Dirt Therapy

The Sunny Bank I was very excited to get the opportunity to visit this garden because I've heard so much about it. It did not disappoint. The garden was created by Elisabeth Carey Miller and her husband Pendleton who purchased the house in 1948. Mrs. Miller was a self-taught gardener who used her artistic skills (she majored in Art History) to create the stunning garden which features a dense canopy of native conifers. She became a plant collector and tracked down unusual specimens and was known as a well-respected plantswoman in the horticultural community. The front entrance Visiting this garden is not exactly easy. It is situated in a restricted community and there is a limit to the number of visitors per year. You must make an appointment on the website at designated times or you can find a tour group like I did. The address isn't listed either although even if you had it, you would have to get past the security guard at the gate to the neighborhood. I think if I lived in ...

Our second day of garden touring included the Elizabeth Miller garden, the University of Washington Botanical Garden and Arboretum and the private garden of Shelagh Tucker. We toured the Miller garden first (I will post on it later) and then drove to a local park to have lunch. Along the way, we passed a house that I noticed out my window and I thought "Oh that looks like an interesting garden". It turned out that this was the next stop after we had lunch! Situated on a steep hillside, Shelagh Tucker's garden is a xeric garden in front and an English-style cottage garden in back. What fun this was! Here is the garden description - "It's possible that the three previous owners of this large city property were gardeners. However, almost nothing remains the same! The extensive front lawn was converted into a "Summer Dry Garden" in 2003. Plantings here include drought resistant plants from the Mediterranean, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia - all of...