West Seattle, Washington
22 Tuesday
9:04 AM: Thanks to Ricki Brown for the photo – the West Seattle Junction Association flower baskets have arrived, and are going up all along the heart of The Junction this morning! This is the second year that The Junction offered the chance to “adopt” flower baskets as a fundraiser, and we learned recently from WSJA executive director Lora Swift that they have all been adopted – so you will again see plaques next to the baskets identifying the “adopters” (which include WSB). We’ll check back later for a look at the baskets once they’re in place.
ADDED 8:21 PM: Almost forgot to add the follow-up photo!
On this beautiful spring day, we welcome Jason Kibbey Design and Landscape as a new WSB sponsor. Here’s what they would like you to know:
Are you looking for an exterior space to match the detail of your home’s interior? Do you want to extend your living space out into the garden? Jason Kibbey Design and Landscape has distinguished itself in designing, installing and maintaining gardens that invite the visitor into their spaces and encourages them to linger, relax and unwind. 
Established in 2006 and based in West Seattle since 2014, Jason Kibbey Design and Landscape welcomes new homeowners and established West Seattleites as we continue to grow our roots deeper in the neighborhood. We work in gardens from Arbor Heights to Alki Beach.
With over 20 years of horticultural and design experience, we provide our clients with unique garden design that closely aligns with their desired aesthetic, style of home, and natural surroundings. Our work ranges from containers to mixed borders, estate gardens to urban oases. In addition to fine pruning, seasonal color updates, seasonal cleanups, garden restoration, garden coaching, design & installation, we also specialize in garden maintenance.
Once your new or restored garden is in place, you’ll want to keep it looking beautiful with regular maintenance. Our dedicated crew of gardeners will work closely with you up to and including garden coaching or will work completely independently. Trust in our knowledge and expertise to assess your garden at any time of the year, create a game plan, and implement it over time. Fine pruning techniques are used to whip neglected maples, rhododendrons, and other ornamentals into shape and keep them looking beautiful from season to season.
For those whose love of gardening exceeds the space that they have, let us tempt you with some lush and lovely custom containers. Check out the container portfolio on our website for just a few examples of containers that our clients love.
We at JKDL know that there are many landscaping companies out there and perhaps you’ve worked with one only to have been underwhelmed. Give us a call and let us show you what it means to work with a professional gardening company. Check us out on Instagram @jasonkibbeydesignandlandscape; look us up on Yelp, where we are a 5-star company; then head over to our website jasonkibbeydesign.com where you can see our portfolio and contact information. We look forward to meeting more of our West Seattle neighbors as we continue planting the seeds of great design.
We thank Jason Kibbey Landscape and Design for sponsoring independent, community-collaborative neighborhood news via WSB; find our current sponsor team listed in directory format here, and find info on joining the team by going here.
(WSB photo, taken this morning)
That’s the “Mosquito Fleet” mural on the east side of the city-landmark Campbell Building in the heart of The Junction – vandalized and fading, but now slated for some help. The West Seattle Garden Tour (coming up on June 24th) has announced its 2018 beneficiaries – the nonprofit efforts that will get grants from the tour’s proceeds – and one is the West Seattle Junction Association, with the money earmarked specifically for restoration of that mural. The other beneficiaries will be:
*ArtsWest (for its Theater Education Program)
*The Arboretum at South Seattle College (for a new message hub and kiosk)
*Highline SeaTac Botanical Garden (for the design and construction of a Victory Garden)
*Little Red Hen Project (for an artistic and functional trellis in its “Winter Feast Garden”)
*PlantAmnesty (to help fund its 10th annual Urban Forest Symposium)
*Seattle Chinese Garden on Puget Ridge (to enhance it with three varieties of camellias)
You’ll find more information about the beneficiaries are on the WSGT website. WSGT expects to raise more than $26,000 for the seven projects, through tour tickets (which you can buy online right now), the tour-day raffle, and sponsorship revenue.
(WSB photos)
The weekend weather improved just in time for one of the last spotlight events of the day – this afternoon’s planting party at Puget Ridge Edible Park (18th/Brandon – map).
Stu Hennessey (above center, standing) and other community members pitched the plan to Seattle Parks 8+ years ago, and the city bought the site with levy money. We reported on the site’s history back in 2011.
Today, volunteers were planting lettuce today; other greens planted earlier in the year are coming in. You can get involved both with tending PREP and sharing in the harvest – monthly work parties are always the second Sunday this time of year, 4-6 pm, so the next one is Sunday, May 13th – bring tools and seeds if you have them!
