Welcome! Here are some samples of what lies in wait for Gardeners On The Go:

from "A Plant Collector's Expedition"

On a visit a few years ago to one of the most well-known and oft-visited gardens in Britain, I was fortunate enough to meet and engage the owner in conversation. Upon learning that I was from Washington state her very enthusiastic response was simply, "Oh! Are you anywhere near Heronswood?!" The national (and international) notoriety of this nursery and garden is indeed phenomenal. On seven-and-a-half-acres ensconced within a woodland setting on the North Kitsap Peninsula, the gardens and nursery of Dan Hinkley and his partner Robert Jones have captured the imaginations of passionate plant lovers from far and wide.

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If you garden in a shady site, then this nursery will win your heart as you cross the lawn and find spread before you waves of lush, textural hosta foliage interplanted with sophisticated companions who likewise relish the dappled light of a woodland setting. Jack Hirsch and Gary Lindheimer are well known nationally, and internationally, among hosta "maniacs" for their overwhelming collection (their 1998 catalog lists over 700 varieties).

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Here you'll find a smashing Dan Hinkley/Robert Jones courtyard garden where you can settle in to study the innovative menu amid striking plant combinations. Restaurateur Judith Weinstock has created a brilliant marriage of a warm and friendly café with a sophisticated and talented kitchen.

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from "Rainy Day Seattle"

a rain forest exploration indoors
a stylish garden shop on Queen Anne Hill
a warm-up lunch of Indian or Thai cuisine
Seattle's most intriguing seed source
festive Pike Place Market
a gardening paraphernalia Mecca

With an average of 150 days of measurable rain in Seattle in a typical year, this could well prove to be the most pupular tour in the book! Even a dyed-in-the-wool gardener may pray for such days to relish the satisfaction that the garden watering is someone else's chore for the day and to enjoy the excuse to nip into haunts often reserved for inclement weather! Blessed with numerous diversions, the Gardener On The Go revels in opportunities to expand botanical horizons, stock up on inspiration, plot next season's garden and replace worn and weary tools. Gardeners get out, even in the rain!

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...The mega-selection of seeds is awe-inspiring! It may be the largest anywhere in the region. Many packets come from abroad, with text in their own language (Japanese, Chinese, French), so one must turn to the photogrpahic and iconic clues. This is just one more example of how this shop is imbued with the magical spirit of its [Pike Place] Market locale.

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...A rainy day begs for a special lunch and the atmosphere in this beautifully converted house is cheery and inviting. The food is authentic southern Italian and reliably wonderful.

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from "Pastoral Skagit Valley"

world renowned commercial tulip fields
an English style stroll garden
rustic barns and romantic farmhouses
shops featuring elegant and eclectic garden ornaments
an award-winning "destination" nursery

For decades this valley has drawn many thousands of visitors each spring to meander the country backroads soaking in vast carpets of brilliantly-hued tulips, commercial bulb fields, planted in wide swaths from here to the horizon. Where flowers don't grace the landscape, the more subtle foliage of a multitude of crops clothes the countryside, punctuated by picturesque wooden barns, sturdy farmhouses and evocative country churches. It is no surprise that Gardeners on the Go find an affinity for those who make their home in this rich agrarian valley.

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...This is a terrific shop to find a wild conglomeration of cast sandstone garden ornaments, from stately statues to the ever popular piglets. Karen Hackett will invite you into the dazzling living room populated with architectural and garden statuary: pedestals for your parlor fern and pots for your patio petunias, urns and urchins, classical, historical, ornamental English, contemporary and whimsical. Something for every sensibility, and especially for Northwest gardens, summer and winter alike!

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...White Swan Bed & Breakfast: 1388 Moore Road, Conway, WA 98273; (360) 445-2292; $$, open year round. When I first met Peter Goldfarb he told me that he was noted for his gardens, four friendly dogs and his chocolate chip cookies. Now this is a man after my own heart! I suggest you reserve one of the three heavenly rooms in this 1890's Queen Anne farmhouse, then wander among the voluptuous gardens with a kindred spirit (Peter is most generous in filling rooms with lucious bouquets of flowers) or nestle by the parlor fire, gardening book in hand.

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from "Ornamenting the Garden"

She makes a trip to France annually to search the village markets in pursuit of distinctive pieces, often looks to Asia for hand crafted and unusual granite lanterns and basins and has recently added Italy to her shopping itinerary. One of the great finds from Thailand is a line of graceful and sturdy furniture woven from water hyacinth. The lines of the pieces are sensuous and inviting (you'll never consider the brittle stiffness of wicker once you see this miraculous material).

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Their 6,000- square-foot showroom is packed with fountains, urns, pedestals, pots and statuary. So much so that it spills out into an adjacent outdoor gallery offering larger pieces for more ambitious sites – your country estate or the palace courtyard, perhaps.

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I have suggested this exciting urban site as a picnic destination because it is within walking distance of Dirty Jane's, offers a setting surrounded with flowers and trees, a noisy waterfall, tables with umbrellas, lots of other places to comfortably settle in and a number of near-by shops providing an excellent array of take-out sandwiches, bagels, Bento Boxes, wraps, salads, smoothies, lattes and juices. On Thursdays, June-September there is a free noontime classical concert.

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from "Tropicals & Exotics"

the call of the jungle: hardy bananas and palms
lunch along the shores of Commencement Bay
Victorian-style Glass Conservatory
irresistible and extensive collection of house plants

Whether a passing flirtation or an enduring passion, Northwest gardens are taking on bold, tropical accents with the inclusion of Musa Basjoo (a banana hardy enough to survive zone 7 winters), Hedychium 'Tara' (a peachy-toned ginger) and Trachycarpus fortunei (a windmill palm willing to forgive even an arctic blast). Is it tongue in cheek or a serious case of zonal denial? Is it an expression of humor or the urge to punctuate our soft grey-green environment with splashy color and outlandish foliage that inspires this dynamic and exciting botanical expression? For those who would be artists in this medium there are plant sources and inspirational resources readily at hand. For those content to simply bask in the aura of the tropics, let's go!

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...My introduction to the first destination on this tour, Jungle Fever (a nursery specializing in hardy and nearly hardy exotics for the Northwest garden) was a visit to the Cochran Garden on Bainbridge Island. This exuberant, convivial and expertly maintained private garden accomplishes a masterful presentation of a large plant palette, which highlights the liberal use of so-called tropical exotics (Gunnera, cannas, bananas, palms, voodoo lilies and outsized ornamental grasses). I felt I really must visit the nursery mentioned as Linda's local source, so I chose one of the most brutal days in mid-January, with temperatures hovering around 20F and a stiff breeze blowing off Commencement Bay. I felt this would be the ultimate test of fire (ice?) to prove the claims made about this daring nursery. I was stunned and impressed with their display of audacious plants, even under the most demanding of circumstances!