Delightful Dahlias
I love dahlias, but have never grown them in my garden. Digging up tubers to overwinter seems a bit too much for me, but perhaps someday I’ll grow a few. When my mom and I were in Seattle, we went to Volunteer Park to visit the conservatory. While there we noticed that right across the street there was a dahlia exhibit maintained by the Seattle Dahlia Society.
There were dahlias of all colors, shapes, and sizes, each one nicely labeled. We really enjoyed looking at each and ever one.
Here in Maine we’re lucky enough to have the Endless Summer dahlia garden featuring tons of beauties, at least that’s what I hear. I didn’t get over to see them this summer, but it’s on my “must see” list for next year. A local friend was just telling me how wonderful it was. Perhaps I’ll visit next year and get a dahlia of my very own. If you’re looking for dahlias, consider ordering from Endless Summer and support a small business!
Do you grow dahlias? Do you have a favorite?
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Friday Favorite: Potting Sheds
I’ve always dreamed of having a proper potting shed, instead most of my potting is done on the kitchen table or kneeling on the ground outside. Some day I will have a potting shed, but that probably won’t be for a few more years. Until then I’ll enjoy potting sheds that I see out and about. Like this beauty spotted on one of my garden tours this summer.
Lovely isn’t it? I also took photos of everyones work and compost areas, you know those areas of the garden we all have but are less than perfect. I actually love seeing them and I’ll post photos of those later.
Do you have a dedicated potting ares?
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Hidden Gems
I always like to go on vacation to a place where I can cook my own food, or I can find good food and great coffee out and about. Yesterday we headed over to Volunteer Park and stopped at Victrola Coffee on the way, when I saw they had single origin espresso I knew it would be a good cup of coffee, and it didn’t disappoint. I tend to find most coffee shops have coffee that’s far too “bright” for my liking, I tend to prefer a dark chocolatey roast. Since Mr Chiots and I roast our own coffee, we try single origin espressos quite often, though they often lack the complexity of a blend, they are quite good in their own right.
We decided to stop at St Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral since the conservatory didn’t open for a few minutes and it was recommended to us. I need to read up a little more on this building because it’s really unique and interesting.
After that we went to Volunteer Park to see the conservatory, which is under construction, but the corpse flower and half of the building was still open.
The dahlia garden was right across the street and was fabulous, I love that the dahlia society takes the time to plants and label so many wonderful varieties in one place.
We then stumbled upon a gem that has never been mentioned to me, at least not that I remember. I have visited Seattle many times and have read lots of blog posts on things to do and see while there. The water tower observatory was never mentioned, which is rather odd since it was wonderful. There is pretty much a 360 degree view, you can see the city, Mt Rainier, and the Cascades. There are a few steps to climb, but not enough to keep it off of anyone’s list of places to go while in the city.
Since we were still in the neighborhood we decided to go Southern for lunch at the Wandering Goose. A delicious salad with eggs, smoked tomatoes, buttermilk dressing and fried chicken was the perfect meal to fuel our next garden visit.
We hopping in the car and headed up to the Dunn Gardens, which was night, very historic. I can only imagine how beautiful they are in spring when the azaleas and rhododendrons are in bloom.
After getting stuck in traffic for and hour, we decided to call it a day and head back to our bungalow to eat the double chocolate cake we got to go from the restaurant. We were both tired and wanted to rest up for our trip down to see Mt Rainier today.
Have you ever discovered hidden gems while traveling?
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Chihuly Garden and Glass
Yesterday my mom and I took the water taxi from West Seattle to downtown and visited all the usual Seattle sights: Pike Place market, the Space Needle, etc. We didn’t go to the original Starbucks as I don’t like their coffee, but the French bakery in the market is one of my favorite places. Ever since our first trip to Seattle way back in 1998 (our honeymoon), I’ve been visiting Le Panier for good coffee and palmiers whenever I am in town.
We decided to ride the monorail over to the Seattle center to visit the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit and we were not disappointed.
I wasn’t expecting it to be as spectacular as it was, perhaps, like most things, the photos just don’t do it justice. I’d seen photos and heard it was great, but I wasn’t prepared for the vivid colors and the intricacy of the work.
After debating whether or not we’d enjoy it, I’m certainly glad we decided to go. It’s not a cheap tour, but it’s beautiful and worth the expense. I love glass art in the garden and hope to someday have some of my own.
What’s your favorite kind of garden art?
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Heronswood Tour
I’m happy to announce that I was able to schedule a tour of Heronswood on September 9th at 10 am. This garden has been on my bucket list for a LONG time. Last time I was in Seattle it was up for sale and not open to the public, which was a BIG disappointment. When I checked about visiting this fall I found out that the minimum number of people for the tour is 10 (with a $10/person charge). I went ahead and scheduled the tour, if I don’t end up finding a group of 10 I’ll be paying the tour fee by myself, which is completely worth it. It would be nice to tour with the garden with friends, so if you live in the Seattle area and would like to join us let me know.
I’ve seen lots of photos of this garden and it looks amazing. I can’t wait to see it in person.
Do you have any gardens on your must visit bucket list?