Another idea for your weekend, if you’re not out of town for spring break – one of West Seattle’s newest parks could use some help this Sunday. From Stu Hennessey:
Get an early start on Earth Week by attending the Puget Ridge Edible Park garden party this Sunday from 4-6 pm. We will be ready to plant a few beds of lettuces and other greens. We also will need some muscle to erect a grape trellis and move a table.
Peas, parsnips, and radishes are already up and doing well. This year we have over 40 planting beds so come help us bring local and nutritious food to Puget Ridge.
The park is at 5265 18th SW and has been years in the making.
Thanks to Krista for the photos and report on the garden party that just wrapped up at Arbor Heights Elementary:
Dream of teacher Marcia Ingerslev to see the new Arbor Heights Elementary school garden go in! Families, staff and community members were here working.
From left, teachers Marcia Ingerslev, Megan O’Neil, and Emma Cornwell:
AHES principal Christy Collins (below right) was there to dig in, too!:
Some backstory on the garden is here – including an explanation that the work was to include “creating a wheelchair accessible garden area, planting a sensory garden, transplanting shrubs, and weeding and mulching around garden beds.” (We’ve reported on Ms. Ingerslev’s garden projects in the past, long before AHES’s new school was built.)
(Images courtesy West Seattle Garden Tour)
Only three months until this year’s West Seattle Garden Tour – and today, the WSGT has just unveiled the art you’ll see on this year’s poster:
West Seattle Garden Tour announced today the artwork titled Garden Fantasia [photo above] by Edgewood artist Doreen Koch Allen [photo right] has been selected as the winner of this year’s annual art competition.
Ms. Allen is best known for her exuberant, color-infused paintings. Working primarily in watercolor and mixed media, inclusive of pastels and acrylics, her creations are often whimsical and playful. Ms. Allen’s deep love of nature and its offerings of detail, pattern, texture, and color are elements often found in her work. Frequently she listens to music while painting outdoors, surrounded by her extensive gardens, which will usually influence the direction of her artwork.
Her process for Garden Fantasia involved painting many successive layers to establish an interesting underpainting. From that point, she pulled out desired images through negative painting, bringing to the forefront the resulting positive shapes, blooms and botanical elements. The 40” high x 30” wide piece was painted in acrylics and uses a variety of found objects to imprint the canvas, replicating interesting textures found in nature.
Garden Fantasia will be featured on the 2018 Garden Tour’s official poster and ticket book. Ms. Allen will also receive a $500 cash prize. West Seattle Garden Tour will auction the artwork on the day of the tour, Sunday, June 24, 2018. Bids will be taken in one of the gardens from 9 am to 5 pm. Proceeds will benefit the year’s designated beneficiaries, which will be announced in early April.
Water feature FTW @westseattleblog West Seattle Nursery best in show! #nwfgs2018 pic.twitter.com/woCxYcTkeK
— Pacific Horticulture (@PacHort) February 8, 2018
That video tweet is just one of the tips we got about this big news – congratulations to West Seattle Nursery for winning multiple awards at the biggest gardening event of the year. From Marie McKinsey:
The Northwest Flower and Garden Festival is running now through Sunday at the Washington State Convention Center. We are happy to say that our display garden – Wabi Sabi: Embracing Flawed Beauty – was awarded the Founder’s Cup (best of show) award. We also won a Gold Medal, awards for Best Use of Horticulture, Best Use of Color and the Garden Design Magazine award. We are honored, happy and a bit overwhelmed!
You can read more about the display garden – including its plant list – on the WS Nursery website. For info about the Flower and Garden Festival downtown, go here.
A new addition to the RainWise-enhanced grounds of Peace Lutheran Church in Gatewood – a new permanent sign explaining the stormwater-diverting program and the congregation’s commitment to it. In the photo sent by Pastor Erik Kindem is congregation president Michael Truog, who is also chair of the church’s Green Team. So next time you walk or ride by 39th SW/SW Thistle, take a look! You can also take a look at this PDF showing what’s on the sign. (The church celebrated its RainWise improvements at an event we covered last year.)
Though winter hasn’t officially begun (solstice is next Thursday morning), we already have a reason to think summer: We’re halfway between this year’s West Seattle Garden Tour and next year’s WSGT. And tour organizers have launched the annual art competition:
West Seattle Garden Tour’s annual search for talented local artists is under way! Your creative interpretation of the theme “The Art of Gardening” could win you prominence on the 2018 garden tour poster and ticket book, a spot in the West Seattle Art Walk, and $500 in prize money! Artwork must be submitted online by January 26, 2018. Get all the details at westseattlegardentour.org/artwork-competition.
