Thursday June 1, 2023 Whatcom Museum • 121 Prospect Street 7:30pm • Doors open at 7 Tickets at the door: $7 Members • $12 General Join or renew online here »
Creating WOW in the garden is achieved in many different ways and Riz will show you how! Contrasting colors, textures, leaf sizes and plant forms are part of the art of making a stunning combination. Riz’s diverse planting style is influenced by his work in floral design and showcases the remarkable plant palette of the Pacific Northwest. He will use examples of his creative and captivating work to give us ideas for our own high impact plant combinations.
An early curiosity about fruits and flowers helped turn Riz Reyes, originally from the Philippines, into an award winning garden designer and avid plantsman. We enjoyed his lively presentation in Bellingham a few years ago and we visited him at McMenamin’s Anderson School in Bothel where he created astounding public gardens. Now we’re excited to hear about his new job as assistant director at Heronswood and his recently published children’s book Grow: A Family Guide to Plants and How to Grow Them (for sale at the lecture).
When this garden was on the 2014 tour, a huge heartnut tree and a 30+ year-old Dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) dominated and shaded much of the front yard. They became troublesome to the cement driveway and sidewalks and have been removed. What a gamechanger for the front garden! Now there’s an extensive spring bulb display and sun loving perennials fill the beds. Barbara, a lover of color, is responsible for the bright flowers you see throughout the garden; so now the front yard features blooming annuals and an array of Echinacea hybrids. Mark favors the Sombrero series in deeply saturated red and orange.
A long-time collector of hardy fuchsias, Mark enjoys perennials which bloom in later summer and has paired them with hosta, hydrangea, rogersia and clematis in the front yard. In the sunniest borders Gaura lindheimeri ‘Whirling Butterflies’, among other gaura, dance around brightly colored wave petunias and calibrachoa which fill in as the tulip border fades.
Just after purchasing the property in the early 1980’s a large load of rock was brought in from the Skagit quarry to create three separate rockeries. They are still a dominant feature that gives this place a distinct and unique character. A dense greenbelt planted in the very back 16 years ago, adds another defining feature to the garden.
Mark, an avid gardener since his youth, has an exceptional plant collection that he continues to refine and shape. Look for maples including Acer griseum (paper bark maple), seedlings from the dawn redwood and Pinus thunbergia ‘Thunderhead’ (Japanese pine). Rogersia, hosta, Japanese painted ferns and Hakonechloa macra (Japanese forest grass), and Cardiocrinum giganteum (giant Himalayan lilies) are in the back. Eryngium ‘Big Blue’ and Salvia greggii ‘Nuevo Leon’ are planted on the south side of the house. There’s gunnera, a species rhododendron, and cannas on the north side.
Finally, the parking strip, a dry and exposed site, features Achillea Coronation gold paired with Eryngium Big Blue and Echinacea purpurea.
Take your time to look carefully at all plants in this collection, you may find something that you just have to have!
16 years ago, inspired by his grandfather, who became a gardener after being held in an internment camp during WWII, Glenn began to work on this garden. You will delight in the journey of exploring the exceptional place he has created. As you enter the garden through the imposing red arbor, be sure to ring the prosperity bell to bring good fortune. You’ll hear rushing water that comes from a pondless stream with a working waterwheel. Stroll further down the path to walk across a small wooden bridge and you will have reached the area that is affectionately called, “Birdtopia.” It is home to many whimsical stone birds and 45 multicolor birdhouses that hang on a single cedar tree. Continue your journey on the winding path to the koi pond nestled in the hillside. This 2,700-gallon pond is inhabited by 10 colorful (and hungry) koi. A traditional Japanese torii gate and bridge are positioned near two waterfalls and it’s all surrounded by an abundance of azaleas, rhododendrons, grasses, ferns, and dwarf bamboo.
