Dunn Garden and The Center for Urban Horticulture

The afternoon of the first day was spent at the Dunn Garden and the Center for Urban Horticulture.

The Dunn Gardens were created by the Dunn family with design layout by the Olmsted brothers. The three residences are connected by trails of woodlands. The garden around the caretakers' house showed the most detail with collections of unusual plants and many lovely specimens in pots.

There were some interesting details in the paving. Not sure if this was thought up by the Dunn family or the Olmsted brothers, although I tend to think it was a Dunn creation. It doesn't seem very Olmsted-y.

Check out this cool lath house in the background:

Some impressive container plants:

I like these angled ledges of rock that make little tray gardens:

This is a bad photo but I just had to show this clever way of supporting tall allium stems. I love they way they grow through the boxwood and look like antennae.

The woodlands and woodland edges had lovely scenes too:

Next we were on to the Center for Urban Horticulture where Riz Reyes showed us around.

The grounds were lovely.

The adjoining Elisabeth C. Miller Library with its rows and rows of horticultural books was drool-worthy. I wish I lived closer to it, I'd never need to buy another gardening book again. They had everything!

The Birrell and Tucker Gardens of Seattle

Our first stop on the Garden Blogger's Seattle Fling, these two gardens were a joy to explore. Side by side neighbors, I entered the Birrell garden first and enjoyed the textural front plantings.

But the backyard vegetable and cutting garden felt like the true heart and soul of the place. Shimmering with happy bees and butterflies and bursting with vibrant color, undaunted by the vivid blue shed, but rather playing happily off the color, the plantings in this space felt joyous indeed.

How could any vegetables picked in this garden not taste good?

But not only did the Birrells have a great working garden they also had a wonderful space for play. Outside the blue garden room was the perfect lawn for croquet or just lounging around.

I loved the details in the garden too - like the airstream birdhouse and the beautiful metal gates.

I walked next door to check out the Tucker Garden. The dry(ish) gravel garden had me feeling like I was back home. It's funny how I can be so jealous of Seattle folks with so much rain, yet there seems to be some folks that prefer the dry Mediterranean climate. Well, this was a beautiful gravel garden. The plantings softened the stone nicely and cheerfully added color here and there to the soft palate.

The grays and tans gave way to a more cottage-y feel in the backyard.

Thank you so much to the Birrell and Tucker families for letting us visit your beautiful gardens. I'm envious of the extended time you get to spend in them!