The Bloedel Reserve

This past weekend I went to the Bloedel Reserve for a plant sale, and got to see the marvelous garden for free. The Reserve is a 150-acre public garden on Bainbridge Island where you can walk through natural woodlands and formal garden spaces, including a Japanese garden and a moss garden. You can also take a look inside the Bloedel's former estate home.

Pool and willow tree in front of the estate home

We arrived at about 11:00 a.m., parked, and then I shopped the sale, while my husband sat inside the home in the library, reading his Kindle. When I was finished shopping, I went for a long walk around the gardens on my own, while my husband waited at the car, reading.

There were lots of large clumps of sword ferns, all cut back to show the new growth.

 

The path went through a stand of birch trees.

I passed several silk tassel trees (Garrya elliptica), a Pacific Northwest native. It's a small, ungainly tree, but the flowers are unique and impressive.

 

It's on my wish list.

Everywhere I looked there were the most interesting shapes and textures in the trees.

Or old, dead stumps that had been taken over by other forms of life.

 

 

 

This many-eyed stump kind of gave me the creeps.

 

A little further along,  a pool of water formed by the stream flowing through the woodland.

 

The most amazing, huge Trilliums growing beside the pool.

 

More dancing fern fronds

A large patch of trout lilies

A mottled ginger (I think)

A little further along, a fallen log, covered with ferns and surrounded by skunk cabbage.

 

After the woodland garden came the Japanese garden, but I don't have any pictures to share (they're just not my thing)

But the moss garden followed, an amazing, large garden with moss covering everything, like lawn.

 

As I headed back to the car, I passed this robin doing the "Run and Toss" dance, looking for food under the moss.

 

These few pictures just do not do justice to this amazing garden. I took almost 150 photos, and I didn't even see all of it!