Since its inception in 1995, West Seattle Garden Tour (WSGT) has been one of the premier garden tours in the Northwest, as well as a fundraiser for local non-profits. WSGT is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organized by a group of dedicated volunteers who meet every month to produce the tour. Annually the WSGT donates approximately $25,000 to local beneficiaries promoting horticulture, education and the arts. The next tour is on Sunday, June 24, 2018.
2017’s winner was Sarah Mottaghinejad.
(Photo by David E. Perry)
So many people have observed that the fall colors this year are the most spectacular in memory. Even before this memorable season, one West Seattle garden was putting on such a great late-season show that it’s showcased in this month’s issue of Sunset magazine! Mark and Kathryn Daughhetee of Gatewood are the owners; Lisa Port is their landscape designer; and David E. Perry – also a West Seattleite – photographed their garden for the article, which you can see here. (Perry shared a bonus photo, which you see above, for us to publish with permission.) The Daughhetees chronicled the transformation of their garden with several updates on this personal website.
(Sanislo Elementary students, Judah Nellis and Charlie Kestler measuring an old garden bed during first Sanislo Sprouts event)
So much happening tomorrow, it’s a good thing the next round of possible snow isn’t supposed to arrive until late tomorrow night! We’ve already previewed several major events. Here’s another one that could use your help, happening tomorrow morning at Sanislo Elementary on Puget Ridge. From Rebecca Evans:
The idea was of a school garden, STEM outdoor-learning program, sparked through teacher suggestions in a survey we ran at the end of last year, and a few fellow Sanislo parents recently began seeking ways to make it a reality. Before we knew it, there was an outpouring of support for this idea. Our principal, district projects coordinator, Pathfinder’s Earth Project, and a non-profit organization, Washington Green Schools have partnered with our garden committee and the PTA to literally build us a garden in an afternoon. Washington Green Schools offers two “Days of Service” a year wherein they help make green projects, like school gardens, come to fruition with the help of sponsors like construction companies and corporate donors.
It’s going to be a beautiful space, designed to facilitate hands-on learning, science exploration and curiosity! We also want to use our garden space as an opportunity to explore gardening in a way the matches our school’s diversity by growing herbs and vegetables that resonate with our school’s families and global food culture. We hope to generate produce that can be shared at snack times and harvested by our student community. We are so excited for the endless possibilities this brings for the students of Sanislo.
Our Day of Service will be held on Saturday, November 4th from 9:00 am to 12 pm. This is a family-friendly, all-welcome, garden-building event. Children are encouraged to take part in building their school garden. There will be volunteers from local businesses, Abbott Construction, Washington Green Schools, Pathfinder, Trinity Church and Sanislo Elementary.
We are so fortunate to have support from local partners to create the space, and hope more join in over time so we can create sustainability for years to come.
Sanislo is at 1812 SW Myrtle.
Something new to see at the South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) Arboretum! The photos and announcement were sent by Arboretum volunteer Marie McKinsey:
Until last month, only a few aged markers identified the gardens and habitat of The Arboretum at South Seattle College. But with a generous grant from the West Seattle Garden Tour, five new interpretive signs are now installed.
The colorful new signage illustrates some of the Arboretum’s top features, with information on its history and decades of student-designed plantings. They mark the garden’s redwoods, the movement of the Arboretum’s wildlife, and the outstanding Coenosium Rock Garden, the Arboretum’s collection of rare and dwarf conifers.
David Olszyk, president of the American Conifer Society Western Region, said, “This is a beautiful melding of the obsessive collector and the artist. This place is truly a work of art.”
Terrie Shattuck, a former Arboretum intern and graduate of South’s Landscape Horticulture program, created graphics and text for the signage, which SeaReach Ltd of Oregon fabricated.
Members of the Arboretum’s advisory committee prepared the signage for installation by Brett Cureton. And the West Seattle Garden Tour’s gift made it all possible. The Arboretum at South is a public botanical garden destination, and people enjoy it all year — bringing the kids, walking the dog or just taking time out. Find the Arboretum at South Seattle College at the north edge of campus, 6000 16th Ave SW. It is open every day.
What better way to let your kids learn about bees and their vital role in our ecosystem, than by taking them to the West Seattle Bee Garden for Kids’ Day, presented by the Puget Sound Beekeepers Association? Above, you can watch the bees without getting too close. Earlier, it was story time:
Art activities are keeping other young visitors busy:
And the grownup visitors might be interested in buying honey to support the nonprofit PSBA:
The event’s on until 2 pm. The WS Bee Garden is on the north end of High Point Commons Park – scroll down this page for a map.
