More Garden Touring: Edmonds Late Bloomers Tour, Part 1

As a result of posting photos of Open Gardens from last week, Tom and I were invited to a "private" progressive garden opening of six gardens in the Edmonds/Lynnwood area north of Seattle today.


This group, called the Edmonds Late Bloomers, is made up of people who have formed a neighborhood garden club but are also members of the parent group, the Northwest Perennial Alliance.  They made this a progressive tour, where everyone started at the same garden at the same time, and then we all traveled to the next garden on the schedule.  The garden owners could also see everyone else's garden this way.


  So at 10:00 this morning we all met up at Sandy's garden.

 Not only were the gardens progressive, so was the food, from brunch to lunch to dessert.  It was all lovely.

From there we traveled to Judy's garden.  Because the sun was shining brightly, it was hard to capture the depth and richness of her garden, but two things especially impressed me - the use of exotic plants, many I had never seen before, and the haven the garden provided for birds.


Driving up you notice those tall lilies right away.  They are Himalayan lilies (Cardiocrinum giganteum), and they are ten to twelve feet tall.

 Grown from seed, they take seven years to mature and bloom, and then they die.

 The hummingbirds were all over this perennial nasturtium vine.

 The lower yard merges into a green belt, and the gardeners have cleared trails and planted to enhance the natives.

 The third garden was not on our list, and I regret that I do not remember the gardener's name.  (Update: This is Luann's garden) She had a pretty staging at her front door, 

..but the Wow! came as you entered the fenced in side yard!

 There is definitely a hot side and a cool side here, and she selected plants expertly to take advantage of the micro-climates.

At Mo's garden we were served a light lunch while we strolled and visited.


Everyone was taken by this dwarf ginkgo tree by the front door.

 Besides flowers, Mo in in to crops!  There was an asparagus patch, strawberries and blueberries, and fruit trees.

 It was getting warm enough that the tomatoes in the hot house needed a cooling off!

And the ladies began seeking the shade, as they learned from each other.  That is the purpose, after all, of visiting gardens, and forming clubs, to learn from each other.

There will be more to learn tomorrow.  There are two more gardens to go.