PAST GARDEN TOURS

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The 2022 Orcas Island Garden Tour was held on June 25th and June 26th. The Orcas Island Garden Club thanks our dedicated volunteers, garden owners, everyone who attended any of the six wonderful gardens on tour this year, and the local media that helps publicize our biggest annual event.

A charming Japanese Tori gate welcomes you as you enter this hillside garden designed by Robin Kucklick. Enjoy watching water tumbling down a water-carrying sculpture that turns figure eights into a pond surrounded by deer resistant plants. Stroll past camellia, clematis, tulips, lilacs, golden chain trees and bamboo. As you learn how this garden has been transformed and rejuvenated, check out the landlocked boat filled with garlic and daffodils and allium along the fence line.

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The Farm to Cafeteria school garden teaches elementary students about sustainable gardening methods under the guidance of Lydia Dennee-Lee and Colleen Stewart. Using a variety of mini-gardens, children learn how to create beautiful plants for birds, bees and butterflies and people. They also learn how to plant seeds and use plants to make tea and dye fabric. Visit the medicinal herb garden, native plant garden and berry patches. Stroll past sunflower and veggie beds and enjoy the colorful wall mural. See the pizza oven, meet the resident chickens and explore the greenhouse and worm bin.

Through the All Hands on Earth program, students at the Christian School learn how to care for gardens and grow food under the guidance of Alex Tayayo-Wolf. Students start seeds and help to raise a variety of perennial flowers, veggies, herbs and berries as well as care for apple, pear, peach, quince, olive and plum trees. Using the outdoor kitchen, they also learn about food preservation. Harvested food from the garden is shared with their school cafeteria and the community.

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Once you enter the gate, you are surrounded by a lovely garden in the round bordered by large cedars. Follow the pathways to explore a variety of flowering perennial beds that feature clematis, fuchsia, hydrangea, camellias, roses and zinnias. Spend some time enjoying the crown jewel of the garden – the dahlia garden with hundreds of different and colorful dahlias. Don’t miss visiting the charming pond with its resident goldfish.

As you wander through this garden, you’ll be amazed at the incredible variety of flowers, veggies, fruit trees and herbs tucked into all of the spaces. Look for hydrangeas, lilacs, David Austen roses, peonies, irises, phlox, daffodils, hostas, columbine, veronica, and allium. Beds of veggies offer squash, peas, broccoli, asparagus, garlic, herbs, spinach and cauliflower. Fruit trees include peach, pear, fig, plum and hardy kiwi. Check out the new greenhouse to see the lovely subtropical flowers.

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Located in a picturesque valley, Crazy Crow Farm offers successful permaculture to enrich the land and produce healthy organic fruits and vegetables. In the orchard, look for apple, pear, plum and cherry trees. Raised beds produce veggies such as beans, cucumbers, squash, potatoes, kale, broccoli and herbs. Interspersed throughout are a variety of perennial flowers. See the rain catchment system that uses a large pond to irrigate the gardens. Explore the large greenhouse that houses citrus, peppers and fruit.

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The 2021 Orcas Island Garden Tour was held on June 26th and June 27th. The tour featured 5 lovely gardens offering interesting plants (annuals, perennials, fruit trees, veggies, natives, woodland, bird/insect friendly, deer-resistant), unique features (greenhouse, garden pond, rain catchment, berry cage, raised beds, drip watering, garden art) and/or creative design ideas that our fellow gardeners enjoyed seeing.

Margaret’s cottage garden offers a delightful blend of different plant habitats, ranging from sunny and dry to wet and shady, allowing her to nurture a wide range of plants through three different seasons. Focusing on perennials, Margaret’s garden offers colorful lilies, crocosmia, lupine, roses, columbine, and clematis. Tucked throughout are different garden rooms featuring ornamentals, herbs, native plants, vegetables, a variety of fruit trees and different berry patches. Don’t miss the outdoor kitchen, greenhouse, and charming garden art featuring vintage tools and a display of state license plates.

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Tucked on a picturesque hillside, this lovely garden offers expansive views of Victorian Valley. In the garden are a variety of fruit trees including cherry, apple, plum, peach and pear, as well as lots of veggies, including lettuce, tomatoes and beans. The hillside garden offers a charming gazebo set amidst an English flower garden featuring many flowering shrubs and perennials that attract birds, bees and butterflies. If you have time, go on a guided walk across the road to visit the Victorian Chapel, the site of many summer island weddings and wander through the adjacent meditation garden.

