Monday, 23 June 2014
Hardy Plant Study Weekend, sponsored by the Northwest Perennial Alliance
After a frustrating misadventure between Normandy Park and Georgetown, with an important small bridge over the Duwamish Waterway being closed for construction, with no detour sign pointing anywhere useful, and going in circles (“Recalculating! Recalculating!” cried our New Zealand accented GPS guide, because she neither knew or believed the bridge was closed), we finally asked for directions and got out of the mess. Sometimes one can drive far enough from a detour to have the navigator find a new route, but that method did not work for us; I almost gave up and said “Let’s just head south, to home” (on the horrible freeway!); I am so glad we preservered.
Georgetown was all I hoped it would be: a neighbourhood that I would be very happy to live in. I have read that it gets lots of railway noise from a couple of train tracks, and it has frequent airplanes flying low overhead to Boeing Field. That might have kept the property values lower, although certainly not low enough for us to move back to the city (should we ever so desire).

Seattle neighbourhoods; Phinney Ridge was where I lived till moving to the beach in December 1992. Bellevue, where the Hardy Plant weekend took place, is to the right across Lake Washington.
First Georgetown garden: Reiquam garden
This description had me curious and excited all weekend, looking forward to the Monday tour.
I pictured a slice of ground between two buildings reminiscent of the tiny sliver of garden next to the old Café Septieme in Seattle’s Belltown neighbourhood (just north of downtown). The garden turned out to be more residential than I had expected, and to my sorrow:
We had heard a rumour while at the Normandy Park gardens earlier in the day that a garden was closed. This one was, it turned out, perhaps the best one to not be able to enter because we could see some of it from the street.

I poked my camera lens through the fence to photograph the front garden. (The advantage of a tiny pocket camera!) There was a raised round pool (metal, I think) to my right, hidden behind some greenery.
We wish the Reiquams the best for the emergency that must have arisen, and we enjoyed every bit that we could see of the garden.
interlude
We strolled down to the other end of the block for the next garden.
Wiley garden
I had NO unsureness about the colours and combination in the little city garden we toured next. I found it so refreshing to be in a tiny garden in a working class style house.
I love alleys. My house in the Phinney Ridge neighbourhood had an alley behind it and I used to take alley walks throughout the neighbourhoods. Alleys are rare, perhaps non existent on the Long Beach Peninsula. I miss alley walks.

The silhouette is of a hen who had run up the back stairs and gone into the kitchen to drink from a bowl on the floor!
interlude
We drove off (could have walked) to the next stop, passing this cute little grocery store that would be so handy to walk to.

Could it be for sale?!? No, this turned out to be for a tiny house tucked back in the deep shade next door.
“Fabulous condo alternative. Next to the Castle in Georgetown you will find this remarkable carriage house. Cute & cozy. Set off the street and very private. Across the way, you will find the community pea patch and “The Hat and Boots”, local icons. Come live in this hip neighborhood near restaurants & services. ” See more (while it lasts) at: http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6422-Carleton-Ave-S-Seattle-WA-98108/48822160_zpid/
When I learned that the tower house is called the Georgetown Castle, I found some articles about it here, here, and a tour of the inside here.
Oxbow Park (Hat and Boots Park)
While not one of the tour gardens, the Hat and Boots was a suggested stop, and I was pleased to find a P Patch (allotment garden) there.
from Seattle Parks and Recreation: In 1953, Seattle artist Lewis Nasmyth was hired to “rustle up” a design for a western-style gas station in Georgetown. Featuring a 44-ft. wide cowboy hat and 22-ft. high boots, the Hat n’ Boots opened the next year to a stampede of customers. In fact, for a time it was the biggest selling station in the state. Legend has it even Elvis dropped by when he was in town during the World’s Fair in ’62. But in the early 60’s, a brand new interstate, I-5, started diverting traffic away from the station. By the late 80’s it pretty much looked like trail’s end for the Hat n’ Boots. That’s when some Georgetown residents saddled up to rescue the soul of their community. “The Hat n’ Boots is as important to Georgetown as the Golden Gate Bridge is to San Francisco,” says Allan Phillips, former director of the Georgetown Community Council. “If the Hat n’ Boots were ever to be gone from Georgetown, it would be like losing our soul.”

the back of a bench made of recycled plastic: “378 milk jugs were recycled to make this nice place to sit”
Love the gardens your exploring here. Such pretty houses. Love the idea of a neighbourhood garden too.
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Loved, loved, LOVED the Youngblood garden! The foliage and textures – yum! Thanks for sharing such great pics!
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I liked it very much.
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