(WSB photo: Community Orchard steward Narcissa Nelson checking in on the crops)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
As all gardeners know, what you grow and how you grow it – whether from seed or start – will change. Not always according to plan.
So it has been for the Community Orchard of West Seattle, which is at a turning point. It’s going on eight years since the seed for COWS started to sprout.
And that’s the length of the first lease COWS has had for land at South Seattle College (WSB sponsor). It began on the campus’s south end, then moved to the northeast side.
The lease comes up in January, explains orchard steward Narcissa Nelson, and decisions need to be made.
One possibility that sprouted unexpectedly – though potentially, Narcissa says, serendipitously – is that the orchard could become a college project.
All along, one of the intentions for the eighth-of-an-acre plot has been that it would be involved with food security for the area. Eastern West Seattle is a known “food desert,” after all. Along with being a place for growing and harvesting food, the orchard has also been a teaching venue – including workshops on permaculture.
We talked with Narcissa this week at the orchard, within view of its espaliered apples (above) and raised beds growing everything from tomatoes to herbs to squash; earlier in the season, strawberries, collards, parsley, kale. She explained that the college has started a food-pantry program, with an interest in access to fresh food, and the need is increasing. This growing space could become part of that.
COWS already is part “giving garden,” with food harvested for and donated to the White Center Food Bank. Part of it also has been open for community “forage,” though its visibility is minimal – it’s between a fence and a forest, separated from the nearest public road – 16th SW – by SSC’s sprawling north parking lot.
What it really needs, Narcissa explains, is consistent support for maintenance. Student/school involvement could provide that.
In the early going, the thought was that COWS could become a large-scale food-production site for the community. Early involvement was strong, especially from Puget Ridge neighbors. But many of them, Narcissa has noticed, are now focused on growing their own gardens. “A lot of people who were inspired locally have moved on to their own thing, and it’s beautiful – we were a demonstration garden, hoping to inspire people.”
Another thing that has changed: The orchard at one point had a paid manager, funded by a grant. She moved away. What project funding there is, still stems from the original grant.
But the decisions to be made aren’t about money or a lack of it. They’re about the right future for the orchard/garden and its space, whether that’s as the Community Orchard of West Seattle or something else, Narcissa says.
It’s time, she says, for open discussion. “At one point, the community asked for this” (the orchard) – “a lot of people put work into it over the years. This is yours.”
So what do you think its future should be? For starters, you can weigh in via e-mail at info@fruitinwestseattle.org.
(Photo by Aubbie Beal)
If you had a ticket for this year’s West Seattle Garden Tour last month (WSB coverage here), you helped support six nonprofits, who officially received their share of a record-setting WSGT donation tonight. The announcement:
Tonight the West Seattle Garden Tour held their “Summer Finale” to thank the 2017 gardeners, sponsors, and committee members who produced the annual garden tour. The highlight of the evening was hearing from representatives of all six tour beneficiaries, who each spoke about how grants from the tour will fund their special projects.
This year WSGT donated the largest annual gift in the 23-year-old organization’s history — $26,800 was raised collectively for six beneficiaries. The non-profits to receive a grant in 2017 are City Fruit, Seattle Children’s PlayGarden, West Seattle Bee Garden, One Reel / Pianos in the Parks, Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association, and ArtsWest.
Since its inception in 1995, West Seattle Garden Tour has been one of the premier garden tours in the Northwest, as well as a fundraiser. In the last twenty-three years, the all-volunteer 501(c)(3) organization has donated $377,514 to local non-profits in support of their horticultural, educational, and artistic missions. The 2018 tour will be on Sunday, June 24.
In the photo atop this report, from left, are Jan Clow (West Seattle Garden Tour), Mathew Wright (ArtsWest), Chris Weber and Gaylynn Kiser (One Reel), Krista Conner (West Seattle Bee Garden), Sara Maxwell and Adana Protonentis (Seattle Children’s PlayGarden), Willard Brown (Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association), and Carrie Ferrence (City Fruit).
Another sign of summer! It’s the first weekly Farm Stand day at High Point Market Garden (32nd SW/SW Juneau). Every Wednesday, 4-7 pm, through September 27th, you can buy organic produce grown by local residents at the mini-farm that’s steps from the stand:
As announced by the city Department of Neighborhoods, which oversees the program, the farm stand (one of two in the city – the other is at NewHolly) accepts EBT cards and participates in Fresh Bucks, “which doubles consumers’ first $10 spent on the card.” Also, ROAR is at the stand again this year; it “sells produce to neighborhoods with limited access to healthy food.”
