SEQUIM — The Petals & Pathways Home Garden Tour will be in Sequim this year with eight outstanding gardens. The tour will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 28.
The Master Gardener Foundation of Clallam County hosts these tours that homeowners have offered to show for the Foundation’s fundraiser.
This year, the Sequim Valley Lions live crab and silent auction fundraising event will take place at Pioneer Memorial Park, which is one of the featured gardens, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The auction is free to view. Crab can be purchased on site.
Beautiful trees, sustainable and intentional gardening run through the garden choices this year along with the many differences each garden has to offer. The gardens selected have ample and safe parking. Descriptions and directions are on the self-guided tickets.
The following are short descriptions of each garden on the tour:
Hillside Retreat
The wisteria-covered arbor draws you into a peaceful courtyard with sculpted Japanese maple, rhododendron and weeping Cedrus.
Follow the path at the side yard to the greenhouse with its creative wrap-around raised vegetable beds.
A walk through the gate opens to a view of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Mount Baker and Vancouver Island. Soak in the serenity of the peaceful hillside path lined with Japanese maples, conifers and a diverse selection of understory plantings that provide a three-story habitat for wildlife.
Harvest Haven
J&R Farmstand provides the community with a feast of fresh food from mass plantings of pumpkins, June-bearing strawberries, various squash varieties, a flower-cutting garden and more.
The Harvest Haven-J&R Farmstand owners continue to improve on this family property by adding new plantings, a planned water feature and displays of ornamental plants.
The history of the garden dates back more than 40 years with generations of original plantings still providing produce.
The produce is grown with natural practices and good soil. Success can be attributed to trial and error and a great deal of high energy from the gardeners.
At the farmstand, you can buy fruits and vegetables that will inspire your next meal.
Second Chance Ranch
Second Chance Ranch is a unique and magical property that was transformed from a hay pasture with incomplete buildings. It started out with no heat, water or electricity. The homeowner realized the potential of the property in making it his retirement home with the vision of family fun, with whimsical collections and gardens, and transformed it into what it is today.
Outbuildings and defined outdoor spaces display new plantings and an eclectic mix of memorabilia. He has an interesting collection of playground spring riders and arcade games.
Spaces include a bunk house, vintage RV trailer, game room, a generous fenced-in area for dogs, spaces for several outdoor games, vegetable garden and plans for a future orchard. There is a style of the 1950s threaded throughout the landscape.
Parking is somewhat limited, with ADA-accessible parking adjacent to the primary residence, and angle parking along Dun Rollin Lane.
Sanctuary for Humans and Wildlife
When the homeowners purchased this log home four years ago, they knew the 1.1-acre lot had potential for food and ornamental gardens as well as habitat for wildlife, which was already established on the property.
They had the home completely sanded and restored. The gardens were positioned to provide a lot of open space for badminton, croquet or Frisbee when friends and family come over.
To make the home feel like it functionally fits the backyard, they brought in a landscaper. He extended, with a natural hardscape, the once-small and awkward back deck into a relaxing area for entertaining. A paver patio was added complete with a propane fire pit, a berm with alpine plantings, numerous boulders and a dry creek bed. It’s a perfect spot to entertain and have fireside chats.
The Leyland Cypress, which lends a rustic vibe to complement their log home, was planted for deer control. Wildflower beds, Pacific wax myrtle and several service berry trees provide habitat and food for pollinators and a variety of birds. The large evergreens provide cover and bird baths strategically placed among the gardens provide water.
In addition, they have a large vegetable garden emphasizing a variety of vegetables.
One Horse Ranch
In 2012, the owners of One Horse Ranch purchased a 5-acre hay field. As the small garden plots evolved, they wanted a pleasant view from every direction on the property.
Starting with just a few plots close to the house, the gardens grew month by month and year to year. Ideas and inspirations with western themes came into the flow.
Over many years, the property has been transformed and now includes 90-plus trees and features more than 70 different species of landscape plants. Ornamentals and natives are living harmoniously throughout the property.
Garden art, barn quilts and repurposed treasures add a whimsical touch.
A message here is that a lovely garden takes work but doesn’t need to be expensive to be beautiful. They hope a visit to “One Horse Ranch” will give you inspiration for experimenting in your own garden.
Community Organic Garden of Sequim
The Community Organic Garden of Sequim (COGS) is a non-profit vegetable and flower garden situated in the heart of Sequim on the grounds of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. The garden was started in 2008 as a project of Friends of the Fields as an effort to create both increased demand for high-quality organic produce and an increased ability to acquire it by providing a place for residents to learn to use good gardening practices.
Thirty gardeners who rent plots receive free water, free seed and free compost. Only organic garden products and techniques are allowed.
The gardeners tend to return year after year to their same plots, taking advantage of the improvements in tilth and fertility that organic gardening methods engender.
COGS owes a great deal to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, the Olympic View Community Foundation and the Sequim community for its support.
Pioneer Memorial Park
Pioneer Memorial Park is hosted by Sequim Prairie Garden Club. Historic presentations will take place at 10 a.m. and noon on the day of the tour.
This 4-acre park started as the area’s first cemetery. Recoverable remains and headstones were relocated elsewhere when the cemetery closed in 1911.
In 1951, Sequim Prairie Garden Club took on the task of obtaining a 99-year lease from the Sequim Cemetery Association and converting the abandoned eyesore into a park with the first community center. It has maintained and improved the park over the years.
The park was designated as an Arboretum in 2023, and the 193 trees allow for spectacular shade garden displays. Flowerbeds around the clubhouse area feature a large variety of shrubs and perennials.
Accessible parking is located adjacent to the clubhouse, and a larger parking lot is in the back of the park.
The Shangri-la Garden
This is one of the Intentional Gardens for enjoying all the pleasures of gardening and nature. The homeowner has transformed this space since 2020 into a peaceful blending of compatible companions.
The gardens are designed in such a way to celebrate all the seasons. There is an orchard, shade and sun garden. Raised beds are filled with mixed vegetables. There is a sacred space for meditation and relaxing as well as an art studio to browse through.
This garden also features a variety of hazelnut trees and a wild meadow garden. Veggies are mixed in with perennials and live nicely together.
Water-wise gardening was always in mind for designing the layout, making this a sustainable garden.
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Garden tour tickets
Tickets for the Petals & Pathways Home Garden Tour are $20. Proceeds help to maintain the Woodcock Demonstration Gardens and all the free classes offered in Port Angeles and Sequim.
Tickets are available at clallammgf.org and MGFCC website, at Sunny Farms in Sequim and at Airport Garden Center in Port Angeles.
