Even though I created this garden design painting in the states, it’s fitting I post about it now in Chile, initially inspired by the dreamy courtyard gardens at Huilquilemu – a large Spanish era colonial villa southeast of Santiago used for community festivals and currently under restoration by the local university. The garden in Chile was originally planted by a well traveled widow 150 years ago that brought plants from all over the world for her yard. When I visited, the space was a little wild, but that added to the mystery of the place. Araucaria (monkey Puzzle tree, indigenous to Chile) palm and pine shaded the geometric layout of the grounds.

finished Secret Garden Design, 50 by 50 in. watercolor on repurposed wallpaper, Emilia Kallock 2019,. Huilquilemu as well as the two parks in Seattle (Greenlake and Volunteers Park) created by the Olmstead Brothers in the early 1900s inspired greatly my “secret garden” design here. My painting explains the type of trees and plants to comprise the approximately 2 acre garden as well as the surrounding wall plantings and the 4 additional entrances besides the main gate. I chose the trees according to aesthetics and viability in the Pacific Northwest. My grandmothers in Chile and Washington State were both avid gardeners and both planted gardens where they lived, leaving a legacy of a large variety trees, plants and flowers. Many of these are drawn into the secret garden blueprint.