PORT ANGELES — Overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca at the east end of Port Angeles, set amidst boulders and daisies, is a garden featuring ligularia blooms, Pacific Coast myrtle and smokebush — plants adapted to windy and salty air.
The Clallam County Master Gardeners’ Earth-Friendly Garden Tour will showcase this garden, as well as nine other Port Angeles gardens, on Saturday, June 30.
The tours alternate annually between Port Angeles and Sequim.
“This year’s garden tour is different from previous ones,” Muriel Nesbitt, program coordinator of WSU’s Master Gardeners of Clallam County.
“In the past, we have looked for gardens to include based on their gorgeousness.”
Added Willie Burer, chairman of the 2012 garden tour: “They were beautiful but not something the normal human being could achieve.
“One of the main missions of Master Gardeners is to educate the public about best gardening practices, and we wanted to show beauty that others could achieve.
“We decided to focus on earth-friendly practices,” Burer said.
Four public and six private gardens will be featured.
Public gardens
The public garden at Peninsula College, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd., will have guided tours at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
The tours, led by Joe Holtrop, district manager of the Clallam Conservation District, will showcase the alternative landscape of a recently constructed portion of the campus between Maier Hall and the D Building.
Two of the gardens are under the Port Angeles Victory Garden umbrella.
The Fifth Street community garden, which is across the street from City Hall, and the Vineyard Community Garden, 415 S. Peabody St., both offer free public classes in organic gardening and opportunities to rent more than 50 garden plots.
Habitat for Humanity’s new rain garden in the Maloney Heights subdivision on West 16th Street is also on the tour.
It not only processes stormwater from the surrounding area, but also contains more than 2,500 plants donated by local nurseries, the Master Gardener Foundation of Clallam County and the Port Angeles Garden Club.
Private gardens
The six private gardens on the tour range from a large arid garden to a lush small plot.
“Once a person buys a ticket for the tour, the names and addresses of the gardens are revealed,” Burer said.
In addition to the bluff garden with plants for salty air, there is a garden closer to town tucked into a corner cul-de-sac with a verdant landscape covered with compost from various sources, including the city of Port Angeles’ “Garden Glory.”
An educational presentation is planned here on vermicomposting — worm bins — at 11 a.m., noon, 1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Another stop on the tour embodies a respect for nature and a love of gardening, Master Gardeners said.
A garden once overwhelmed by water running next to the house has been transformed into a terraced rock garden with two patios and an Asian-inspired waterfall.
On a tightly packed city lot is a home that uses organic methods, crop rotation and beneficial flowers to grow a large variety of annual vegetables and edible perennials.
A 20-foot-long arbor supports thornless blackberries and kiwis that provide shade for a native plant border.
No two gardens are alike on this tour.
Up the hill is a garden devoted to repurposing yard art along with vintage garden tools.
The front yard is filled with vivid colors and textures while the backyard features a naturalized fish pond surrounded by native plants and a massive Norway “Crimson King” maple tree.
Like a private park
Another garden is like a private park within the city.
Here are Western red cedars, Douglas firs, Japanese maples and a large madrona.
Visitors can walk along a rock bridge and hear the sound of bubbling water.
All 10 gardens will display their own “earth-friendly” sustainable garden practices that can be applied to all gardens.
“We hope tour attendees are inspired by what gardeners in Port Angeles are able to do in their gardens and take some ideas home to use in their own gardens,” Burer said.
The major sponsors of this year’s tours are the city of Port Angeles’ Solid Waste Division, the Clallam Conservation District and Clallam County Environmental Health Services.
For more information about the tour or the Master Gardener program, phone Nesbitt at 360-565-2679.
