PORT TOWNSEND — The self-guided 2019 Jefferson County Master Gardener Secret Garden Tour will feature seven gardens from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 on the day of the self-guided tour.
Addresses will be provided with tickets.
Docents will be on hand at each garden to answer questions.
Tour tickets are available at Port Townsend Garden Center, Secret Garden Nursery, Far Reaches Nursery, Shold’s Garden Center, Chimacum Corner Farmstand and Valley Nursery in Poulsbo.
Tickets on tour day
They also will be available the day of the tour at the Jefferson Healthcare parking lot, 843 Sheridan St.
Six of the gardens are at local residences while the seventh is the herb garden at the Jefferson Healthcare hospital on Sheridan Street.
Tour patrons will have the opportunity to visit the hospital’s Garden Row Cafe for a gourmet luncheon crafted with just-picked herbs.
Patrons are invited to begin their self-guided tours at any of the seven gardens, described here by the event organizers:
Julie and Ralph Squires
From barren glacial till to a bio-diverse garden with an array of blooms every day of the year, Julie and Ralph Squires have transformed their landscape.
Once the couple moved into their new North Beach home in spring 2014, they began work on a whimsical garden.
Assisted by Matthew Berberich Horticulture, they selected primarily Pacific Rim plants, a genre that tends to be deer-resistant.
The biodiversity in this small garden is high in an effort to attract song birds and beneficial insects.
Colleen Corrigan
Colleen Corrigan has created a woodland garden next to Fort Worden State Park.
Corrigan has discovered that Douglas fir, cedar trees and shade dictate what grows in her garden.
Replacing the heavy, sticky clay terrain with plenty of organic matter, compost and healthy soil provided her with the necessary structure.
Salvaged materials such as bricks, wood, metal and pottery are tucked into hideaway spots offering visual surprises with a symphony of color, texture and imagination.
From an adjacent public path, walkers and bicyclists can admire blue hydrangeas in the backyard, along with shade-loving clematis, jasmine, spurges, bleeding heart, deer ferns and groundcovers lining the walking paths.
Homemade benches and colorful cushions are placed in hidden corners to invite relaxation.
Jane Kilburn- Doug Gantenbein
When Jane and Doug Gantenbein moved into their circa-1907 house in 2003, it had a yard — a wide expanse of lawn without much definition except for a collection of rhododendrons and trees and some decaying retaining walls made from railroad ties.
Throughout the years, while Kilburn took on directing interior remodeling tasks (including the recovery from a severe 2012 fire), Gantenbein went to work on the outside.
Today the large, two-and-a-half lot garden is an eclectic mix ranging from a shaded hosta garden to a secluded bamboo grove, to large beds with everything from pine trees to Japanese maples, spirea and peonies.
Boxwood hedges and timber edging along the property now give the still-large lawn some scale and shape.
Jefferson Healthcare Herb Garden
The Jefferson Healthcare Herb Garden originated in 2012 to support the facility’s Garden Row Café’s integrated approach to health. Chef Aaran Stark teamed with garden designer Jill Alban to showcase the hospital’s dedication to local and fresh foods.
The herb garden now includes basil, thyme, bay, tarragon and mint plus edible flowers, rhubarb, an heirloom cherry tree and modern columnar apples.
Gourmet lunches are available for purchase from the Garden Row Café from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Linda Heurtz- Ken Clatterbaugh
At the Heurtz/Clatterbaugh home, what was originally pasture land and a quackgrass plantation is now a small urban garden built around a pond.
A thicket with taller trees graces the front, a welcoming shade garden is in the breezeway, bushes and roses bloom in the north — visitors are urged to note the large Tibetan peony — while perennials and vegetables grow in the south.
The pond with its Arctic and nishiki willows is a haven for birds and frogs. The low double fence keeps deer away while providing support for clematis and lonicera.
The entire system is watered by an automatic drip system.
Darin Vercoe
Located along one of Port Townsend’s public trails, Darin Vercoe’s Habitat for Humanity home was built in 2005.
The professional landscaper and gardener was excited to not only qualify for a Habitat home for her young son and herself, but also to have a yard to work.
On a relatively flat city lot she added elevation changes and paths with gentle curves. Beds are arranged so a visitor gets only a small peak at the garden at any one time.
Once the bones of the garden were established, Vercoe added perennials for a year-round succession of flowers and color. Among the multitude of flowers, delphinium and veronica are featured.
Denise and Allen Owens
Established fir and madrone trees were already growing on the 14,000-square-foot property four years ago.
Everything else including the house has been added since. Denise has built stepping-stone paths that wind through a myriad of greenery and blooms.
Allen has added a mason bee house, which is a constant buzz of activity with mason and leaf cutter bees.
For questions about this year’s tour, contact Jeanne Touger at jeannetouger@gmail.com or visit Jefferson County Master Gardener website, jcmgf.org.
With a view for miles, this backyard helps display the beauty of Jefferson County during the annual Master Gardener Secret Garden Tour on Saturday.
Some back yards included in the Jefferson County Master Gardener Secret Garden Tour on Saturday have a relaxed feel to them.
