Gardens of Beauty
by Sage & Snow Garden Club
August 13, 2025
July 28, 2025 – Laurel & Bob Barrett
Some things are worth repeating, Laurel and Bob Barrett of Pinedale were awarded the Sage and Snow Garden of Beauty in 2001 and 2005. Nineteen years later, their beautiful gardens have expanded and matured and are still award-worthy. Their yard is graced by mature spruce, larch (a deciduous conifer), and chokecherry trees. We noticed several types of hardy shrubs in the front and back yards: carrageenan, gooseberry, currants, spirea, honeysuckle, Saskatoon serviceberry, and ninebark. Hops climb their front gate posts. Then, the fun begins. Visitors are greeted with a flurry of colors from orange globe flower (trollies), purple Billy Woods flower (campanula gremolata), purple Jacob’s ladder, purple cranesbill geraniums, colorful violas, variegated snow on the mountain, multiple colors of columbine, yellow creeping Jenny, red sweet William, white candytuft, orange poppies, red Maltese cross, colorful petunias and bacopa, alyssum, and sedum. Not in flower but awaiting blooms, were a row of sweet peas and hollyhocks. Early in the season there were dark pink peonies and purple iris in the flower gardens. For the robins, the bare spaces are covered in alpine strawberries, forming a mat around the flowers and shrubs. Bob and Laurel have two large raised beds to grow goodies for their smoothies: bok choi, collard greens, kale, chard, lettuce, and lots of herbs: parsley, dill, fennel, basil, rosemary, thyme and oregano. The Barrett’s front yard flower gardens remind visitors of a beautiful Monet painting, rich with color and shapes but very peaceful and calming.
August 4, 2025 – Ann Kominsky
Ann Kominsky is a woman of many interests and abilities, and this is reflected in her eclectic gardens. For many years Ann worked as a landscaper for Peterson Landscaping, so she knows all about Sublette County’s unique high-altitude growing season. Her choice of shrubs and trees reflect that knowledge with tried-and-true species, such as lilacs (including a Miss Kim dwarf lilac), a Theresa Bugnet rugose rose, snowberries, ninebarks, currants, honeysuckles, chokecherries, and cotoneasters. Her favorite tree is a Dolgo crabapple, planted in honor of her former boss, Fred Peterson. Planted amongst the shrubs are a wide variety of plants: rhubarb, garlic, borage, sweet William, clematis, bergamont (bee balm), lilies, lupine, Echinacea, peonies, coneflower, and salvia. Her interest in succulents and groundcovers is showcased in her front-of-garden displays of snow in summer (cerastium), dianthus, creeping thyme, sedums, violas, and some very interesting succulents. As a former bee keeper, Ann is also very interested in native bees, and many of her plants attract bees. She also houses mason bees in bee houses next to her flower garden. Ann has a very sturdy and practical 10’x12’ Shelter Logic greenhouse with a steel frame and translucent polyethylene cover. Inside the greenhouse she grows tomatoes, nasturtiums, cucumbers, potatoes, squash, nasturtiums, marigolds, and summer savory. Outside the greenhouse, Ann has several wooden and plastic containers filled with snow peas, asparagus, borage, potatoes, borage, salad greens, and more flowers. All her plants are watered with a drip irrigation system. Ann’s gardens were featured in the 2025 Sage and Snow Garden of Beauty Tour on August 9th.
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