SNOHOMISH — The home of Peggy and Richard Simpson is surrounded by tall Douglas firs, providing privacy and solitude from the busy Highway 9 just a half mile away.
Behind these living sentinels on their 1½ acre property is a garden they’ve developed over 34 years.
It includes a koi pond, a wandering patio with flowering plants such as lilies, hydrangeas, hostas, and a perennial garden with a stone pathway and bench.
Nearby is a small greenhouse and raised planter boxes where they grow peas, green beans, zucchini, pumpkins, lettuce, parsley and cilantro.
“We have a strawberry bed, and we have raspberries and grow blueberries,” Peggy Simpson said.
Their garden is one of seven visitors will be able to tour as part of the 33rd annual Snohomish Garden Tour on July 29.
“There’s a real variety,” said Patty Warren, chairwoman of the Snohomish Garden Club’s tour. “We have smaller city gardens, and we’ve got some quite large, rural gardens.”
A second event, a plant sale, is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. the day of the tour at the Snohomish Senior Center, 506 Fourth St. Day-of tickets for the tour may also be purchased at that time.
Proceeds from the tour and plant sale go toward scholarships for high school seniors, to pay for the hanging flower baskets in downtown Snohomish, and to support horticulture-related community projects, Warren said.
Simpson grew up in a family that gardened. She and her husband began gardening when they bought their first house near Thrasher’s Corner.
Their gardening experience at their current home now covers more than three decades. “We feel like we sort of know what we’re doing now,” she said.
One of the lessons they’ve learned is not to be afraid of mistakes. “Sometimes you plant something in the wrong place and end up having to move them.”
Birds are attracted not only by the garden’s plants and flowers, but also by the seven avian condos scattered around the yard.
A few years ago, lack of adequate pollination began causing the large flowers on their zucchini, squash and pumpkins to blacken and rot. The Simpsons began hand pollinating the plants with a paint brush.
That led them to an interest in raising mason bees. The bees are known as super pollinators. Despite their short lifespan, they pollinate at 40 times the rate of honey bees.
Mason bees become active in March, just as the first cherry trees begin to flower.
“They’re around for about six weeks, lay more mason bee eggs and then die,” Simpson said.
During that time they do their pollinating work, both for plants and for their offspring. Some of the pollen is left near the eggs they lay in bee boxes, the small, straw-like tubes they call home. The bees use mud to seal the egg in place.
Simpson still hand pollinates her squash and zucchini, because the mason bees’ lives have ended by the time those plants flower.
But the bees have increased production on their cherry, pear and apple trees.
One tip for would-be or fellow gardeners is simply that the importance of good soil can’t be overstated. “Plants fail to thrive in crummy soil,” she said.
The couple’s approach to gardening is laissez-faire, not really having an elaborate plan.
Some people stagger plants by height and shape. “We’re more eclectic,“ she said. “Most people probably haven’t seen a garden quite like ours before.”
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
If you go
What: Snohomish Garden Tour
When: Noon to 5 p.m. July 29
Where: Find map and directions on ticket
Tickets: $15
More: www.snohomishgardenclub.com
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
Gallery
