The Berkshire Botanical Garden is offering an exclusive, members-only opportunity to come with us on a six-day, six-night tour of one of the country’s horticultural havens: The Pacific Northwest. Based at a small boutique hotel in downtown Seattle near the world-famous Pike Place Market and the city’s restaurants noted for their farm-to-table cooking, this tour, limited to 24 people, will take us through some of the region’s most impressive private and public gardens. The package, which costs $2495 per person (based on double occupancy. single supplement is $729) and includes lodging, transportation in Seattle, breakfast every day, five lunches, and two dinners, is available on a first-come, first-served basis to members interested in a first rate tour of this horticultural gem of a region. (Flights to and from Seattle are not included). The group will be lead by Greg Graves, a leading horticulturist in the region known for both his plant knowledge and the gardens of the region. This event is at capacity, but we are accepting names for a waiting list. Please call 413-298-3926, extension 10, or email Elisabeth Cary at ecary@berkshirebotanical.org for more information.
Schedule (subject to confirmation by hosts):
Tuesday, June 21: Seattle. Individual arrivals. Check in to the Mayflower Park Hotel for a six-night stay. The Mayflower is an historic, European-style boutique hotel, centrally located in the heart of downtown Seattle within walking distance to Pike Place Market, the Waterfront, museums, shops and numerous restaurants. The hotel was built in 1927 and has been lovingly restored. Meet the other guests tonight for a welcome drink and dinner at the hotel.
Wednesday, June 22: Seattle. After a leisurely breakfast, we will be treated to a private tour with Richard Hartlage, the designer of the Chihuly Garden. The centerpiece of Chihuly Garden and Glass is the Glasshouse. A 40-foot tall, glass and steel structure covering 4,500 square feet of light-filled space, the Glasshouse is the result of Chihuly’s lifelong appreciation for conservatories. The design of the Glasshouse draws inspiration from two of his favorite buildings: Sainte-Chapelle in Paris and the Crystal Palace in London. The Glasshouse has an expansive 100-ft long sculpture in a palette of reds, oranges, yellows and amber.
Next we will have a private guided Food and Cultural tour of the world renowned Pikes Place Market. We will be treated to several tastings including crab cakes, chowder, and cheese after watching the famous “fish throwing Pike Place Fish Boys”.
Our final stop today is the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden in the Seattle Highlands, where we will sip a glass of wine on the terrace as we enjoy the intensive horticultural displays. The garden continues in the excellent tradition of gardening that Mrs. Miller insisted upon with plantings providing interest that delights the eye all year long. As the seasons change, the highlights of one lead seamlessly into the next. The complex plantings and select plant materials are intended to encourage others to look beyond the ordinary and to challenge their skills as gardeners. Although a public garden, this property is limited to just 500 visitors per year, due to its location in the Highlands.
Thursday, June 23: Vashon Island. Today we travel by ferry to Vashon Island. We begin with a magical, modern woodland garden. The owner loves ferns and traditional stumperies made popular by Prince Charles at Highgrove. The garden has a tunnel entry and grottos full of tree stumps with the wild romanticism and dense, mossy qualities of a rain forest. This is a quintessentially Northwest woodland garden with a dramatic twist. Woodland plants grow between roots and along the edges of the paths. Tree ferns are the garden’s glory, growing up to form a lacy understory beneath the taller trees. In winter months, the owner wraps them snugly to protect them from winter cold. We have also been invited to visit another fabulous Vashon garden. The owner spent many hours learning about plants—taking classes, going to conferences, and volunteering at the Miller Garden. His knowledge, combined with the assistance of experts and artists contributed to the creation of an outstanding Japanese garden. Beds around the house contain hostas, mountain laurels, mayapples, saxifrages, ligularias, and bold textures. A woodland gazebo has a stone gathering space circled by “posts” of towering Douglas firs. Plants are in tiers: Japanese maples and snowflake viburnums stretch over ground cover collections of candlelabra primroses, and unusual ferns, alliums, astrantias, and lewisias, accented with golden Japanese forest grass. The owners sense of color, such as the coral colors of the gazebo chairs and artwork placed throughout the garden by his wife, adds to the garden’s style. The drier Upper Garden on the hillside is planted with moor grasses, sedums, and four varieties of manzanita. A pond, stream, and waterfall are visible through a Moon Gate.
Our last garden of the day is 3 acres and 15 years old, tended and created by owners. The garden is done in the Northwest Formal style. This consists of the relaxed style of an English perennial garden with the more formal structure of boxwood elements. The garden includes a long rose pergola, ponds, A knot garden, cascading water features, a parterre, a stone ruin and a newly installed earthwork. The garden has been featured in many publications and calendars. We will enjoy lunch in the garden.
Friday, June 24: Bainbridge Island Today we’ll have a very special visit to a garden planted mostly after 2005: the garden of plant explorer Dan Hinkley and architect Robert Jones at Windcliff. It is amazing to see how this garden, created by the men who created Heronswood Nursery, has matured. The garden evolved through an intuitive process of planting what felt right for the place. The results are stunning. The site has breathtaking view towards Mount Rainier and the Seattle city skyline. The garden lingers towards the sea through organic mounds of plantings and small intimate paths where you can see a range of horticultural curiosities, including many plants collected by Dan himself.
