Take a tour with tea and gardens

Next weekend, plant lovers will have the chance to visit five of the prettiest gardens on North Whidbey.

The Oak Harbor Garden Club will host its 21st annual Garden Tour and Tea event on Saturday, June 24. This is the first time since 2019 the tour has taken place.

This year’s tea site will be the Whidbey Island Sculpture Experience, or WISE, owned by Therese and John Kingsbury. The Kingsburys’ garden spans more than 10 acres of woods dotted with sculptures by local and international artists alike that visitors can wander through.

Though not all the trails are fully developed, there are still more than 70 sculptures on the property, including kinetic pieces, fountains, benches and more. The property also hosts an aviary, a greenhouse gallery with indoor art, a Timothy Haslet mural, rhododendrons and Japanese maples.

The eclectic collection of plants and art is reflective of Therese Kingbury’s personal style. She said she got into gardening when she and her husband first moved onto the property around 15 years ago and she began growing lettuce and flowers.

“I like building environments,” she said.

Tour participants can enjoy tea and cookies at WISE, as well as live music by Jamar Jenkins. There will also be a small art fair at the tea site featuring 10 local artists, each with a booth to sell their creations, which include jewelry, paintings, pottery, upcycled clothing, flower bouquets, woven baskets and more.

WISE is located at 1162 East Crescent Harbor Road.

On the northernmost end of the tour, participants can visit Lindalou’s Lavender Farm. Established in 2015 and owned by Linda and Jim Latham, the lavender farm grows several varieties of lavender that are used for their oils. The property also contains an apple orchard, the apples from which are used to produce juice and cider, as well as extensive flower gardens.

The next stop on the tour is Heather and Shawn Dahl’s Dahlias and Gardens. Tour coordinator Robin Boyle said the husband and wife team have created a beautiful floral experience in their garden, with a number of outbuildings and a flower shop.

The Albert Ondo and Family Garden is a smaller, suburban garden that has made it onto the tour circuit before. The garden, set on a sloping residential parcel, has evolved over the years. It includes trees, perennials and a variety of new plants and is open to all forms of wildlife, which frequently visit the garden.

The southernmost stop on the tour is Jennifer Geller’s waterfront garden. Known as Jen’s Garden, the property maintains a cohesive design with Japanese katsura trees, lilacs, lavender bushes and more, and offers a view of Penn Cove.

Boyle said the tour was curated to show a variety of properties and give North Whidbey gardeners ideas of what they could do in their own yards.

“We’d love people to come out and investigate Oak Harbor,” she said.

Tickets to the tour are sold at the Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce, Greenhouse Florist and Nursery, ACE Hardware and Mailliard’s Landing Nursery, or online at oakharborgardenclub.org. Tickets are limited and cost $25, though children 12 and under are free.