A walled courtyard garden in this South Tampa home is as much a part of the inside of the house as it is a place of open sky.
By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF
Published April 2, 2004
OLD HYDE PARK - Sandra Jarrett sinks into a Kool Aid-purple glider and gazes heavenward at the cloudless morning sky.
"Nice ceiling, huh?" she asks.
Seven years ago, Jarrett and her partner, Tony Michaud, decided to create a garden that was as much a part of the inside of the house as it was a place of sun, sky, earth and wind.
The result: a sophisticated living compound with a walled courtyard and detached art studio that takes its inspiration from Key West and Sante Fe.
Color rules this outdoor room.
Fat orange and yellow koi slink through a kidney-shaped pond dappled with water hyacinths. French doors offer a peek into the house filled with whimsical Mexican folk-art birds and religious artifacts as well as Jarrett's hand-painted furniture and flower paintings.
A feast for the eyes and soul, the garden is one of six featured on Sunday's Rose Circle Garden Tour, aptly named "The Earthly Paradise." The tour offers a glimpse into some of Tampa's most exquisite green spaces, including the oak canopied, Charleston-inspired garden belonging to interior designer Jo Apthorp and the all-white outdoor living area created by Davis Islands resident Bob Hardin.
The cost is $10 and includes a musical tea party in Fred Ball Park. Not just any tea party, says Garden Club president, Linda Day, but one with a string quartet, silver trays on toile table clothes and sweets in ribbon festooned baskets.
"You don't think we'd just throw cookies at you?" Day says with a laugh.
Most of the tour's proceeds benefit the group's efforts in Fred Ball Park, originally the site of a Venetian swimming pool built by a developer during the 1920s Florida land boom. Now in its 12th year, the Rose Circle garden tour has raised thousands of dollars over the years to restore and maintain the historic Bayshore Boulevard park.
Tucked just off Rubideaux Street, the 21/2-acre landmark is notable for its lush, spring-fed fountain, old-fashioned gazebo and porch-style swings that allow visitors to relax a while and soak in the million-dollar view of the bay.
"This park is one of Tampa's little jewels, so peaceful and serene," raves Vicki Pollyea, president of the Bayshore Gardens Neighborhood Association and a member of Rose Circle.
Pollyea was on her knees weeding a bed of Aztec grass during the club's annual "spring planting day" in the park last week. The tour typically honors gardeners who take pride in their own handiwork, those who enjoy puttering rather than paying someone else to pluck and prune.
Jarrett and Michaud are no exception: "We did all of this ourselves," says Jarrett, an artist who also sells commercial real estate. "Tony is very good with building and he says I have the creative side."
Their garden took five years to coax to maturity, she explains. It winds around to a side yard that features a second, smaller pond and paving stones Tony Michaud made himself. The house itself has been in Michaud's family since the mid-1940s when his grandparents purchased the South Tampa property and the lot next door.
When the couple decided to renovate in 1997, they faced an enormous undertaking: a plain-Jane, Florida block-style house heavy with dark paneling and outdated carpeting. The garden consisted of a swatch of brown lawn and a cracked cement driveway.
"In order to open the house up we had to take everything down to the studs," Jarrett says. "I wanted doors everywhere, all opening up to the garden. We're both outdoor people and we wanted a space we could live in."
By designing a walled courtyard garden, they created 5,000 square feet of living space, quite a feat, considering the house is only 1,500 square feet and the studio/guest cottage another 1,100. They added tin roofs to the buildings, inspired by a similar house they had seen in Key West.
Jarrett, whose work frequently takes her to the Florida Keys, also loves the American Southwest, an inspiration that's apparent in the home's big, Mexican tile floors and brightly colored walls painted tangerine, green and purple.
The interior's contemporary, tropical-desert feel is reflected in the choice of furnishings: modern wicker chairs with sunset-pink upholstered cushions, a chamois-soft sofa, and the grape-colored sideboard chest that she painted with palm trees and outfitted with crystal drawer pulls.
Michaud recently built a patio and porch on the side of house, sort of an extension of the indoor dining area. They plan to renovate Jarrett's studio soon and eventually add an outdoor kitchen.
"Both of our fathers were builders," Jarrett explains, "so we may understand how to do something like this because we grew up around it."
They share their little paradise with a menagerie of small animals, some rescued by Jarrett and Michaud. There's Nadine, a shy, white bantam hen; Lily, a French bulldog; Paco, a Chihuahua; Mango, a Senegal parrot; and turtles Harley and Charlie.
When friends visit, they stay in the guesthouse overlooking the koi pond, but tend to end up in the garden, night and day. During the winter, the couple heats the area with the kind of large propane heater used in outdoor restaurants.
"Everyone always ends up out here," Jarrett says. "For coffee in the morning, at night when they can't sleep. We love to wander in and out, even read out here. It's a paradise in the city. When you're in here, you don't know much of what's going on out there."
If you go
WHAT: Earthly Paradise Garden Tour
WHEN: Sunday. Tour, noon to 5 p.m. Tea party, 2 to 4 p.m.
TICKETS: $10, day of the tour at Fred Ball Park, adjacent to the Tampa Garden Club, 2629 Bayshore Blvd.; also, at the club today, or at the Garden Party, 2832 S MacDill Ave., today and Saturday.
INFO: The gardens may be visited in any sequence. Maps will be provided with the tickets. Carpooling is recommended.
