SNOHOMISH — The garden is hidden on an unlikely mixed-use block of Maple Avenue. The tall green privet and holly hedge with its old garden gate is the only clue that something beautiful might be found behind it.
Oh, yes. Open the gate and color explodes.
Breathtaking reds, oranges and purples. Eye-catching foliage of magenta and chartreuse. Garden art, garden rooms and the Venetian flag.
Mark Henry’s garden is one of nine (some never open to the public before) on the Snohomish Garden Club’s 31st annual Garden Tour from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Besides enjoying an afternoon of pleasant wandering through gardens, participants can count on gathering lots of good ideas and inspiration at their own homes, said Fred Rowe, one of the tour organizers.
Proceeds from the annual tour are used to fund community projects including grants, scholarships and the hanging flower baskets in downtown Snohomish.
From the front walk entrance to Henry’s garden, one wends around to the left where delightful scented lilies grow from the middle of ubiquitous boxwood hedges, all planted from cuttings from the original boxwood on the property.
The clever thing about these two-sided small hedges is that potted plants can be placed in between and swapped out with the seasons. Tulips in the spring, lilies in the summer, etc. When a season is over, the flower pots are placed in the English greenhouse out back for use next year.
Boxwood also surrounds a lovely Little and Lewis fountain shaped like a Tuscan column and topped with an ornamental strawberry vine.
Henry and his gardener Nick Garaas rely on container gardening for seasonal changes. The garden sports 250 containers in 15 garden rooms. Lanterns and bird feeders also are found throughout the garden.
One room has a Roman ruins theme, another is an ode to Japan and yet another a French-style area with ball-shaped boxwood.
Over the years, since moving to Snohomish 31 years ago, Henry has removed some of the big trees in his garden to make way for other plants.
“Sometimes you just have to be brutal,” he said. “I wanted to try new things in this fabulous loamy soil. We’re so near the Pilchuck River.”
Henry, long a plant collector, has a beautiful variety of clematis, morning glory and blue hydrangeas on the north side of the house.
“Some were those I bought at the grocery story for inside and then planted them outside,” Henry said. “When people ask where those hydrangeas are from, I say they are ‘early Safeway.’ I don’t buy everything at fancy garden stores.”
He also has a potted herb garden near the back porch and the kitchen, several fruit trees, as well as a vegetable garden that grows on a wall.
A retired Lake Washington School District music teacher, Henry, 74, is a former member of the St. James Cathedral Choir in Seattle. The garden art includes some retired pipes from the cathedral’s organ, which add a special architectural feature.
Henry has toured Europe numerous times and incorporates ideas from Italy, England and France at every chance.
“I am still a teacher and I enjoy encouraging people to try new ideas in their own gardens,” he said.
On the day of the tour, Henry and Garaas will be on hand to answer questions.
“I have loved plants since I was a child,” Henry said. “And in this garden, every week is different.”
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @galefiege.
If you go
Tickets for the Snohomish Garden Club tour on Sunday afternoon, July 26, are $12 (children free) and available at Joyworks, Blanc &Rouge, McAuliffe’s Valley Nursery and McDaniel’s Do-It Center in Snohomish, along with the Machias Nursery, Molbak’s in Woodinville and Sunnyside Nursery in Marysville. Tickets also may be purchased at www.snohomishgardenclub.com or starting at 10:30 a.m. on tour day at the Snohomish Senior Center, 506 Fourth St., where sales of plants, raffle tickets and the event poster also will be available.
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