On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
PaulB
Welcome to stage 4 of “Washington’s Ultimate Road Trip,” the Cascade Loop. Today, we’ll be visiting Ohme Gardens, a garden begun by Herman and Ruth Ohme in the 1930s and that they worked on for 42 years. The Gardens are now owned and managed by Chelan County. You can find more information, as well as historical pictures, on the website.
The gardens are built on a bluff that overlooks the Columbia River. You enter the gardens at the top of the bluff and then make your way down through the gardens to the base, a couple of hundred feet down. Then, if you’re like me and are still sore from hiking, you groan as you look at the steps that you have to climb to get back to the top again.
One thing that stood out to me about the Gardens is that they stayed fairly close to a vision of a mountain garden/meadow combination, with native plants, trees, ferns, ground cover, and oh so many rocks. So no formal layouts or exotic plants.
Note: You can see full-size versions of these photos here.
A waterfall flowing into a small pond. Like I said: lots of rocks.
A view from near the top, looking out over the Columbia River.
A pond visible through the trees.
A small waterfall flowing into another pond.
A picnic shelter adjacent to an open meadow near the center of the Gardens.
Ferns up close, mountains in the distance.
Another pond. Most of the ponds had green-tinted water. I’m guessing that is some form of algae treatment but I didn’t ask and don’t know for sure.
Wildflowers adjacent to the path. Anyone know what these are?
Orange poppies.
More wildflowers. Overall, the gardens weren’t as polished as some I’ve visited, but that added to their charm. Aside from having to climb back up the bluff, it was a tranquil way to spend a couple of hours.
Baud
For a second, I thought today’s On the Road was going to be about your visit to Olive Garden.
BretH
Makes me want to spend time there for sure.
pluky
Not algae treatment, just algae most likely. Has it been unusually warm there lately?
eclare
Those ponds…just gorgeous.
OzarkHillbilly
Columbine. I have those variants growing in my garden.
That 1st pic looks more like a painting than a photo, but this being a constructed garden that’s not particularly surprising. Thanx for the pics.
159 for the sta,ps.
@pluky: I have a front yard pond surrounded by lots of greenery. In the winter it is a dark gray but in summer it pops greenish due to the reflection of the greenery around it. No algae as I have it treated for that nasty stuff.
PaulB
This is the first of four gardens that I visited on this tour. This was second on my list of favorites, with the top spot going to the spectacular Meerkerk Gardens, which will be the final set of photos of this tour.
I love wandering through gardens like these. There’s so much to see and it’s so peaceful. It truly does help to restore one’s soul.
JPL
What a beautiful series and thank you so much for sharing your pictures with us.
Torrey
Wonderful pictures and descriptions.Thank you for sharing this trip with us.
It’s hard to pick a favorite–and I realize no one is asking me to–but the third picture with the vertical lines of the three trees in the front and the pond behind has something special about it. (I realize the one on the right is actually two trees that together form a vertical unit similar in apparent girth to the two trees on the left. Details, details. I still like the effect of the three(ish) trees in front of the pond.)
One thing I thought of while looking at these is that I’d like to see several of them as jigsaw puzzles. That’s not flippant–one benefit of a picture as a large jigsaw is that one is forced to focus and notice all kinds of things one hadn’t seen before.
Almost Retired
Plans made for the end of next week! We’re driving up the back side of the Sierra on the 395, and then joining the Loop at Wenatchee (we’re in Los Angeles). We’ll be doing it counter-clockwise, with various side trips off the loop. Looks wonderful. I had never heard of this drive before your posts, despite having family in the PNW (Salem).
If the trip goes well, I’m taking full credit with Mrs. Almost Retired. If it doesn’t, I’m blaming some random internet guy named PaulB.
Dan B
It’s been 50 years since I’ve been to Ohme Gardens. The barren areas around the gardens have been degraded as very dry or desert regions.l can be. Once there’s disruption almost nothing grows back. Entering into Ohme is like a portal to paradise. I also recall, correctly or not, lots of very short and green, groundcover. It was a contrast with gardens on the west side. They’re typically filled with many large plants. It was wonderful to see the shape of the land, soil and rocks, focused ipon.
Dan B
@Almost Retired: Regarding your upcoming trip it should, weather permitting, be great. Decades ago friends of my parents passed through Seattle on their way to the Canadian Rockies. I suggested the North Cascades highway instead of the Fraser Canyon. They were more excited about the North Cascades than the Canadian Rockies. They drove it on the way back. I believe the difference is the North Cascades highway has more vista’s of great scenery than the Icefields Highway. And the contrast between the east side around the Methow Valley with its “Western” feel and the wet west.
Hint, from just past Marblemount go south through Darrington. The Suiattle and Sauk rivers are beautiful as are the mountains rising very sharply above the valley.
StringOnAStick
@PaulB: The tall deep purple flower is monkshood, the shorter pink ones are some form of columbine (not a native since those are usually either purple and white or solid yellow), and the poppy is California poppy. I love natural gardens like this; my “thing” is native plants and natural looking constructed landscapes really scratch an itch for me. Getting it right in desert country is very tough, as DanB noted.
Emily68
I can hardly wait until you get to the Methow.
way2blue
What a fun place to visit. Thanks for sharing. I did not know about this garden. (N.B., I have family who live adjacent to the Columbia River—dry wheat farmers—whose grandfather homestead several sections of land. Used to spend summers (baking) in Wenatchee, staying at my aunt’s and feasting on cherries & apples… )
Nancy
@OzarkHillbilly: I have columbine that are very similar to these. They appear each spring. The plants create their varieties with the help of the bees. I see new colors that I didn’t intentionally plant. It’s always a delight.