Orcas Island Gardens on Tour

Five beautiful gardens at the Orcas Island Garden Club tours this weekend

The 2015 Annual Garden Tour Weekend is Saturday and Sunday June 27 and 28, from 11 a.m to 5 p.m.

The annual Garden Tour is the highlight of the Garden Club year. Visitors from all over the U.S. come to Orcas to take a self-guided tour of some of the most beautiful gardens in the San Juan Islands.

For 2015, we present five beautiful gardens:

Coffelt Farm is beloved for its beauty, historical significance, and as an example of island-scale agriculture. Covering 185 acres of pasture, woodland and wetland at the north end of Crow Valley, the farm sells grass-fed lamb and beef, pastured pork and chickens, organic vegetables and fruits, and eggs and wool products. Peek over the farmhouse fence at the cottage garden that Sidney Coffelt has nurtured over 30 years.

Michael Sterling’s 12-acre “Dream Ranch” is the creation of a man with boundless imagination and energy. This wonderfully varied garden includes a moon-gazing circle of 12-feet high grasses, a veggie garden, rows of berries, espaliered apples, a labyrinth, a bog garden, a propagation garden, an amphitheater, a gazebo, waterfalls, rocks, steams, and gargoyles.

Founded in 1927, the Indralaya Retreat Center draws visitors from around the world. As the Indralaya mission states, from the moment you pass through the gate, you are keenly aware you have entered “a sanctuary of natural beauty and peace celebrating the inter-connectedness of all forms of life.” The 78-acre retreat includes nearly a mile of shoreline, forests, an historical orchard, a labyrinth, and organic gardens including 30 raised beds of veggies, herbs, and flowers.

Jeffri Coleman’s and Michael Rivkin’s Crow Valley Pottery is an island treasure, dating to 1959 at the historic “Cabin” location. Their personal garden is filled with architectural salvage and treasures from travels around the world, including heritage perennials and shrubs, a fern grotto, a veggie and berry garden, a contemplative garden, and Jeffri’s cactus collection in the greenhouse. This garden never fails to delight.

Dick and Judy Evans 3 1/2 acre- garden surrounds a small cove near Obstruction Pass, with a perfectly framed view of Mt. Baker. Gravel paths wind through a woodland garden containing hundreds of rhododendrons, to emerge at a mixed border filled with hundreds of roses, accented by flowering trees and perennials. Be sure to peek in the greenhouse, the garden house, and the Winnie-the-Pooh house Judy built for her grandchildren.

Tickets online at Brown Paper Tickets; on-island at Darvill’s Bookstore, Driftwood Nursery, Crow Valley Pottery, and Smith and Speed Mercantile; and at the gardens during the tour.