The Jordan Family: The Private Gardens

Saturday, while Naomi's sisters were adventuring in Europe, we decided to go on an adventure of our own right here in our Pacific Northwest backyard. Each year as part of the Private Gardens Tour, several home owners throughout the Olympia area are selected to showcase their gardens. These gardens are only available for public viewing once a year so I'm glad we got a chance to see a couple of them. We did not have enough time to visit them all. I carried Joshua and Naomi took these amazing pictures with my Nikon.

The First Garden

This garden really inspired me to get to work in my own yard. The original situation being so similar to ours. The lady who owned this home and garden had a display poster showing what their property looked like eleven years ago when they first purchased it- an older home on a flat, boring 3/4 acre parcel. Now it's a beautiful oasis, with many lovely sections of garden to enjoy.

The front landscape had a quiet woodland type of feel but when you followed the main garden path through an arbor draped with ornamental grapes, one entered the tropics! The back garden is an exciting, eclectic blend of hardy bananas, palms, cannas, and many more large colorful annuals.

Getting some ideas for my front yard... I have a laurel hedge with a rock wall garden in front but it doesn't compare to this! I could go for this look (minus the purple dinosaur egg ;).