A visit to Lakewold Gardens in Washington state
We've lived in Washington state about 13 years now. When we first moved here, I fell in love with the plants here. Random fact here, one of my hobbies is gardening and I'm pretty passionate about plants. I also fell in love with the climate here and the types of plants that thrived in Pacific Northwest gardens.
Soon after we arrived, I'd heard about various public gardens that were worth visiting and one of them that was on my radar was to visit Lakewold Gardens, in Lakewood, near Tacoma. At the beginning of 2018 I was approached by one of their event organizers to be a part of an event they call MayFest. It's a month long event in May every year showcasing the gardens when they are in their springtime prime. I was to sell my nature inspired jewelry there on a special Mother's Day weekend event.
I won't go into the history of the gardens, but it is a historic estate with about 10 acres of cultivated beauty. You can find out more here.
In this blog post I'll just be show casing the beauty of the gardens with my own photos.
The side entrance to Lakewold Gardens has lots of spring flowering bulbs.
The front of the house has additional flower beds and the most amazing wisteria on its covered patio.
The wisteria at Lakewold Gardens has the sweetest scent in the spring when it blooms. Pretty tables encourage you to stop and enjoy the view towards Gravelly Lake and the flowering wisteria.
Paved pathways allow easy access for strollers or wheelchairs and take you right past the blooming rhododendrons. The gardens have well thought out structure giving it visual interest at any time of the year.
Enjoy the garden from the arbor, read a book or enjoy the sounds of nature and birds around you.
Lakewold Gardens boasts some unusual plant species including lots varieties of rhododendrons which is actually Washington's state flower.
Look at the incredible detailing and color of this beauty.
Take a walk down some of the side gravel paths where you will find hidden benches placed so that you can enjoy the garden's beauty and peacefulness.
Beautiful glades with ferns and Japanese maples are little hidden gems that you will find as you meander along and explore the pathways in the gardens.
There is no coffee shop or place to buy refreshments at Lakewold Gardens so just bring your own picnic, sit at these tables or bring a picnic blanket and spend an afternoon reading a book on the lawn near the lake.
I'm sure after seeing these photos, it will not come as a surprise that Lakewold Gardens is a facility that can be booked for events. Can you imagine how gorgeous this location would be for a wedding? The wedding photos would be so swoon worthy as there is hardly an area of the garden that would not make a gorgeous scene for the bride and groom.
If you happen to be getting married at Lakewold Gardens and want to try to do your own flowers, I've got tips on how to do this in this blog post.
Before you leave Lakewold Gardens, stop off at the Garden Shop and pick up some plants for your garden or some gardening and nature inspired gifts.
Here's a link to my website where I have some fine silver botanical jewelry inspired by flowers and leaves that I saw at these gorgeous gardens.
Below you'll find some additional photos of flowers or leaf jewelry that I have in my webshop. Each photo has a link to that specific item in my web shop.
Isn't this three dimensional leaf just so beautiful?
I often use flowers from our garden to make jewelry like these buds from our piers plant before the flowers had grown too much.
In our garden we have lots of pink and blue forget-me-not flowers because I planted them over ten years ago and yes, once you have them in your garden, you'll always have them in your garden. I just love it every spring when they show up ready to brighten my day when I see them in our garden. I've tried to capture their beauty in this mini pendant. There are stud earrings too.
If you've enjoyed this garden and flower themed blog post you might also like this one titled Springtime in the PNW or this one about the Beauty of Tulips in Skagit Valley
Feel free to pin this blog post about Lakewold Gardens or share it on Facebook if you'd like to add it to your travel bucket list or even if you just want to share some of Washington's beauty with your family and friends.
