Garden Touring On Whidbey Island

We belong to a gardening organization, The Northwest Perennial Alliance, in which members open their gardens to other members. Before the first of May we receive a booklet listing all the gardens that will be open each weekend May through September. We have opened our garden each year for many years but chose not to do so this year. Today there were five gardens and two nurseries open to NPA members on Whidbey Island. We caught the 10:30 ferry in Mukilteo to cross over to the island.

Just down the beach from the ferry dock was our first stop, with this lovely perennial garden right on the beach.

Our next stop was Cultis Bay Nursery, a small, fun little business tucked back in the trees and pastures. They have a great selection of plants, but what caught my eye first was this little self serve produce stand by the parking lot. The cooler was full of fresh, bagged greens ready for your next salad when you deposited your money in the tin can.

The Prindle garden overlooks the sound with a spectacular 400 foot border framing the view.

After a quick stop at the Bayview farmers market to buy some fresh strawberries, we headed for the family cabin to eat our picnic lunch and join the family there for a short visit. We found them all on the beach.

It was soccer shirt day, with Jake in a Seattle Sounders jersey, Isaac wearing the French National Team, Irene wearing the Norway World Cup kit, and Jill wearing the Netherlands colors. Except for the Sounders shirt, these were all gifts we brought back from European travels.

We also checked in on our own island garden and couldn't resist pulling a few weeds.

Then we were off to two more gardens. By now I was really interested in the little details I found in the gardens.

This one was full of whimsy.

Those are rocks about six inches across in this "nest".

Moose Run is a huge and spectacular garden near Langley. My camera liked the koi pond.

Our final stop was the Chocolate Flower Farm, a small nursery specializing in flowers that are chocolate in color and/or fragrance. It's a great little place where we usually find a plant or two we can't resist. I left my camera in the car today, so these are photos I took in April.

We made a final stop in Langley for an iced latte before heading back to the ferry. We stopped near home to pick up a pizza and made it home in time to see most of the Sounders FC soccer match on TV. They won! Yea, Sounders.

It was a very good day.