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Sharing nature's beauty

by DEVIN HEILMAN/dheilman@cdapress.com
| July 15, 2014 9:00 PM

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<p>A bubble machine covers a gnome with bubbles, causing several Garden Tour guests to laugh and take a picture in Jean Kinda's garden Sunday.</p>

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<p>This lady fountain in the Rolphe garden in Hayden spouts blue water Sunday during the 17th annual Garden Tour.</p>

La Villa des Fleurs is a vast space of fragrant flowers, fountains and lush grass where visitors can hear the gentle hum of dragonflies skimming on top of a broad, cool pond.

It is located off Strahorn Road in Hayden and is the residence of Anna and Ben Rolphe. The 10-acre property consists of 7 acres of garden, tended by four professional gardeners and designed by the Rolphes.

"When they bought this house in 1978, this was a horse pasture," said Amy Voeller of Hayden. "There was really nothing here other than flat grounds and horses. There was a little bit of water in the back where there is now an aspen grove, but everything you see now in terms of the contour - the pond, the water features and all of the vegetation - was put in after they purchased the house."

The Rolphes are Voeller's grandparents, so she has been able to watch the property develop and transform through the years.

"I was married here 11 years ago," Voeller said. "It was spectacular. To this day, a lot of people tell me that it was one of the most beautiful weddings that they had been to."

The green paradise of La Villa des Fleurs was one of five locations featured Sunday during "Garden Memories," the 17th annual Garden Tour presented by the Coeur d'Alene Garden Club.

"I love this one, this is just exquisite," Mariette Walker of Spirit Lake said of the Rolphe garden. "Definitely the best one we've seen so far. It's given me such wonderful ideas for the half-acre I have out behind me."

Walker enjoyed the Rolphe garden during the sunny afternoon with her daughter, Jacqui Walker, of Spokane Valley. It was their first time attending the yearly adventure through local gardens.

"My mom loves gardens," Jacqui said.

The gardens on this year's tour were located in Coeur d'Alene, Hayden, Dalton Gardens and Post Falls. Jean Kinda's garden on Garden Avenue in Coeur d'Alene is cozy and colorful, and features "Flora," a scarecrow made of moss and chicken wire.

"It's my postage stamp piece," Kinda said. "Today's wonderful. It's been a lot of work."

Kinda recently became a member of the Coeur d'Alene Garden Club. She was invited last year to present her garden this year, and said she couldn't have been successful in her endeavors without her friend, Laura Ahlson of Coeur d'Alene, who helped with the preparations.

Ahlson said she finds Kinda's garden to be comforting.

"What I like is there are different places in the garden where you can go, and just be you in little areas," Ahlson said. "You kind of get lost."

Jamie Provost, 11, of Coeur d'Alene, wore fairy wings with her best friend, Hayden Levy, 11, of Coeur d'Alene, as they sold 50-cent lemonade with Hayden's little brother, Benjamin, 7.

"It's because of a play we did last year," Jamie said. "We did a play about garden fairies."

"It's just too hot for me to wear my gnome costume," Benjamin said.

They planned to split their lemonade proceeds between Shared Harvest Community Garden and the Garden Tour, which funds North Idaho scholarships and local charities.

"I'm very proud of my fairies and my gnomes," said Jamie and Benjamin's mom, Jessica Levy. "They're just always willing to come out and help the community."

Linda Cline wandered through Rusty and Pat Baillie's garden on Deerhaven. The location has a long, inviting, shady driveway lined with black walnut trees, and features pleasant courtyards, a water feature that drips onto a frog with a leaf umbrella and organic gardens in the rear of the property which grow a plethora of produce.

"I like the variety, in terms of the gardens," Cline said. "This is the one I was most interested in, the organic garden, but beautiful, lovely gardens ... it's interesting. You get lots of good ideas for your own garden."