Snohomish Garden Tour

Parklike garden in harmony with nature

Story by Yoshiaki Nohara

Herald Writer

Photos by Barton Glasser

Herald Photographer

SNOHOMISH – Birds start singing in the nearby woods about 5 a.m. telling Sue and Torben Ferslov-Jensen that morning has arrived.

About 70 kinds of birds – nuthatches, woodpeckers and Stellar’s jays this time of the year – visit their 20-acre property every year, Torben Ferslov-Jensen said.

The couple, who are retired and have adult children, seem to have company year-round in the garden.

Squirrels skitter up the trees and peek out from the branches. Butterflies alight on colorful flowers – yellow, pink, deep red and purple – all over the garden. In November and December, salmon come up to spawn in the creek that runs through the backyard.

The Ferslov-Jensen garden is truly in harmony with nature.

“We like to make it like a park,” Sue Ferslov-Jensen, 68, said of the garden.

As the smell of the evergreens wafts in the air in the morning, the Ferslov-Jensens walk up stone steps, go through a pergola built last year and find a comfort in their surroundings. Old cedar, hemlock and maple trees stand side by side with well-trimmed bushes and shrubs.

Visitors will have a chance to stroll through this peaceful place on Sunday. It’s one of eight inviting landscapes featured in the Snohomish Garden Club’s 20th annual Garden Tour.

Sue Ferslov-Jensen, a longtime participant in the annual tour, said the couple became serious about gardening about five years ago after she retired.

She always wanted to preserve what already existed in their land, she said.

Torben Ferslov-Jensen, 75, built a small pond as a turnaround in the middle of the driveway using stones he gathered on the property. Waterlilies open to greet the sun as goldfish glitter in the shallow waters.

The land used to be a farmland and woods. It was logged in 1903 and still has some old-growth stumps. The couple has incorporated one of the stumps into the backyard’s decor.

The Ferslov-Jensens work hard to keep the manmade garden in harmony with the environment. They carry buckets around as they are constantly picking weeds and clearing debris. They used so many buckets that they finally named their place Bucket Park.

“We have a bucket here, we have a bucket there and we have a bucket everywhere,” Torben Ferslov-Jensen said with a laugh.

Gardening gives him peace of mind as well as exercise, he said. Sue Ferslov-Jensen said her husband seems to use his skills as a former Boeing engineer as he gardens.

“When you are married to an engineer, everything is tidy and organized,” she said.

As the couple completes their early morning rounds, they are greeted by bovine neighbors looking over the back fence. The cows nod and the Ferslov-Jensens smile back.

The waterlilies have opened up and butterfly bushes are waiting for swallowtails to perch on them. Nuthatches, woodpeckers and Stellar’s jays keep singing in the woods.

Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@ heraldnet.com.

Garden Tour

The Snohomish Garden Club will present its 20th annual Garden Tour from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday

Eight Snohomish area gardens will be open and the Garden Tour Market at Second Street and Pine Avenue.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased the day of the tour at the Carnegie Building, 105 Cedar Ave. Tickets may also be purchased in advance at the following locations: Sunnyside Nursery in Marysville, Molbak’s in Woodinville and Kusler’s Pharmacy, Joyworks, Sun Song, McDaniel’s Do-It Center and Brambleberry Thicket in Snohomish.

For more information, call 360-568-2526 or 360-563-2774 or go online at www.ci.snohomish.wa.us.