Tucked behind the Outlook Inn lies a magical garden that has starred in many wedding celebrations. As you step into Sara Farish’s enchanting garden, you’ll cross a charming bridge whose arch twinkles with fairy lights. After you enjoy the colorful rose garden that edges the pond, wander through the gazebo and explore the beautiful chapel with local artists displaying their work.

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Located in Crow Valley, just north of Turtleback Mountain, Kaj Dawg Farm is a gorgeous farm with an inspiring story. In 2014, a group of visionary islanders created the project and provided the infrastructure and expertise for the garden which is a model of Community Participatory Agriculture. Laid out like a quilt in a beautiful setting of field, forest and pond, the farm supports people in growing their own food. This community garden provides participants with abundant organic vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers as they work together throughout the growing season. The outdoor kitchen offers another opportunity to share and learn about food processing and canning.

The Doe Bay Garden offers over an acre of garden beds and fruit orchards that provide a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers for the Doe Bay Café and Resort. Following methods of sustainable, organic gardening, Doe Bay uses seed-saving, crop rotation, and composting to ensure the health of the produce and the soil. Tour the large greenhouse and don’t miss visiting the chickens, housed in a large enclosure, who will provide entertainment as they consume leftovers with gusto.

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The 2019 Orcas Island Garden Tour was held on Saturday, June 29th and Sunday, June 30th. The tour featured 5 lovely gardens offering interesting plants (annuals, perennials, fruit trees, veggies, natives, woodland, bird/insect friendly, deer-resistant), unique features (greenhouse, garden pond, rain catchment, berry cage, raised beds, drip watering, garden art) and/or creative design ideas that our fellow gardeners enjoyed seeing.

Located in a lovely pastoral setting, Ann and Richard Griot’s garden overlooks scenic pastures, ponds, and forest. Stroll the arbored walkways covered with wisteria, roses, and clematis. At the center is a pavilion, designed and built by shipwright Chris Smart with a roof of succulent plants. Radiating from the pavilion are raised beds featuring dahlias, roses, delphinium, iris, peonies and zinnias. Visit the chicken house, meet the friendly birds, and enjoy the fruit orchards and the vegetable, herb, and berry gardens.

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Nestled in beautiful Crow Valley, OrcaSong Farm invites you to explore beds of colorful annuals and perennials surrounding the Sky Lodge, a covered open-air structure designed for gatherings. This working farm offers a delightful pond and waterfall as well as a variety of fruit trees, the Three Sisters garden and a greenhouse. Learn about the different varieties of lavender that are raised in nearby fields and visit the urban demonstration garden where backyard produce and herbs are raised.

Tucked behind the Outlook Inn lies a magical garden that has starred in many wedding celebrations. As you step into Sara Farish’s enchanting garden, you’ll cross a charming bridge whose arch twinkles with fairy lights. After you enjoy the colorful rose garden that edges the pond, wander through the gazebo and explore the beautiful chapel that has hosted many marriage ceremonies.

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A rose-covered entryway welcomes you to Robin and Lyn Kucklick’s garden where you can explore a variety of different gardens designed by Robin offering four seasons of bloom and leaf color. After visiting the pond and resident koi fish, wander the expansive hillside setting of native trees and plants. Stroll past viburnum, hydrangeas, clematis, roses, camellias and rhododendrons. Amidst flowering magnolia, bamboo, crab apple, Japanese cherry, dogwood, plum, pear and apple trees, visit the rock garden, kitchen garden, herb garden, vegetable beds and fruit gardens.

Through a cedar gateway, you enter Barbara and David Evans’ peaceful Japanese inspired hillside garden. Following the Japanese design aesthetic that celebrates form, texture, color, mood and season, this woodland garden features bamboo, rhododendrons, wisteria, roses and lilies. Meander along paths through native madrone, maple, alder, red cedar, hemlock and Douglas fir that hug the shoreline. You can spend some time at the waterfall, listen for melodic windchimes, discover garden art pieces and visit the moon garden. Don’t miss exploring the delightful Teahouse of the Orcas Moon.

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