In what was once a weed-filled back yard, Paul Cox created a private oasis of shade and fantasy.
Cox drew from his passions for travel and gardening. A retired carpenter, he loves to build, too. He combined all three in this enchanted forest.
When he started his retirement, "I traveled around the world for three years -- Europe, China, Africa," he said. "When you travel so much, you get ideas."
A kiosk captures a bit of London. A gazebo and a guest cottage have roots in Europe. Graceful aviaries filled with colorful cockatiels look and sound exotic. A statue- and stone-lined stream flows to a koi-filled pond, somewhere out of Asia.
These far-off lands intersect in Cox's magical sanctuary, joined by paths marked with dozens of mirrored reflection balls and little creatures -- fairies and animals captured in stone, metal or concrete. The effect seems out of this world.
"It's always about 10, 15 degrees cooler out here during the summer," says Cox, who spends a lot of time outdoors in his haven.
His sons admire and appreciate Cox's effort.
"You don't see anything else like this in south Sacramento," says Eugene Roberts, his stepson. "He just keeps working at it. We love the whole idea. It's so cool. He had a vision."
Added Greg Cox, who lives with his dad, "We just love to come back here and relax. It really is its own little world."
This dreamland didn't happen overnight. Cox, now 76, spent more than nine years on the project.
"It was a mess when I moved in here in 2000," Cox recalls. "There was nothing but weeds and one weak little tree. It was just about dead and 5 feet tall."
The yard was hot and miserable, with no hint of shade or comfort.
"All his life, he's created beautiful yards," Roberts says. "He had lots of ideas for this one."
So Cox got to work. He started with a pathway, covered with rose arbors and marked with whimsical signs. Soon after came trees and a kiosk. Then the aviaries arrived.
"I've had as many as 50 cockatiels," he says. "I've cut way back, to about 20 now."
A rose bush here, an azalea there; the lines of the landscape started filling in with color.
And like Cox's imagination, things just grew. Sycamore and maple create a marvelous canopy, blocking out the harsh summer rays. One large maple also acts as a living trellis for a mammoth Lady Banksia rose that climbs more than 25 feet off the ground.
"It's just incredible in spring," Cox says. "The flowers drape down. It looks like the trees are covered with blankets of roses."
Red and white miniature roses line the paths along with the statuary.
The stream and pond are home to impatiens, ferns, hostas, cattails and papyrus. In the early spring, thousands of bulbs pop up for display.
Although the garden looks lush, this landscape takes less water than a lawn. The stream and pond use recirculated water.
Carpentry, landscaping, plumbing, electrical -- Cox did everything himself. "If I didn't, there was no way I could afford it," he says.
Cox bought most of his plants at home-improvement discount sales and paid little attention to variety names. But at bargain prices, he got big impact.
"With more shade, I've had to change the plants over the years," he says, noting that most flowers prefer more sun. "But I keep experimenting."
He has so many plants in his small space, weeds don't have a chance.
"I don't have to do anything but a little pruning," Cox says. "It's almost no maintenance."
On a patio, Cox installed outside speakers, hooked up to the adjoining living room's stereo, to block street noise and other intrusions into his retreat.
"I turn on some music and just get lost," Cox says. "I've been all over, but it's nice to be home."
(Debbie Arrington can be reached at darrington(at)sacbee.com)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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