To add bursts of color and reflected light to his garden, Glenn has placed a delightful mix of glass art throughout. From fused glass poppies and anemones to colorful monarch butterflies, your eye is drawn around the garden. All the pieces were designed and created by local PNW artists. Make sure to check out the elaborate golden chain tree above the torii gate—this small tree is adorned with over 30 fused glass flowers.
On the bottom tier of the garden, you will find a bench next to a small greenhouse that overlooks the Stimpson Family Nature Reserve. Sit down, take a deep breath, and enjoy the sounds and serenity of this special place.
Artist Vendors
Stephanie Burgess at Garden 6
Stephanie is a nationally acclaimed artist whose work speaks to love, hope, peace and kindness. The canvas for her art is wood, which is then burned and painted. The creation of a simple message, along with the intent of peace, community, family and friendship is at the heart of Burgess’s unique and contemporary style of art. Her work is playful and simple, yet carries a profound message. www.paintedpeace.com
“People seem to have a visible reaction of happiness when they see my art. It is simple, almost childlike and I think in our complex world today, it soothes the soul”
Sheri E. Ten Eyck at Garden 6
Sheri seeks ways to capture beauty in glass by tapping into her lifelong connection to the natural world. Her gallery, Wandering Oaks Fine Arts Gallery and Glass Studio has a mission of bringing more art to the Bellingham area. The motto of the gallery is that the greatest art is art that promotes self-discovery. https://wanderingoaksgallery.com
Jennifer Hays at Garden 6
Jennifer works with fused glass to explore her vision of nature through pieces for the garden and home.
“Every area has beauty, whether the sunflowers of Kansas, the lush greenery of Florida, the maple leaves in Vermont, or the Puget Sound and cascade mountains of Washington. Expressing these beautiful moments in glass gives me immense joy.”
Bellingham artist Wendee Archer’s work includes mixed media originals, prints and cards. Her love of whimsy and using bold and bright colors is expressed in her art style. Along with the exploration of new places, people and cultures, the beauty of Whatcom County and the joy of her grandchildren inspire her work.
Thursday May 4, 2023 Whatcom Museum • 121 Prospect Street 7:30pm • Doors open at 7 Tickets at the door: $7 Members • $12 General Join or renew online here »
Color is the most obvious element of a garden and an essential tool in the creation of a pleasing landscape. Expanding our ability to recognize the generous multiplicity of color informs our creativity across a variety of disciplines, in and out of the garden—color has the power to move us. Lorene Edwards Forkner is an author and speaker whose work centers on exploring the wonders of the natural world. In this inspiring lecture Lorene will explore the nature of color, perception, distinguishing nuance, and introduce the mindful benefits of using color to sustain concentration and focus.
Lorene is a warm and engaging speaker who uses imagery and language to tell garden/life stories that inspire and inform. She writes a weekly gardening column for Pacific NW Magazine in The Seattle Times. Her latest book, Color In and Out of the Garden (Abrams, 2022) will be for sale at our lecture.
Wednesday October 9, 2019 Whatcom Museum • 121 Prospect Street 7:30pm • Doors open at 7 Tickets at the door: $7 Members • $12 General Join or renew online here »
Professional garden designer and curator, writer and teacher Daniel Mount will share the ins and outs of bulb selection, planting and maintenance. From the classics like tulips and daffodils to the oddities like fritillarias, brodiaeas, and corydalis, you will learn how to have the ephemeral beauty of these gems in your garden. Daniel Mount hails from a long line of wandering gardeners, nurserymen and farmers. He is frequent contributor to horticultural publications and has received awards from The Garden Writers Association for best magazine writing. His garden designs have appeared in Fine Gardening and Sunset Magazines. Daniel lives on a small farm in the Snoqualmie River Valley where he enjoys growing organic vegetables and fruits, and experimenting with flood-tolerant plants.
