Bellevue Botanical Garden and Olympic Sculpture Park

I really enjoyed the beautifully planted perennial garden at the Bellevue Botanical Garden. I feel like we must have hit it at the peak bloom time but maybe it is that lovely for much of the year!

Uh oh! Shoo!

There were quiet parts to the garden too.

Next we were off to the Olympic Sculpture Park near downtown Seattle. It was a warm sunny day and the park was filled with people enjoying the sun and sculptures and the amazing view!

This building recreated the forest understory with a huge fallen trunk acting as a nurse log to lots of sprouting plants.

This is a shot I got as we were driving down the highway. Mount Rainier, I think. I definitely would enjoy living in Seattle for all the wonderful views everywhere!

Epping and Lane Gardens, Seattle

On day two of the Garden Bloggers Fling we blessed/cursed with sunny skies. I know I should be glad it wasn't pouring rain but it did make it more difficult to photograph gardens. So please bear with the harsh light in the images for this post.

The first garden we stopped at was the Epping Garden. Topping a hill and with stunning views this garden was an interesting combination of showy open party spaces and quiet introspective corners.

I loved the combination of Holodiscus discolor or "Ocean Spray" with the blue foliage of the Blue Atlas Cedar. And check out the beautiful hand-wrought iron railings that looked like trunks and roots.

They had some nice benches and fountains.

I love how our driver brought his camera the second day and joined in the fun.

There were lots of lovely vignettes.

And some bootylicious ones.

There were a couple of plants I didn't know. Let me know if you know what these two are:

We got to enjoy lunch at the Lane Garden, a lovely garden with lots of open space as well as paths to wander with surprises around every corner.

We had lunch on the patio, made of the most colorfully-stained concrete I've ever seen.

They had a charming ruin.

Lots of neat treats throughout the garden:

Thank you to our wonderful hosts! We appreciate getting to view your gardens!