Originally featured in Phoenix Home & Garden Magazine on April 1, 2024 By Lauren Tyda | Photography by Melissa Valladares
In this home’s meandering gardens, there is a surprise around every corner.
It’s like a scene from a fairytale. Deep in the heart of Paradise Valley, a mountain-framed estate is studded with a mélange of vibrant plantings. Mesquite and paloverde trees burst upwards from terraces, their tousled branches obscuring this hillside haven.
Blazing bougainvillea spills over walls like splashes of paint. A meandering wash wraps around the front of the property and, during heavy rains, guides water like a river.
The descent into this warm and welcoming beauty is a journey unto itself. Stairs lead to an arched wrought-iron gateway sheathed in vines, providing a peek into the lush courtyard. There, a path crosses a bridge lined with purple-flecked trailing rosemary that hovers over a lagoon-style swimming pool. The cascading waterfall and whispering palm trees provide the soundtrack for a litany of hummingbirds and bees as they flit from bloom to bloom.
The home’s glass front door frames this vignette from the inside and leads across the great room into the recently refreshed backyard, where a burbling rock fountain provides respite for finches, flickers, mourning doves and other winged visitors.
A meditation path cocooned by trees weaves around the perimeter, inviting contemplative walks for owners Mike and Genevieve Hogan. It also makes a dynamic playground for their grandkids, who can be found climbing the rocks, hiding among the outcroppings or playing hopscotch on the winding steppingstones that connect the patios. Every part of the outdoor space is meant to engage the senses and was framed by views inside the house, thanks to Phoenix Home & Garden Masters of the Southwest award-winning landscape architect Donna Winters.
“It’s just magical,” Winters says of the setting. “This is a sacred place of healing, where you can get solace from nature.