The West Seattle Garden Tour continues until 5 pm – a self-guided tour of 11 very different gardens – and we’ve just visited three (after first publishing a contributed report about Garden I in Arbor Heights). Above (sea holly) and below (lettuce), the Solstice P-Patch across from the north end of Lincoln Park is Garden H.
The P-Patch is also where we found Willard Brown from Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association and Yeggy Michael from Nature Consortium, talking to people about the ongoing Delridge Wetlands Project and upcoming Arts in Nature Festival (August 26-27).
Six of this year’s gardens are in the greater Beach Drive area; we stopped by waterfront garden E shortly before this afternoon’s low-low tide:
Complementing the blue sea were purple seas of ground cover, including thyme.
Inland, garden A is at a corner house between Admiral and The Junction, with pockets of both in-ground and in-planter color:
Three more hours to tour – check West Seattle Nursery (California/Brandon) for last-minute ticket-book sales. The WSGT is a nonprofit that raises money for other nonprofits – here are this year’s beneficiaries. Besides ticket sales, money is also raised by raffle-ticket sales at stops on the tour, so don’t miss those!
The photo and report are from Greg Olsen, owner of an Arbor Heights home that’s one of 11 sites comprising today’s West Seattle Garden Tour – on now, until 5 pm – and father of the gardener:
Designing and enjoying your garden when suffering from a disability can be challenging.
Avery Armstrong, age 42, has accomplished that goal.
See today during the West Seattle Garden Tour … [Garden #I in the ticket book]
Due to a near-fatal blood clot in her leg at age 35, while studying Landscape Architecture at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, Ms. Armstrong is now partially disabled, forced to walk with a cane.
Being a garden lover and being on her feet is a challenge. Her four-year-young, sustainable garden features accessibility and beauty.
Greg advises visiting before 3 pm – “before it gets too hot!” – though the tour continues until 5. We’ll be stopping by several gardens later today. If you didn’t pre-purchase a ticket book, which is required for admission (and includes addresses and maps), go to West Seattle Nursery (California/Brandon), or, until 11, Metropolitan Market (41st/42nd/Admiral; WSB sponsor).
(Photo by Nancy Wilcox)
That’s the “Corner Paradise,” one of 12 gardens you can visit this Sunday during the 2017 West Seattle Garden Tour. It’s a self-guided event, 9 am-5 pm on tour day, but you have to have a $25 ticket book, which includes the locations and maps, and you have to get it in advance, so you have a few more days to do that – here’s how and where. The tour is a fundraiser for local nonprofits – here’s who’s benefiting this year.
Sunday’s forecast is for hot weather, possibly into the 90s, so WSGT’s Aubbie Beal tells WSB, “We are encouraging people to be prepared for heat and sun (sunscreen, hats, water). We will sell water in a few (not all) gardens this year because of the heat, but people should always plan to carry their own.”
Thanks to Brian Presser from TouchTech Systems in The Junction for photos and first word that the West Seattle Junction Association‘s famed flower baskets are going up right now!
As we have been reporting, you’ll find something new by most baskets this year – a plaque for the local business/organization/individual that “adopted” the basket. (Including us!)
P.S. One good way to get a close-up look – go volunteer in The Junction tomorrow for Spring Clean! Not too late. Here’s how.
This year’s West Seattle Garden Tour is only six weeks away – 9 am-5 pm Sunday, June 25th. While the gardens grow, other preparations are under way – including presenting this year’s poster-art-contest winner with her $500 prize! Above, that’s artist Sarah Mottaghinejad with WSGT president Jan Clow, who made the presentation during West Seattle Art Walk this past Thursday night at West Seattle Windermere. We first told you in March about Sarah’s winning work The Sower, which will be auctioned at one of the gardens during this year’s WSGT.
P.S. Garden Tour tickets are on sale now – here’s how to get yours.
1:18 PM: Sunshine got you in the mood to grow something? Check out this year’s Westside Plant and Garden Art Fair, on until 3 pm today (and again 10 am-2 pm Sunday) at WSUU, 7141 California SW, in Gatewood. You can do more than shop – right now, until 2 pm, for one, Kevin Pinnell, “The Balloon Man,” is there to make balloon sculptures for kids. Live music until 2:30 pm, too.
ADDED SATURDAY EVENING: Thanks to Jonathan Rawle for the next two photos:
Above, WSUU member Eileen Duffy was showing her young friend Binegar what’s in the raffle prize baskets. Below left, plant volunteer Rose Sheppard offered advice on plant selection:
Again, you can check out the second day of the fair 10 am-2 pm Sunday.
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