Hardy Plant Study Weekend - Day 3

I'm coming to you this evening from Whidbey Island, where we arrived at sunset after a very full day.

We attended seminars this  morning in Bellevue and the toured three gardens in north Seattle this afternoon.  There were actually five gardens open, but we had a strict timeline.  The USA World cup team was playing Portugal at 3:00 and we wanted to be home to watch it.  I set it to record just in case.

The first garden was built on a steep hillside overlooking a creek filled ravine and a peek-a-boo view out to Puget sound.  There were so many levels and so many stairways and so many landings with inviting seating that, well, it was just amazing.  

 This is in the vegetable garden!

The owner of this garden hired a craftsman who spent 15 years  building stone walls and steps and patios, and she most recently hired a mosaic artist to embellish some of the newer surfaces.

 Notice the water rill that runs down several levels, as well as the mosaics.

 This is where the rill ends and empties to be pumped and recirculated.

 As we stood looking at this view we realized we were looking at Double Bluff and Useless Bay, exactly where we are now!

 And back to the top!

 For the second garden we drove across town to another hillside garden, this time with a view east to Lake Washington.

 Above is the new silver and purple entry garden, and then the inner courtyard in front of the house.

 Down around the side of the house, at a lower level, is the back patio, deck, and view.

 Below that a trail leads to a lower seating area with this view.

Garden #3 turned out to be one we had visited before, and it was full of people, so photos were difficult. Besides, we were now in a hurry.  But of course I do have plenty of photos. :-)

Can you tell from the street planting that this is something special?

 The vegetable garden is street side on this small city lot. 

 Mirrors can be fun to use in the garden.

And now the conference is over, but the weekend is not.  The fourth day of garden touring is on Whidbey Island!  How convenient!

More tomorrow!

Oh, and we got home about 30 minutes after the start of the soccer match, so we avoided any electronic news and watched it recorded, delayed about 25 minutes, zoomed through the half time and were about ten minutes past real time when we got to the brutal last 20 seconds, where Portugal scored, tied the game, and stole away our almost victory.