Thursday, May 4, 2017

The Chase Garden

Last Saturday morning our garden club toured two gardens that are favorites of mine. It was my turn to arrange our April activity, so of course I chose places I love but that most of our members had never visited. 

The first stop was The Chase Garden, a garden protected as part of the national foundation, The Garden Conservancy. This garden was created by Emmott and Ione Chase, beginning in the 1940's, and over nearly 50 years, they made it their life's work.

It is a blend of Asian and natural Pacific Northwest, sitting on a bluff overlooking the Puyallup River below, and with a striking view of Mt Rainier. It's about an hour's drive south from Seattle.

We will begin on the entry driveway and explore the area around the house, where we met up with our tour guide, Will. I hope you have your walking shoes on. 



 I went around to the front of the house to sneak a peek at the mountain. Most of it was obscured by cloud cover, but you can get an idea of what it must be like when The Mountain is fully "out".  



 Leaving the entry court, we proceeded up into the forested area. 
 The ground was covered with spring blooming wild flowers, like Fairy bells,
 Solomon's seal
 Vanilla leaf
 A dainty variety of Solomon's seal mixed with vanilla leaf and trillium. 




 Erythronium - Fawn lily

 Dodecatheon - Shooting Star

 Native camas
This is a newly planted area. In this old garden, refurbishing is needed in some areas.



 This area will put on a show from early spring to early summer. It was created to replicate a mountain meadow. 



















 In a few weeks there will be many more shrubs blooming, but right now, it's all about the little flowers popping up out of the earth, the spring ephemerals. 















 There is a small plant sale area, and many of our group dug out their cash for little plant treasures. 
 And then we departed, somewhat reluctantly, from this very special garden. 

14 comments:

  1. I love your blog. You document your travels through beautiful landscapes and gardens so thoroughly. I love being reminded that places like this exist in the world beyond the expressways and roads I usually see.

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  2. I love the Chase Garden. I haven't been there in a couple of years, so I appreciated your photos. My first time there was right about this time of year, so it was all about the little plants, and noticing all the small details. It's such a peaceful place.

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  3. I can see why you'd like to show this garden to people. It's large and has variety.

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  4. Beautiful. I feel sure you met your quota of steps for the day just walking through this garden.

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  5. The spring ephemerals...the perfect name for those delicate blooms. That is such a lovely garden. Thanks for sharing those photos.

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  6. Such a joy to take a stroll around this beautiful garden with you. I can certainly see why you love it so much.

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  7. Sp pretty! I love the dainty little flowers and the replication of the mountain meadow especially. Thanks for the walk! :-)

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  8. how fun to see you all huddled in spring jackets while we roast in the 90s and turned on the air conditioner inside. amazed that yuo know all the names of plants...i know so few even in my own yard...

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  9. What a nice time you had over there. I like touring beautiful gardens, too.

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  10. That is the kind of walk I'd like. Great view and lovely plantings. What a great way to spend a day.

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  11. Jealous. Dainty Solomon's Seal. That is a new one on me.

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  12. What a pretty place! I bet it will be even more beautiful in a few weeks:)

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  13. I'm so amazed at all the different kinds of spring flowers there are. Gorgeous photos, Linda.

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  14. A serene and lovely garden with an interesting history. I've not visited at this time of year so your tour was quite interesting to me. Will is a great tour guide!

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