Tickets on sale for Oak Harbor garden event

Tickets are now on sale to tour some of Whidbey’s most beautiful gardens.

Oak Harbor Garden Club’s Tour & Tea event is on June 29 this year, where garden lovers can tour six unique gardens in Oak Harbor, sip tea, enjoy treats and more. Afterward, for the first time, Mailliard’s Landing Nursery is closing an hour early to host an after party for ticket holders. From 4-7 p.m., garden tourists can enjoy live entertainment, refreshments and 20% off storewide.

On May 11, the club will also host its annual plant sale, featuring plants grown by club members, from 10 a.m to 1 p.m. at the field in Oak Harbor on Northeast Fourth Avenue, near the swirling leaf sculpture.

Gary and Teresa Gillespie, hosts of one of this year’s gardens, embraced landscape design in addition to gardening when they purchased their 1928 Tudor Revival Farmhouse. It came with 70 rosebushes and a 400-plus-year-old Garry oak, the second largest on the island.

As artists, Gary and Teresa were always interested in designing their own garden, Gary said. They consulted with two landscape architects and studied Rosemery Verey’s “Making of a Garden.”

Gary wanted the garden to accent the architecture, he said. He put in paths to naturally lead people through with terraces and a pergola encouraging them to linger and enjoy the ocean view. The result is an Italian style oasis, with cypress trees, a picket fence and arched gates.

Tour & Tea ticket holders can visit six gardens total on a self-guided, open-house-style tour. Each has a distinct personality, such as a unique water feature, a dollhouse style fantasy and an expansive vista.

The club designates one garden as the “tea site,” said club member Robin Boyle. It will have artist vendors, entertainment and cookies, cakes and tea sandwiches provided by volunteers.

The tour is a great source of inspiration, Boyle said. Some gardeners take it very seriously, asking questions with a pad and pen.

“They learn an awful lot, like some people go by and go, ‘What is that plant?’ and you have the owners who put their heart and soul into it,” she said.

Beyond the usual maintenance, gardens are always changing, Teresa said, as plants die and new ideas form.

Gardeners faced harder obstacles this year with January’s cold snap, Boyle said.

“We all lost something, but then that’s an opportunity to go, ‘Something new! I get to go to the plant store,’” she said.

The garden club started in 1923 when a group of women organized a civic improvement club. Last year, it reached its 100th anniversary and now has 100 members, Boyle said.

Tour & Tea tickets can be purchased for $30 at Greenhouse Florist & Nursery, Ace Hardware and Mailliard’s Landing Nursery in Oak Harbor, Rain Shadow Nursery in Coupeville and Ace Hardware in Anacortes, or online at oakharborgardenclub.org. Children 12 and under are free to join.

The Gillespie’s garden became an Italian style oasis, with cypress trees, a picket fence and arched gates. (Photo by Sam Fletcher)

Oak Harbor resident Gary Gillespie put in paths to naturally lead people through with terraces and a pergola encouraging them to linger and enjoy the ocean view. (Photo by Sam Fletcher)