The 2014 West Seattle Garden tour features ten locations that combine beautiful garden design and outdoor living with community service. The event runs from 9am to 5pm. Tickets are $18 and the ticket book must be presented for entry to each garden.
This year the gardens are:
Curbal Tapestry
Aficionados of Craftsman architecture will appreciate the 100 year old house with the 10 year old addition keeping the old charm and style precisely intact. Slip back into the 21st Century as you step through the purple gate into the shaded, whimsical side yard.
Asian Spirits
Expansive and steep, the beauty of this inspiring hillside belies the vision, energy and tenacity of the gardener who preserved the beautiful big leaf maples and cedars, added native species, removed a hillside of blackberries and built a winding stairway from the house to the street below. It took 10 years.
Cote d’Azur
Inspired by the warm beaches and rugged terrain of the south of France, the 2 diverse gardens of this lovely home were designed to embrace the Mediterranean experience.
A Secret Garden
On a secluded, tree-lined dead-end street is a garden gem representing many years of planning and attention to detail.
Joy in Small Things
This small 1928 cottage setting is a gardener’s jewel.
Serenity in Nature
For 40 years the owners have maintained the integrity of this serene garden. Approximately 60% of the plantings are original to the 1949 design by Oliver Ester, protégé to Fredrick Olmsted.
Natural Inspiration
One of the most popular gardens ever in our 20 year history is back again for those that missed the opportunity.
Small Spaces, Big Moments
Plant connoisseurs will appreciate this century old cottage garden in a secluded neighborhood north of Lincoln Park. A series of outdoor “rooms” flow together, maximizing entertainment and garden space as the homeowners take advantage of several micro climates.
Tranquil Outdoor Retreat
Year round attractiveness is achieved in this Northwest style garden with Asian overtones using plants that are both low-maintenance and easy to obtain.
The Barton Street Community Garden
Abundance! This word defines the Barton Street P-Patch, and a stroll through this garden will reveal why. Get up close and personal as we highlight one of this year's West Seattle Garden Tour beneficiaries.
The 2014 beneficiaries include:
ArtsWest
ArtsWest Playhouse and Gallery is a non-profit arts organization located in West Seattle with programs in theater, visual art and education. Our Gallery, which exhibits and sells the work of local artists, is open and free to the public 5 days a week. Our Playhouse presents 5 main stage professional musicals/plays annually, employing local and regional theater talent at a Washington State standard hourly wage. Our Theater Education Program presents 3 musicals/performances annually, one for each segment of our nationally recognized education program. In 2012, ArtsWest was named one of ten National Theatre Company Grantees by the American Theatre Wing (founders of the Tony Awards). This award is given to only 10 emerging regional theaters annually. Next year we celebrate our 16th Anniversary as a cultural and economic driver for the Alaska Junction, and the communities of West Seattle.
Barton Street Community Garden
Neighbors in the West Seattle area noticed an vacant lot on the corner of Barton Ave. SW and 34th Ave SW. This was a prime spot to create open green space! West Seattle had been designated as a priority area for new community garden development, so the neighborhood has been working with the Department of Neighborhoods, the Parks and Green Spaces Levy, and the broader community to make this garden a reality.
Highline Botanical Garden Foundation
The Highline SeaTac Botanical Garden was begun by community volunteers who wanted to create a public garden while at the same time preserving an award-winning English cottage style garden which was designed and planted by Elda Behm, a SeaTac resident living in the shadow of what would become the Third Runway at SeaTac Airport. This all occurred in the closing months of 1999 and the beginning months of 2000 when over 200 volunteers moved all of her plants, trees and shrubs to North SeaTac Park where the Garden has stood for the past 13 years.
Plant Amnesty Urban Forestry Symposium
The Urban Forest Symposium is an annual one-day conference developed by PlantAmnesty and the University of Washington Botanic Garden, held at the Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle. Each conference has a different focus and reaches audiences from very diverse backgrounds. The 2014 Symposium emphasizes the link between Trees and Climate Change, representing key climate change issues affecting the landscapes and communities of the Puget Sound region.
Seattle Children's Play Garden
Liz Bullard, Executive Director and the heart and soul of the PlayGarden, has worked with hundreds of children with challenges such as autism, cerebral palsy, and hearing or vision impairments. Watching as these children and and their parents work day by day to help their children succeed. Days filled with appointments, therapies and doctors. A schedule so intense, most adults would buckle under, and at the end of the day, these hard working kids deserve an opportunity to play. Children with special needs don't have the same choices as typically developing kids. Children with cerebral palsy cannot access play equipment, even if the park itself is accessible. Children with autism don't heed common dangers in parks that are not fenced. Parents of children with special needs often leave an outing in a park discouraged and exhausted. What can be pure pleasure for most kids can be a nightmare for families with children with special needs. The PlayGarden is a place where children of all abilities can come and play, simply play outdoors with their friends and siblings in spaces that are accommodating, nurturing, and encourage their potential.
West Seattle Bee Garden
You can come anytime, watch our bees fly in and out and read up on all the educational facts about these amazing creatures. Sit down on our benches and take in the wonderful open space of the park. Smell the flowers!
Come visit our bees in West Seattle in the High Point Commons Park at Graham & 31st Street SW! The Bee Garden is on the Northwest corner of the High Point Commons Park, located next to the pea patch, playground, little hillside, old trees, basketball court, amphitheater and Neighborhood House.
West Seattle HS PTSA "Steps at Stevens"
The Steps at Stevens project creates a safe pedestrian route and strengthens connections for West Seattle High School and the surrounding community. Stairs, an accessible pathway, and a walkway east to the school building promote walking and bicycling. Landscape, signage and art enhance West Seattle High School entrances. This picturesque "path way" will honor the legacy of Frederick Law Olmsted. Steps at Stevens, at 3000 California Avenue SW (and SW Stevens Street), adjacent to Hiawatha Playfield, will improve our community.
West Seattle Tool Library
Combine a book library with a community orchestra, then add chainsaws. The West Seattle Tool Library provides community access to a wide variety of tools, training, and sustainable resources.
Utilizing our diverse collection of over 1,500 tools, our membership has successfully grown entire community orchards, built mini-greenhouses, and even just mowed their own lawn. From basic tasks to brilliant innovations, the projects accomplished by the West Seattle Tool Library’s 780+ members have made all the tools in the collection proud to be working again.
