Meerkerk Garden bursts into spring bloom

Published 1:30 am Friday, April 3, 2026

Spring is unfolding petal by petal at Meerkerk Gardens in Central Whidbey.

On a warm early-spring afternoon, the woodland paths at the island’s premier public rhododendron garden are beginning to fill with color as the first hum of bumblebees carries through the leaves. The garden offers a striking contrast between its rugged forests and manicured rhododendron gardens.

“That’s what Ann Meerkerk wanted,” said Ron Newberry, the garden operations manager. “She wanted to leave behind a peaceful woodland garden.”

This spring, garden staff are working on a wave of new projects aimed at deepening the visitor experience. Among them is a new viewing platform, set just to the left of the nursery, that will open sight lines to the Saratoga Passage, Baby Island and the Cascade Mountains.

“It’s another opportunity to connect with nature,” Newberry said, adding that whales, bald eagles and hawk may pass through. If you’re lucky you may even be able to catch seals barking, he said.

A second addition, a covered pavilion honoring longtime board president Don Lee, will provide shelter from the elements while expanding space for weddings and programming.

“We need more covered areas that give people a little bit of a break from the exposure,” Newberry said.

Both projects are expected to begin construction in mid-to-late spring and be completed by the summer.

The garden offers both hybrid and “species” rhododendrons. An internationally renowned rhodie hybrider, Frank Fujioka, passed away at age 87 in his home on Whidbey Island on Oct. 25, 2025. He contributed to 17 different hybrid breeds in the gardens and was a mentor to Susie Reynolds, the former nursery manager, according to a Meerkerk Gardens blog post.

The garden has a newly reimagined nursery, thanks to its newest manager Caitlin Stanton. Though she has only been working there for three months, the space has been spruced up with an emphasis on rare and unusual plants, something Newberry said she has a knack for acquiring.

“We refreshed and renewed the whole nursery,” Stanton said. “My goal as the new nursery manager is that people know they can come to Meerkerk Nursery to get something they won’t fine anywhere else.”

The nursery offers a range of plants, from one-gallon rhododendrons and four-inch companion plants, to more much larger plants. Besides rhododendrons, she also sells azaleas, primroses, anenome blanda and more. Though it isn’t large, the nursery takes care with its selections offering species rhododendrons, a rarity in commercial settings. These were obtained in Asia and grown from the seed. Some of them can procure leaves over a foot-long, Stanton said.

“It’s like a whole other experience with rhododendrons like that,” she said. “They feel really prehistoric.”

She also plans to expand educational offerings, using the future pavilion as an outdoor classroom for workshops and events.

An upcoming “Dahlia Day” on April 18 will include a tuber swap and a talk by a local horticulturalist Tobey Nelson. Another upcoming event at the gardens is its Mother’s Day Celebration on May 10. Standard admission tickets are $15, with kids ages 13 and under free. Tickets include access to the gardens and live music. Pie and beverages will be available for purchase.

Other than its seven staff members, volunteers are a key part of what makes the gardens special. Every Thursday, they attend to the garden; mowing the grass, trimming the shrubs and more.

Even as new features take shape, the garden’s philosophy remains rooted in coexistence with nature. Fallen trees are left to support wildlife, ponds foster amphibians, and seasonal change is embraced.

The staff look forward to a surge of garden visitors arriving in April and May, when 80% of the rhododendrons bloom in rapid succession, transforming the gardens into “rhodedendrons on steroids,” Newberry said.

For Stanton, the season’s arrival is exciting.

“I’m a gardener,” she said. “I’m just thrilled.”

Purchase tickets and learn more about Meerkerk Gardens at www.meerkerkgardens.org.