Our next garden encompasses 2 acres, and was started 23 years ago. It was on the Bainbridge in Bloom garden tour in 2001. The borders are a mixture of perennials, shrubs and trees, along with a vegetable garden (complete with a grain auger fountain), berry area, chicken coop and greenhouse made of vintage windows.
This afternoon we will enjoy a private tour of the famed Bloedel Reserve in Bainbridge Island. Bloedel is an internationally renowned public garden and forest preserve. The founder’s vision was “to provide refreshment and tranquility in the presence of natural beauty.” The Reserve’s 150 acres are a unique blend of natural woodlands and beautifully landscaped gardens, including a Japanese Garden, a Moss Garden, a Reflection Pool and the Bloedels’ former estate home.
Saturday, June 25: Eastside. After breakfast we depart for the Eastside to visit a lovely private garden. The owner, a former apartment dweller, has made a place to pursue her passion. She began by planting rhododendrons and azaleas, leaving in some pasture for views of fences and grazing horses. Timbered pergolas tie the house to the garden. There is a weeping sequoia, massive copper beech and spreading Cedrus atlanticas which provides scale, shelter and structure for the house and garden. Little creeks appeared all over the property, and rain came down the hillside directly toward the house. Curbing the length of the driveway solved the runoff problem, directing the water away from the house. She hired someone to dig a series of three large ponds, lined with natural blue clay.
Our next garden owner says “Over 25 years of intense planting and furnishing “garden rooms” with unique hardscape and art has created a one of a kind large garden. A wide variety of growing conditions (wet boggy clay and dry gravel, shade and brilliant sun) allows unusual plants to coexist with bird friendly natives. Beautiful vistas and picture perfect combinations of texture and color echoes surround a custom entertainment terrace with fire trough.” We have been invited to have lunch in the garden.
Bellevue Botanic Garden, our next stop is an urban refuge, encompassing 53-acres of cultivated gardens, restored woodlands, and natural wetlands. The living collections showcase plants that thrive in the Pacific Northwest. The Interactive Garden lets visitors easily find information about plants and gardening using personal mobile devices or computers. Bellevue’s demonstration of good garden design and horticulture techniques inspires visitors to create their own beautiful, healthy gardens. Our last stop is a large property encompassing Woodlands leading down to a private beach on Lake Washington. The property includes a miniature castle garden room, charming chicken house, pirate playhouse, and grotto made from salvaged pieces from a Seattle theater. Cobbled paths lead to statues, groupings of huge stones, bridges and a vegetable garden.
Sunday, June 26: South End. Today our first stop is a visit to a private garden which is a Northwest treasure filled with unusual plants. The owner calls the garden an assault of three dimensions, depth and color.
Next we travel to Kubota Garden where we’ll have a private tour by the head gardener. The garden is twenty acres of hills and valleys, featuring streams, waterfalls, ponds, rock outcroppings and an exceptionally rich and mature collection of plant material. This unique urban refuge took over sixty years of vision, effort and commitment by the Kubota family. Fujitaro Kubota was an emigrant from the Japanese Island of Shikoku. He established the Kubota Gardening Company in 1923. Self-taught as a gardener, he wanted to display the beauty of the Northwest in a Japanese manner. He designed and installed gardens throughout the Seattle area. The Japanese Garden at the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island is an example of his work. Chase Garden sits on a bluff overlooking the Puyallup River Valley featuring spectacular views of Mount Rainier. It is one of the Garden Conservancy preservation projects noted for its exceptional beauty and originality. The garden was the lifework of Emmott and Ione Chase, who devoted more than forty years to building and refining the landscape to create one of the finest examples of mid-twentieth century Pacific Northwest design. They created Japanese-inspired ponds and bridges surrounding the house and a colorful meadow filled with drifts of rock garden plants inspired by wildflower fields on Mount Rainier.
The Chases planted native shrubs and carpets of trillium, erythronium, and vanilla leaf in naturalistic woodlands of second-growth Douglas fir trees. Their artful, modernist landscape truly captures the unique spirit of the place and has been called one of the ten most beautiful gardens in America.
We end the day at Old Goat Farm where Greg and his partner Gary are hosting us for our farewell farm to table dinner and a tour. Quite by accident, they discovered this beautiful little place while plant shopping with a good friend. It is located just outside Orting, WA, tucked below Mt. Rainier. They fell in love with the place, and a few months later they became the owners. Their goal is to offer well-grown garden plants that are showcased in their garden. They are plant enthusiasts so there is usually something that will appeal to everyone. We will enjoy dinner al fresco in the garden.
Monday, June 27: Independent departures
Our tour guide, Greg Graves, has a degree in Ornamental Horticulture and Landscape Design and is a well-known member of the Seattle gardening community. Greg was the head gardener at The Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden in Seattle for 13 years, and is past president of the Northwest Horticultural Society and of The Pacific Horticulture Society. He is on the perennial committee of Great Plant Picks, a program which trials perennials for ther suitability to being grown in the Pacific Northwest. He has led tours abroad and locally for Pacific Horticulture, has advised the Garden Conservancy on its creation of a summer interest garden at Chase Garden, and is the owner of Old Goat Farm, a nursery in Orting, Washington.
