When the Sidney Rasmussen family moved into their new home in 1950, Westmoor Way was the second street being developed in Broadmoor.  The kids played throughout the woods and fields, camped out among the backyard trees, and watched houses fill the land all the way from Bertha-Beaverton Highway to Gabel Country Day School, now Raleigh Park School.
            Five years ago, daughter Dana, moved back into the family home and soon began the task of reimagining the gardens surrounding the house.  Much has changed since then…and much has changed in the two years since the last garden tour.  The enormous old maple that “sold” the Rasmussen’s on this Broadmoor lot back in the early 1950s, the one that actually belonged to the neighbor’s, (now the McCrae’s) and that shaded both homes for over sixty years is gone.  Landscaper Jay Miner has experimented with new plant placements to accommodate the changed environment, moving ferns and hydrangeas, incorporating columnar apple trees and delphiniums among the old established roses. A sun-loving mixed bed of annuals and perennials grows in an area once covered by deep shade.
            The flower laden back patio gives way to lawn and on to a wide bed of varied plants, textures, and color.  Follow meandering paths that thread through rhododendrons and hydrangeas in the back garden and along the west side where specimen plants nestle among spring bloomers.  Note the sturdy trellis on the west wall supporting an espaliered Pink Lady apple and new clematis. This still maturing year-round garden of seasonal surprises and beauty offers a beautiful setting for quiet contemplation while sipping a cup of coffee or for entertaining guests at summer garden party. 
            The front garden, originally designed for Dana’s mother by Myrna Dowsett, remains as it was except for a transplanted bed of hellebores, ferns, epimedium and an acer japonica under the living room window.  Beautiful old roses are in easy reach from the path.
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Shade or Sun?