The Pacific Northwest Garden Tour: The 60 Best Gardens to Visit in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia

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About The Pacific Northwest Garden Tour: The 60 Best

Product Description “Your must-visit list of Northwest gardens is finally organized and illustrated.” —Sunset Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia have a wealth of top-notch public gardens. In The Pacific Northwest Garden Tour veteran travel writer Donald Olson highlights sixty of the most outstanding options and provides all the information you need to make the most of your visit. This gorgeous and useful guide includes cherished public gardens and a handful of the most groundbreaking nurseries. Packed with memorable stories and stunning photography, it is a fantastic garden tour that only the scenic Pacific Northwest can provide.   Review “Your must-visit list of Northwest gardens is finally organized and illustrated.” — Sunset   “You’ll find not only a fine, concise introductory essay on the history of gardens in our region, but also photos, descriptions and details sure to lure you out to visit gardens new and familiar.” — The Seattle Times “We’re spoiled by beauty in the Pacific Northwest, and this book proves it. Travel writer Donald Olson offers his take on the 60 best gardens to visit in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia.” — 425 Magazine “The book is one that any garden lover should own, and that includes just about anyone with the senses of sight and smell.” — The Oregonian   “A companion for plant lovers and Northwest explorers to revisit for many seasons to come…Olson’s tours are the perfect blend of history, horticulture and a trip to the art gallery.” — The Register-Guard “A must-see bucket list for gardening aficionados.” — The Daily Astorian From the Back Cover The Pacific Northwest is full of glorious public gardens, but where are they and what are they? This delightfully written guide takes you to the best gardens to visit in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. With an easy-to-use format and enticing photographs, it’s an indispensable companion to one of the lushest garden belts in North America, if not the world. Whether you’re a resident or a visitor, you’ll discover little-known gems and rediscover classic gardens—all of them places of beauty, history, drama, and excitement.   About the Author Donald Olson is a travel writer, novelist, and playwright with a longtime interest in gardens and gardening. His work has appeared in the New York Times, National Geographic, and other national publications, and he is the author of several travel guides. An avid gardener himself, Olson has been exploring the great gardens of Europe and the Pacific Northwest for many years.You can visit his website at donaldstevenolson.com. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Introduction When I first moved to the Pacific Northwest, it was the gardens that immediately caught my eye. I’d come from a place where gardens, when they weren’t buried under snowdrifts, were yards with mowed grass, shade trees, a few hardy shrubs, and not much else—except for mosquitoes. What a different world it was in the Northwest, where I couldn’t turn around without confronting a rose or a rhododendron, and where the pungent smell of bark dust was always floating in the air. Plants I’d read about but never seen grew with a kind of luxurious abandon. If I kept my eyes open, I could always find something in bloom, even in fall (autumn cyclamen and crocuses) and winter (witch hazels). And to top it all off, the natural landscapes of this region, where Native Americans had lived for more than ten thousand years and European settlers for fewer than two hundred, had a beauty and a grandeur that astounded me then and continue to astound me today.             Yes, it’s true, from November through May there is rain, lots of it, in every form you can imagine. And yes, the skies are sometimes dark and gray for weeks on end. All I can say to that is, so what? If you’re a plant, or a gardener, this is paradise.