2005 Lopez Garden Tour

Stroll through five blooming, bountiful Lopez gardens during the Lopez Island Garden Club's 2005 Garden Tour on Thursday, June 9, 10am-3pm.

The generous Lopez homeowners who have opened their gardens to the public are Doug Benoliel and Tamara Buchanan, Randall Dickson and Ron Walters, Ron and Sheila Metcalf, John and Patsy Sangster, and Wendy Westervelt and Steven Wrubleski.

Tickets, which also include the map, are available at Archipelago, Islandscape, Sticks and Stems, and Sunset Builders. On May 27 and 28 and June 3 and 4 there will be tickets for sale in Lopez Village Market from 10-3pm. Tickets are $15 for guests and $10 for Lopez Garden Club members. New members are always welcome. Proceeds will benefit the Lopez Senior Center's Woodmen Hall and a Lopez High School senior scholarship.

Parking space is limited, so carpool if possible.

Doug Benoliel and Tamara Buchanan

Doug and Tamara started this garden with a comprehensive landscape plan. Among many important facets, the plan reflects their interest in having plants that are deer, rabbit, and vole resistant as well as drought tolerant. About 300 cu. yards of manure and organic matter were added before the first plant was installed seven years ago. This is a 1/2-acre, informal garden, with many surprises and delights, featuring unique plants and stone sculpture.

Randall Dickson and Ron Walters

Near the entrance to this garden is an impressive fence, beyond which is an architectural masterpiece patterned after an Italian villa. Ron was the architect and garden designer, and Randall performed all the work to bring the plan to fruition. There are small ponds, a rockery, flowers, garden statuary, and potted plants. An herb garden, surrounded by boxwood hedge, provides the flavoring for home-grown vegetables.

Ron and Sheila Metcalf

The garden surrounding their 1911 farmhouse and outbuildings has evolved from horse pastures shaded by a few mature chestnut trees to stretches of native plant hedges, a gravel garden, large perennial beds and a productive food garden and orchard. They have planted hundreds of trees and delight in the birds that now visit regularly.

John and Patsy Sangster

This lovely garden and orchard has evolved several times since its inception. It was started on the south side of the garden path with a cottage garden focus. The north side was planted with fava beans to enrich the soil, then planted with perennials, small trees, and roses to complement the south side. Lilac bushes used to line the garden, but these have been removed and replaced with viburnum and various small trees. The orchard consists of pear, crab-apple, peach, pear, and apple trees. The raised beds, once filled with a variety of vegetables, are now home to raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries with a portion set aside for asparagus.

Steven Wrubleski and Wendy Westervelt

This working garden is truly organic, and many of the plants are taken from cuttings, grown in small pots, and then replanted when large enough. Self-sufficiency through permaculture is the major focus of their garden. There are orchards, a pond, and a 60-acre parcel co-owned by four families.

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