Garden Touring

We belong to a gardening organization called The Northwest Perennial Alliance.  One of the benefits of this organization is the Open Gardens program.

Each spring we receive our copy of the 'Yellow Book', listing all of the members gardens that are open each weekend.

We have opened our garden most years for one Saturday, but this year we didn't participate.

Today there were five gardens open in north Seattle.  We spent much of this sunny day touring them.
The first garden belongs to a expert plantswoman.  Here we see wonderful plant combinations with a wonderful variety of foliage color and texture.

The next garden belongs to a woman I will call the Mosaic lady.  Her emphasis is more on art in the garden than in the plants.

She does have some lovely plant combinations though, too.

Third on the tour is a garden that belongs to a garden designer.  This garden has changed quite dramatically from just last year.  Here the emphasis is on hardscape, pots and seating areas, but she knows her plants too.

Then there is the lady who just loves to garden.  Hers is much more simple, and without the financial investment, but still a labor of love.

Finally we get to the garden of  a woman who just wants it all - wonderful plants, good art, and amazing color and form.

The view of the pond area from the deck.

One example of the color and texture in pots.

She's into glass art in the garden too.



We got home about 3:00, after which I spent some time sitting on my own patio, enjoying a summer afternoon in my own garden.

A Day Off

We have been working hard at home this week, so today we decided to run away and play.  We hopped on the light rail to go downtown. There was a new team store opening up that we wanted to check out.

And we wanted to spend more time looking at some places in the Market and the waterfront that we had hurried by when we had the kids with us earlier.

Beechers Cheese was very busy, but we went in and bought a wedge of their Flagship Cheddar.

The city was teeming with tourists, which is a good thing for our economy, but made the Market very crowded.

 I love the flowers they have planted this year.

 We headed to an antique store we had spotted earlier.  It was good browsing but nothing compelled us to buy.

On the waterfront we had a salad lunch at Red Robin and enjoyed watching the boat traffic on the bay.

 I love the skyline from the waterfront.

We stopped to check on the memorial totem pole being carved in honor of  a Native American carver who was killed in a tragic mishap with a police officer last year.

The pole is now painted.  The photos below were taken several weeks ago when we were here with the kids,

 and then last Sunday.

 Today it looks like this - finished.

 We almost never go to the lower level Market shops, so we decided to avoid the crowds on the street level and check them out.

I loved the Polish pottery, and we had a lovely conversation with the shop owner.

 I couldn't resist.  I bought this small oval dish in the Forget Me Not pattern.

Then we ventured up to the high stalls for a bit.  I breathed deeply of the fragrance of the sweet peas

 and admired the peonies

 in this flower stall.

 The produce is always so beautiful.

Back up at Westlake Center we stopped at Starbucks and had a latte with this view before heading back to the transit station.

This evening we enjoyed fresh fruit we purchased yesterday and cheese, including that Bechers cheddar.