The Washington State University Master Gardeners in Grays Harbor and Pacific Counties will hold the 2017 garden tour: “Visions of Paradise,” Saturday, July 15th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Deep in the heart of summer, visit cooling vistas and peaceful gardens in Menlo and the North River area of Pacific County. The organizers say the diverse gardens display the range of beauty of the area while offering participants a chance to learn about gardening adaptations for a maritime climate.
Included on the five-garden tour is a cottage garden built on the banks of the Willapa River. See a garden with drought-tolerant perennials and deer-resistant plants. Another garden offers a grand view of the North River and colorful container plantings rest on the porch. At a gazebo find a selection of plants for sale.
View a garden that has been designed to evoke memories of the owners’ trip to Paris using old-style pavers, clean lines and stone flower beds.
Stroll through a third garden developed inexpensively, using young and donated plants and by propagating from existing plants. In the backyard, vegetables are in raised beds under hoop houses, while aronia berry, currants, and gooseberries are raised in the “hügelkultur” bed, and the gardeners’ colorful chickens.
See a garden oasis that is a work of art formed from acres of raw land. The owner planted over a thousand trees, and created a one-acre lake with artfully placed benches, gazebo and garden sculpture. The garden has an extensive French-drain system, which feeds an unlined one-acre pond with water from the hillside and house gutters. To the right of the entrance is a two and a half acre garden the owner calls “The Park.”
Tickets are $12
and available in Aberdeen at Marshall’s Garden &Pet; Hoquiam, at Harbor Drug &Gifts; Montesano’s Valu Drug; the Elma Variety Store; Grayland’s Rose Cottage; Ocean Shores: Galway Bay/Celtic Imports and Mermaid Cove; Raymond: Dennis Company and Everyone’s Video &More; South Bend: Elixir Café and Floral Design.
Tickets include a map with directions to each of the sites, and directional signs on streets will lead to the gardens.
Proceeds from the tour benefit the WSU Grays Harbor and Pacific County Master Gardener Program for community-education projects.
