BY DAVID WELTON
June 24, 2015
The 20th Whidbey Island Garden Tour this past weekend showcased five properties from Clinton to Coupeville, demonstrating techniques of color mixing, art in the garden and planting to complement architecture, water and environmental conservation for the benefit of our community.
Featured gardens were:
A Tale of Two Gardens, Liz Axford and Patrick Johnson
The three buildings on this estate are shadowed by the forest and face Puget Sound. Upper level balcony living spaces, and large windows bring the outdoors in. Shade loving plants give way to the sunny undeveloped lot across the street, affording a prairie garden of mixed grasses and multi-hued flowers and preserve the water view.
Westside Garden, Louise Abbott and Dave Earp
Facing Puget Sound and the Olympics, this garden has been in the family for fifty years. The owners are artists and art connoisseurs, and have incorporated their varied collection of art into the landscape. Sculptures by Sue Taves and Georgia Gerber, to name but a few, are surrounded by native orchids, grasses and conifers. Dave gazes through a green lens, for a unique inverted, backwards and distorted view of his garden. Openings in a steel giraffe sillouette allow the colors of vegetation to shine through.
Re Imagined Garden, Meg McClung
Located on Race Lagoon, this landscape runs from the forest to the water’s edge. The owner has decorated her property with whimsical statues and artifacts to memorialize her family. Chicken statues do not awaken the neighbors and are easy to maintain.
Twisted Willows, Fran and Jack Spicer
Secret Gardens linked by tunnels and passages through the vegetation allow for reflection and areas for grandchildren and dragonflies to frolic.
June Garden, June and Richard Davis
June Davis, experienced horticulturist and former sales manager at Skagit Gardens in Mt Vernon has preserved a stately Madrone tree, and added a variety of Japanese Maples and flowers to provide year round color. A birdfeeder urn graced by clay sculptures of their dogs attracts yellow grosbeaks, scissortails and finches to further enliven their garden.
To read more about the WIGT, read this feature from earlier this month by WLM writer Barbara Moran here.
David Welton is a retired physician whose award-winning photographs have been widely exhibited ands are frequently seen in the print and online pages of Whidbey Life Magazine.
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