Beyond the Cascadia Garden

Lake Washington at dawn in January 2012 from the lower deck.

Mt Rainier at dawn in January 2010.  You can also see Mt Baker from the garden.  But it appears more rarely at twice the distance.  A two-mountain day is an unusual & exciting occasion.

The concrete rabbit in January 2012.  This was given to me by my old boyfriend Bob in 1995.  My mother called it Bobby Bunny & sometimes Robert Rabbit.  He's moving with me to the new garden.  Snow was uncommon in the garden, rarely more than an inch or two & not every winter.

Sailboats on Lake Washington, with the Cascade Mountains on the horizon, in March 2009 from the upper deck.  This is the view directly below the garden.  The Mt Baker Rowing & Sailing Center is located at Stan Sayres Park here on the lake shore.

The lower path through the stony slope in May 2010


Weigela florida 'Rubidor' in May 2010.  I once saw this advertised as a plant for people with no taste.

The lower path in May 2010 

Beach scene in August 2008.  I'm taking the rocks, driftwood, shells & starfish with me to recreate it in the new garden.

Dark clouds in October 2008

 

MiMi in November 2011. She went to live with my parents.

The house was sold on March 29, 2013.  I left the Cascadia Garden on April 5.  I wasn't very sorry to leave it when it was still cold & wet, with few flowers to make it brighter.  But I was sorry to miss the exuberant month of May. I worked on this garden for 21 years, starting with a box of bulbs in 1992.  This was my first garden, an experiment with some unsatisfactory results.  I did not have enough motivation to fix them all.  It was a gaudy place with foliage in shades of gold, yellow, gray & blue & packed with flowers of all colors. Some called it a cottage garden.  But I thought there were too many shrubs & trees for that.  Parts of it were more like nature, with many native plants.  A garden tourist called it an urban oasis.  Every Easter Sunday my friends & family hunted for eggs.  People toured the garden every year.  Birds & squirrels made nests in the trees.  The tits' nests hung like damp, green socks.  Hummingbirds fed in the flowers.  Raccoons passed through on nocturnal missions.  Cats napped under the bushes. Countless invertebrates lived out their lives.  I never ceased to find new species of insects.  I feel wistful for this garden I didn't really want to keep.