SEQUIM — Tickets are available now for the 28th annual Petals and Pathways Home Garden Tour, which will highlight six gardens in the Sequim area next Saturday.
The self-guided tours will be from 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. June 24. Early bird tickets are $15. On the day of the tour, tickets will be $20.
Tickets can be purchased in Sequim at Over the Fence, Sunny Farms Country Store, and Co-op Farm & Garden; and in Port Angeles at Port Book and News, Swain’s General Store and Airport Garden Center.
On-line tickets can be purchased until Sunday at clallammgf.org
The Master Gardener Foundation of Clallam County has been hosting these tours for many years.
These tours along with the annual plant sale at Woodcock Demonstration Gardens help support the foundation’s projects such as the Youth Enrichment Program, Woodcock Demonstration Gardens, Fifth Street plots in Port Angeles and numerous free classes and demonstrations in the community.
The home gardens featured this year show greenhouse growing ideas, horizontal planting, spaces for reflection and relaxation and diversity in design, accessibility and creativity.
Each garden has a name that reflects its uniqueness.
Descriptions are by the Master Gardeners.
Sanger Sterling Garden
A whimsical woodland playground “down the road less traveled,” this garden has been a treasured place for its owners to visit on vacation and spend time dreaming about future plans.
For 10 years, the owners have lovingly tended the property making regular visits to host picnics and barbecues for family and friends. Then in 2010, they made the permanent move and began building a home with their own hands and adding a greenhouse and gardens galore.
This inviting property has hosted wedding parties, travelers and plein air artists who wish to enjoy the breathtaking views from this Happy Valley paradise.
With the recent addition of several new themed gardens, there are about 25 unique places to explore.
Life Spring Farm
The Haley Family came to McFarland Farm in 1989. The garden is set at the base of Burnt Mountain in the middle of a soil-rich, long-abandoned pasture.
Jean Haley created the foundation for this garden. Since 2018, Sandy Haley has been renovating and personalizing the garden space with the intention of creating a sacred and restorative place for reflection and access to nature.
The landscape is like an artistic canvas with textured brush strokes of dwarf pine, silky rhododendron leaves and delicate, lacy heavenly bamboo with the soul soothing trickle of water.
This peaceful setting invites reflection with many places to sit and decompress while enjoying panoramic views.
The verdant landscape includes over 50 plants and trees with a celebration of 30 different roses, ancient apple and pear trees, a berry garden and a unique greenhouse.
Bring a picnic lunch and spend some time in nature surrounded by this charming garden. Life Spring Farm will inspire you to transform your own garden into a peaceful refuge.
English Inspired Garden
When John and Judy Farnsworth moved to this area from Ohio 18 years ago, the site of their home was a builder’s lot with a tree, a couple of bushes and turf.
Over the years it has evolved into a beautiful garden with a unique mix of ornamental trees, shrubs and perennials. With the influence of many trips to England’s lovely gardens and garden books, the owners have transitioned their yard into an inviting experience.
The mature specimens include tanyosho pine, harlequin glorybower, witch hazel, silk tassel bush and bishop’s cap. Standing under the blended foliage, the understory plantings of salvias and penstemon combined with Japanese maples provides a private surround for their home.
Recycled treasures
Mixing a flat, grassy backyard with ingenuity, a flair for “rustic country” and a passion for plants, Cherie Higbee fashions an intriguing garden design with botanical and recycled treasures.
From conifers to sedums and Japanese maples embellishing the collection, variety and abundance abounds.
Creativity mingles with serendipity, whimsy, and the patina of well-loved objects to transform her garden beds into vignettes with a potting shed, playhouse, green-roofed outhouse and a Texaco station among other features.
It’s a visual feast and a one-of-a-kind Higbee original. A crowd favorite from the 2017 Petals and Pathways Tour, this garden has matured and has new plantings and surprises.
All in a small space
Form and function describe the transformation of this small lot. What began surrounded by grass and weeds has been developed into a high-yield, small orchard space.
Compact areas featuring shrubs, perennials and front yard green space provide splashes of color drawing attention to the home.
The backyard garden is host to raised vegetable beds, cane berry plants, an herb garden and colorful planters surrounding the patio.
Near the functional greenhouse is an area that underwent rehabilitation using the “lasagna approach” and provides for favorable bird watching — a tranquil distraction from the busy street outside of the fence.
Look for the newly planted, septic-safe groundcover.
This lovely small space is always a work in progress.
Maestros Montagna Viste
(Italian for “Majestic Mountain Views)
This property is a 2.5-acre contemporary homestead retreat which began as undeveloped land purchased in 2004 when Douglas-fir and hemlocks were planted along the west for privacy.
A ditch pump and well were then added for irrigation. Truckloads of manure from a local dairy farm and sawdust from a mill were brought in to amend the soil.
Construction for the small modern country home began in 2005 with the addition over the past 17 years of several outbuildings, including a studio, potting shed and pump house. These structures are connected by stone pathways and mixed borders of native plants such as salal and vine maple. The individual charm of each building, along with the clever landscaping, masks their functionality.
Throughout the property are various seating areas and patios, framed by sculpted metal gates, as well as a boulder fire pit sprinkled with succulents.
Mature specimen trees punctuate out of the spacious lawn and are defined by concrete block edging. Other plants to enjoy are the green fig, Pacific crab apple, peonies, quince and a grove of sycamore that shade the studio.
Nearby, notice the sculpture that adorns the north entrance.