“Brews & Bouquets: Creating a Seasonal Arrangement”
Wednesday May 29, 2019
Mountain Room at Boundary Bay
1107 Railroad Avenue • Bellingham
7:30pm • Doors open at 7
Members Only • Preregistration Required
Materials fee $30 at the door. Join or renew online here »
Last years Brews & Bouquets was a big hit so we’re doing it again!
We’ve asked our very own Kelly Swordmaker to facilitate this workshop and we’ll have the same setup as last year. Kelly is one of our WHS board members and a florist extraordinaire from A Lot of Flowers in Bellingham. In this hands-on workshop she will guide us in creating our own seasonal fall bouquet. We are locally sourcing all of the flowers that we can find and we ask you check your garden and help with flowers, greens, grasses and other seasonal plant material. Last year some of you brought fabulous plant material to share!
The Mountain Room can be entered from the alley off of Maple Street. Parking for Boundary Bay is on Railroad, Maple or in the Depot Market Square area.
PREREGISTER! Seating is limited and we need to know amount of flowers to purchase. Please register no later than Sept. 18 by emailing your name and phone number to info@whatcomhortsociety.org, or call/text Pam at 360-319-6593.
BRING WITH YOU: clippers, gloves, vase, and box to carry your arrangement home in. Vase should be approx. 8” high by 7” diameter. We will provide chicken wire and floral tape.
[/vc_column_text][vc_masonry_media_grid element_width=”3″ gap=”15″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1684881619466-0530b419-2c5b-10″ include=”1388,1389,1390,1391,1395,1393,1394,1392,1396″][vc_column_text]Leaving behind the garden surrounding their old Victorian house in 2015, Amy and David moved just 3 miles away, but the new set of features they adopted proved to be very different. No fence to keep unwanted animals out, more sun exposure, not a speck of good soil, excellent machine access for bringing in materials to build a new garden, and an exciting pile the size of a motorhome of local boulders and special large rocks that Amy had been stockpiling for years. The first year they did nothing but observe. The second year they installed hardscaping, sculpting an interesting topography on top of a flat shelf of native sandstone. Over the past 18 months, the bulk of what you see now was planted. Striving to create a garden requiring less maintenance than her last one, Amy focused more on trees and shrubs than perennials, but being an incurable collector of unusual things, she can only take this so far. This year rabbits have been their nemesis, shearing down to the ground many unique, rare lilies that were moved from the old house, and they’ve eaten what should be colorful and lush Golden Ruby and Concorde Barberry plants, thorns and all. Amy and David hope you’ll enjoy seeing this new incarnation of their garden and, who knows, they might just be serving rabbit stew![/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=”All Gardens” color=”primary” align=”center” link=”url:%2Fcategory%2Fgarden-tour%2F|||”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
[/vc_column_text][vc_masonry_media_grid element_width=”3″ gap=”15″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1684881669223-4b2834d5-8549-3″ include=”1377,1378,1379,1380,1381,1382,1383,1384,1385″][vc_column_text]This attractive city garden that can be viewed almost entirely from the road was designed and built only 7 months ago in the fall of 2018. Debby and Barry’s wish list for their new garden on multiple small sections of empty land around the perimeter of their new triplex was: a low maintenance garden with no irrigation, plant choices that don’t appeal to the entourage of deer who treat Bellingham gardens as their personal salad bar, a selection of shrubs, trees, perennials, and bulbs that are varied in texture and color, a focus on 4 season interest, the inclusion of many blooming and fragrant plants, and a Northwest modern look to the garden with a Japanese vibe to it. They also wanted a patio space for the first-floor tenants, the incorporation of some garden art from their old house, and an uber low maintenance south side of the property with steps to access a large planter box where they could grow vegetables. In the end, all of the boxes were checked off and a beautiful garden came to fruition. Careful attention to detail and the wish list ensured that the most was made of every inch of this unusual property which will continue to fill in and thrive with each passing year.[/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=”All Gardens” color=”primary” align=”center” link=”url:%2Fcategory%2Fgarden-tour%2F|||”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
