On July 11, my friend Sara (pictured in many of the photos) and I took the ferry over to Bainbridge Island to visit five unique gardens featured in the island’s 2009 garden tour. This year’s tour included the Huntley House, Church, Parker, Sultan and Holt gardens.
I put together a quick bio of each garden that includes a slideshow of the pictures I took. The gardens are in order of how we visited them.
Huntley House Garden
A large five-acre garden with an outdoor living area, ivy front steps, multiple berry patches, a fruit orchard, a wooded area and a cottage cutting garden.
A Japanese style sustainable garden with a 20 second view of the water – according to the homeowner this is the length of time boats are in view before they disappear. A large bed of nasturtiums also added a bit of whimsy to this otherwise formal garden.
Click here for a slideshow of the Church Garden;
click here for thumbnails.
Parker Garden
A very Pacific Northwest style landscape with many evergreen shrubs and trees planted around two creeks and a pond. I especially liked the style of the fences and gate at this home.
We spent a lot of time wondering the pathways of this diverse garden. There were paths, pots, urns, patios, benches and flowerbeds with great plant combinations everywhere you walked. They also had an old cabin on site and the most amazing view of Puget Sound.
I was an excited little kid wondering through this magical formal garden. It’s really what dreams are made of – at least mine. There’s a weeping willow next to a pond, a pool surrounded by a large perennial garden, a brick secret garden with espalier fruit trees, a view of the water, a labyrinth and a maple with a
witch’s broom hanging at the end of a limb.
This garden was also featured in the September 2007 Martha Stewart Living magazine.
Gardening in My Rubber Boots 
