Dace Lukševica’s Decorative Garden

Landscape architect Dace Lukševicas’s garden in Tukums lies by the Veļķi pine trees. It is a model of a garden that is easy to maintain, economical and artistic. It also features an abundant collection of plants including 11 varieties of perennial hydrangeas. The garden is a special treat for admirers of hosta plants as you can find 120 different varieties growing here.

Like many people in Tukums Dace’s parents started growing roses already during the Soviet era. They built a greenhouse first and only then started working on a house in the evenings and holidays – the same house in which Dace’s family now lives. The plot of land is small – just 1,000 square metres. It was transformed 20 years ago, and the garden was created “by the book,” in Dace’s words, with a front garden, a residential area and a kitchen garden. A number of tricks and special effects have been used to make it look larger. They deliberately didn’t lay paths, for example, as they would have visually divided the garden up and made it look smaller. Higher trees and shrubs were planted to cause a theatric effect as you can now not see straight across the garden, which adds to the sense of spaciousness. Dace says her conception was simple – the garden needed to be economical, organic and aesthetically pleasing. ‘I want to show people that you can have a beautiful garden that you don’t have to toil over.’

You can buy potted perennial trees and shrubs here throughout the summer season. You can also make arrangements with Dace for guided tours of Tukums and the local gardens and parks.