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 11 of “Washington’s Ultimate Road Trip,” the Cascade Loop. Today, we’ll be paying a visit to Greenbank Farm or, more specifically, to the garden next to the farm. Greenbank Farm began as a dairy farm in the early 1900s, according to the Farm’s website. The farm later transitioned into a turkey farm, and then a loganberry farm. “At one time, Greenbank Farm was the largest producer of loganberries in the United States.” The farm was acquired by the Port of Coupeville in 1997 and it now contains a variety of businesses, galleries, shops, and a cafe.
I didn’t realize until preparing this post that I was so focused on the gardens that I didn’t take a single picture of the farm itself. Oh, well… just another excuse to go back for another visit. I can recommend the cafe, as I ate lunch there (seafood chowder, toasted cheese and bacon sandwich on sourdough bread, and homemade cherry pie).
Note: You can see full-size versions of these photos here.
The gardens border a lovely pond, and you can see one of the farm’s buildings off to the left.
Some pond residents. You really had to watch your step in some of the locations, as the geese had left souvenirs in quite a few spots.
A view of one area of the gardens. The building in the center left background is a greenhouse and garden tools shed.
A lovely spot in the center of the gardens. Most of the flowers in the background are rhododendrons, I believe. I don’t know what the flowers in the foreground are.
More views of the garden, and closeups of some of the flowers. It was a somewhat drizzly day. Had it not been for that, I’d have been tempted to get my lunch to go and sit in the garden while eating.
The whole garden area was actually fairly small, but quite lovely, with a good use of space. I’m glad I stopped here.
eclare
All of those different shades of green are so pretty.
Jay
#5 is chives, bumblebee’s love them, so do salads and scrambled eggs,
#7 is a Columbine,
#8 is a Giant Allium of some kind,
#9 looks like some kind of fancy Columbine.
HinTN
My niece lived and worked for two + years on a sheep farm on Whidbey Island. She loved it but came back east to find a place of her own. Your tour has been most excellent in reminding me what a lovely part of the world the Straights and Puget Sound can be. Thx
raven
@HinTN: “can be” is right, often it also is miserable!
SiubhanDuinne
Those Canada goslings are adorable!
PaulB
This was the third of the four gardens I visited on this tour. It was small, but well laid out, and free to enter, which I appreciated. The Farm’s cafe also sells whole pies, should you want one to take home with you, and has quite a variety to sell.
We’re approaching the end of the tour, with only Meerkerk Gardens left to visit. It was my favorite of the four, and I took more pictures there than I did anywhere else on the tour.
MelissaM
Geese can poop 1-2 pounds a day. The gardens are beautiful! I want to get to the PNW.
Torrey
Wonderful pictures! I always enjoy seeing how gardens, particularly small ones, are laid out. I have a yard that right now I’m doing essentially nothing with, and a bit of inspiration first thing in the morning hits just right. And I join those who are saying they want to try the Loop at some point.
WaterGirl
PaulB, I have really been enjoying this series. I mostly posted 2 a week so we wouldn’t go through them too quickly!
For everybody else: so there won’t be an abrupt ending, the final three posts of this series will go up next week.
WaterGirl
Reminder: I try to add a special category for the longer series, so you’ll see The Cascade Loop listed as a category up top. That will take you to all of them in case you missed some or want to revisit a trip.
PaulB
@WaterGirl: Thanks, WG. I didn’t mind the delays at all, since it was a bit self-indulgent of me to send along so many photo sets in the first place. I’ve really appreciated the kind words from the folks here who have journeyed with me.
BigJimSlade
Ah, geese. They take the opposite approach to eating grass compared to cows. What with their chewing cud and their 4-part stomach, cows do a lot of processing on the grass. Geese eat some, process it very little, and it comes right out the other side, still looking recognizably like wet grass, so they can fly away :-)
WaterGirl
@PaulB: Not self-indulgent at all! Super helpful to me to have the flexibility that brings with it!