With diligence and passion for gardening, the Fawsons have turned a yard into a self-made paradise

Gary and Janet Fawson’s landscape in Grantsville is not a typical Tooele County garden. In fact, it is not even typical of the well-kept gardens here. It takes on the overtones of a Garden of Eden — lush, stunningly beautiful, cool, and very natural, as though it just grew by itself. That is a criterion of a really outstanding garden.

If one were to ask the Fawsons why they have such a beautiful yard, they would say many things. For one thing, they would dispel the myth that the garden sprang forth and they simply captured it and bent it to their own wishes. Nothing could be further from the truth.

They have, in fact, had visitors ask, “How did you discover this place? I didn’t even know it was here!”

Gary’s typical answer to that is, “It wasn’t, 10 years ago.”

In reality, the garden that enchants visitors today came about through the Fawson’s ability to see potential, careful planning, creativity, diligence and consistent hard work. Growing their garden is a way of life for the Fawsons. It is their passion and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

Gary, 62, is a native son of Grantsville, growing up on a farm not far from where he lives now. After completing high school, he went on to Brigham Young University where he met his wife-to-be, Janet Pack, a co-ed from Van Nuys, Calif.

After they married, the couple moved to Ukiah, Calif., where they lived for 30 years, ran a real estate magazine, and raised a family. As the five children left home, they moved to areas from Boston to the Midwest, to Utah, and to Washington State. When they became empty nesters, the couple determined that a change was in order.

“I grew up here and we had this property,” Gary said. “But it was Janet’s choice to say, ‘Let’s move to Grantsville.’ It is closer to a (LDS) temple and closer to an airport and a little easier for our kids to visit us. So we moved here.”

That “piece of property” they owned consisted of 17 acres of flat fields with some Russian olives growing on it, although they have since purchased nine more. The ground was alkaline and mostly heavy clay, although Gary has found a few sandy spots since settling there.

Water was no problem. Two old wells had been flowing out on to the pastures since 1898, and that is a record. It lies in a low area of the valley, so the groundwater is high as well.

Before they moved there in 2000, they developed plans for their new home which Gary, an artist, drew up in three-dimensional plans, and set to work.

In 1999, before they moved, they built a cabin on the property and dug a couple of ponds. They had found evidence of an old pond on the land. When it was cleaned out, it filled with groundwater. Their ponds today consist of a combination of groundwater, water from the artesian wells and some from a culinary well they dug, which also flows.

Using heavy equipment to dig the ponds and build berms, the flat ground took on a new dimension. The yard took shape from the plan he created at first, but they haven’t followed it exactly.

“We misplaced it,” Gary admitted with a chuckle, and they made some decisions to change the plans as they went. What they have created is close to the plan, but not an exact duplicate.

The Fawsons saw the wisdom of working with what was there. Although Russian olives are considered a weed tree in most circles, they removed only part of them. Janet set to work and began trimming up the others to make them more attractive.

The couple has added about a thousand trees since moving there in 2000. It hasn’t all been a lush, green success. For example, the first 50 fruit trees they planted, before they moved to the property, all died.

“We planted them before we got here and got someone to water them for us. We wanted to establish an orchard so that within a few years we would have some fruit. In California you could put a tree in the ground and it would just take off. Here if you don’t watch it and it gets dry or the winds blow, it will die. Here you must give it a lot of TLC.

“It was discouraging but I planted more and take good care of them. Now I’ve got 50 fruit trees and they do take a lot of TLC. I still lose them but not as much. The TLC is essential.

I’ve got just about everything. Plums, peaches, apples, cherries, apricots, quite a few different varieties,” Fawson said.

The Fawsons have gradually taken out many more Russian olives over the years, and a few other trees that have turned out to be less desirable have also found their way to the woodpile. Last year, Gary says they took 200 to 300 Russian olives out of their pastures, piled them up and burned them.

Gary is a man of many talents. Besides art and gardening, he is also a builder. He has a little mill that he uses to cut boards from the Russian olive branches, and then spaces them and lays them out to dry. If they are cut properly and have a straight grain, they dry flat. When they are dry he builds furniture from the boards.

“They make beautiful outdoor furniture. Russian olive is a hardwood and it has a beautiful grain,” Gary said.

The Fawsons did have some gardening experience from a beautiful yard they created in California, but what works in California doesn’t necessarily work in Grantsville. Utah’s climate is much harsher than Ukiah.

A year or so after moving to Grantsville, Gary took the Utah State University Master Gardener course offered in Tooele to learn more about gardening in the Tooele Valley, then went on to Advanced Master Gardener training. Janet joined in a few years later and became a Master Gardener, too.

Janet chuckled as she admitted that she just decided that “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” so she signed up for the classes.

Part of what the Fawsons have done in the yard was intuitive. For example, before Gary took the classes, he put in berms to add dimension to the yard and create a focal point for trees and magnificent flower beds.

“I like berms, but I didn’t know why. I did it for aesthetics but it turned out to be the right thing to do for the heavy soil and drainage,” he said. He has made it a point to plant trees that need extra drainage, like firs and spruces, on berms so they will grow better.

The Fawsons do spend a great deal of time working on their yard and garden, and with their passion for it, that work is a pleasure.

“Hardly a day goes by that I don’t plant something,” Gary said. “Even in the winter I plant things in my greenhouse.”

Gary doesn’t necessarily work from a plan to create the vivid flower beds that grace his yard. He uses whatever plants he likes and an array of plants he has traded with other Master Gardeners. He noted that getting involved with Master Gardeners has given him many insights into gardening as well as a network to learn from and to get and try new plants. He highly recommends the classes to others to improve their skills.

“I would be more than willing to share starts of some of the plants I have with people who would like to try some of them,” he added.

Gary started many trees by putting branches into the ground. With the high water table, they have taken root and grown into beautiful trees. He has shared this technique along with “starts” of branches from his yard with a number of friends. Not all have the water table, but by adding extra water and some diligence, they too have been able to grow trees this way.

“It is just a hobby, not a profession. I don’t sell anything but I have given a lot away that I have started from cuttings,” he said.

In an effort to help improve the community, Gary has worked with Mayor Byron Anderson to help with civic beautification in Grantsville since 2004. He gives a great deal of credit to the volunteers on the tree commission, from Wal-Mart and members of the FFA for adding more than 1,200 1-1/2-inch-caliper trees to Grantsville. They hope to bring back the beauty of the tree-lined streets that were once typical of the community when ditches ran along the roads. Along with the added trees, the community has earned the designation of a Tree City USA from the International Society of Arboriculture.

Creating and living in the Fawson’s personal Garden of Eden is satisfying to them and something they consider well worth the effort.

“Wherever we live we want to make it just a little bit nicer,” is the Fawson’s philosophy, says Gary.

“I think it is such a beautiful world, there is no reason not to surround yourself by that kind of stuff. It can be beautiful if you just plant it and take care of it,” Gary said. “Our whole city could look beautiful if people would take the initiative to plant it and do a little work with it. It’s a beautiful world and with a little care we can make it very pleasant to live in.”