Garden Touring

 We still belong to the Northwest Perennial Alliance and still get the yellow Open Gardens tour book at the beginning of each May, but we haven't done much touring in the last couple of years. 

Saturday there were a number of gardens open in the Mount Baker District of Seattle, an area east of downtown and west of Lake Washington, an area with many wonderful old bungalows, stately homes, with newer builds cropping up in between. 

The yards are fairly small - real estate is very expensive there - so I figured I could navigate the walking with short car rides in between.

Here is a collection of photos taken of the six gardens we visited. 

This was just a view from the street. When this impressive home was built on a view corner lot many years ago, somebody wanted to show off their rock collection. This wall surrounds two sides of the property. Fascinating. 

Spice bush,

Dahlias with a view. 

There were lots of lovely face pots in this garden. 

The best part of this garden was what you could see from the sidewalks. 

Big perennial garden in the sunny front of this home.

On the front deck. 

Shady retreat in the back garden.

Tom is signing in. Members sign in at each garden.

Very old hedge, newer house.

Large standing stones were used in this landscape. 

By now I was ready for a chance to sit down for a few minutes. We thought this looked like a great place, and in doing so, we visited with a few others who passed by on the same tour. 

Then I braved the steps and climbed up there. 

And looked down on where we had been. 

On the deck, a distant view of Lake Washington, and a lemon tree. Actually, this deck wrapped around to give views down to all of the yard down below. Lovely. 

It was a very good way to spend a morning and we were home for our 1:00 lunch on the patio.

They're Home!

 

Our girls are home!

If those look like tired eyes, they are. After 25 hours of flying and layovers, they spent another hour and a half getting deplaned and going through customs and security. 

We took them home, listened to a few short stories, and then left them to get settled. They said they really needed to wash their hair, but first, as we left them, they were outside finding and hugging their kitties. Isaac and Jake have been taking good care of them, but they missed their mamas. 

We will get together later to hear more stories. 

I checked in with my niece Katie to find out if my sister Laurie was home yet from her cruise in Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea. She returns late Thursday, July 27. I haven't heard from her since she departed Stockholm 16 days ago. I imagine she and her sister-in-law are having a great time. 

Except for our outing Saturday we have been at home. Because of the mosquitos, which are bad this year, I am mostly inside. I don't like that. I ordered some mosquito spray from Amazon today. It is supposed to be safe around people, pets, and bees. I hope it works. 

I finally have a few sweet peas blooming. This little bouquet smells so sweet next to my little July figurine by Joseph, that Laurie gave me some years ago. She makes her appearance each July with the sweet peas. 

July is passing by too swiftly.

Updates

 Jill checked in via Facebook this afternoon. Here are a few of the animal photos she posted from their Serengeti Safari day. They have one more day of "glamping" on the Serengeti before traveling out of the wilds and  eventually beginning their flights home.

Jake came by yesterday evening to pick the raspberries and take his container full home with him. We learned a little bit about his camping road trip and how he checked off a few more roads not traveled. He's a map guy and likes to explore new territory. Me too.

I did quite well on my garden club outing Saturday morning. I explained to the docent leading our tour that I was OK with walking but not good at standing around, so please excuse me if I wander off and am not a good listener.  She did. And I did.

We visited the Evergreen Arboretum in Everett, WA, a very pleasant garden north of Seattle.

There were sculptures through the garden, here a reminder to "keep clam".

The walkways were level, smooth, and easy. 

These large dish gardens had examples of a crevice garden, a carniferous garden, and miniature hostas. 

Big blooms on a giant Southern Magnolia. 

Lots of lovely maples provided shade. 

The tour took about an hour, and then, since we had plenty of time before our lunch reservation, some of us strolled back through the garden and then found a shady bench to sit and talk. 

Lunch was at a brew pub down by the harbor. Everett is a town on the mainland shore of Puget Sound, just east of Whidbey Island. 

It was a very enjoyable outing.