.
"Heavens," said Charlie,
"that was before Columbus."
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