Seattle Hardy Plant Study Weekend

In the last three days we have attended three conference sessions, heard six speakers, had a chance to shop for plants at the conference, and toured nineteen Seattle area gardens. We even fitted in our usual Friday morning breakfast and a Sounders match at the stadium Saturday evening. 

The gardens are all private, home situated gardens, created by the owners and/or designed and installed with professional help. Some are in upscale neighborhoods with grand views, some are semi-rural, and others are in ordinary neighborhoods. All have much to offer in terms of interest, plant knowledge, and sheer beauty. 

I took hundreds of photos, of course, but since we are soon off on another adventure, for now I am giving you just a taste of what we saw, with at least one photo from each garden. It was hard to choose, and photos from the most photogenic garden cannot be posted because the owner is a garden designer who doesn't want to have others copy her ideas, I guess, although she would get free advertising.  I did sneak in one pot from her garden, which could have come from many others. 

Here is a brief glimpse of our three days of garden touring. 

All of the gardens were subtly marked. Our GPS phone apps got a workout. 

 City folks grow food too. We caught this owner tending his crop. 

View of Lake Washington. 

 View of Puget sound.

 Another sound view. 

 A view from the deck. 

 This gardener also quilts. 

It was all wonderful and exhausting and, for now, enough! 

We'll soon be back on the road, and there will be more gardens as well as some family history. See you around.