George Washington Lavender Farm

It's January and I'm already dreaming of Spring, 

daffodils and lavender!  I am thankful that 

we are not knee deep in snow and 

that we did have sunshine today.

I think of my east coast friends and their 

blizzard conditions and count my blessings and 

hope all are safe and warm!

I think winter is a nice "vacation" for gardeners from all the work we do but I do miss my garden this time of year and can't wait for spring.  I find myself frequently on Pinterest finding new ideas and plans for this year's garden.  I am going back and looking at photos I took on vacation for more garden inspiration.  My photos from the George Washington Lavender Farm make me anxious to get out and plant
 more lavender in my garden! 

George Washington Inn and Lavender Farm is located in Sequim, Washington where we spent part of our Pacific Northwest vacation in July.  What a treat it was to visit this incredible place.  The owners built a replica of George Washington's Mount Vernon home that is an inn and they surrounded it with lavender and a farm store.   We visited during the lavender festival and the weather was perfect!  The views were stunning from the bluff overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the north and to the south toward the Olympic Mountains.

The inn has won many awards and the grounds are beautiful.

There was a string orchestra on the front porch 
playing classical music for the visitors.

The farm store was full of their lavender products and they were serving lavender ice cream too!

The soldiers reenacted battles in full uniformed dress

 and the ladies looked beautiful as well. 

One of the local restaurants from Port Angeles had set up a food tent and served amazing seafood chowder

 and fish salads. 

The sunroom was set up for high tea.  

Our visit was perfect and we definitely want to return during the lavender season again. 

If you love lavender this area is the perfect destination. 

Here is the link to the inn and farm:
http://www.georgewashingtoninn.com/

I'm linking with Bernideen's Tea Time Cottage and Garden

Sequim Lavender Festival

When I started planning our trip to Seattle and Victoria, British Columbia I realized Sequim wasn't that far from either location. We decided to add on a weekend stay during the lavender festival before taking the ferry across to Victoria.   

Loving all things lavender, I was so excited to be introduced to Sequim by our local
 lavender farmer. 

She had discovered Sequim when her son was stationed at the Navy base on
 Whidbey Island, WA. 

She even ordered  the 'Grosso' variety of lavender plants from one of the farms and had them shipped to Oklahoma.  

 She now has over an acre planted from those original plants.   Her pretty farm and cottage shop is only open for special events and weddings now, but in previous years she has taught seminars about growing lavender
 and held craft classes for groups.     
  Click the link to read more about her farm outside of Oklahoma City. 

Sequim is one of the sunniest places in Washington state.  I've always thought of  the Pacific Northwest as cool, wet and green, however Sequim is in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains.  They receive the same rainfall amounts as Los Angeles...who knew? The climate makes it the perfect for
 growing lavender.

Sequim is also considered the lavender capitol of North America and I quickly fell in love with this small town!  

Downtown by the high school they close the street and it's lined with vendor tents, food and local entertainment.

We arrived just as the Lavender Queen and her court were singing on the main stage. 
There were times I felt we were visiting a time gone by,  like visiting Mayberry with Andy and Aunt Bea!     

My hubbie even got his picture with the official mascot of the festival! 
We spent the first morning downtown and then headed out to visit the farms over the next two days.  

There were ten farms on the official tour and shuttles were available to take visitors from downtown to each of the farms. Several farms are not on the official tour and charge a small fee but most of the farms are free to visit.  All the farms have craft vendors, food tents and live musical performances.  The music ranged from a classical orchestra to a blue grass band.  Each farm had a farm shop that sold their oils and lavender products.   The owners were on hand to talk about their farms, practices or to even scoop up some of their homemade lavender ice cream for visitors!

Le Jardin du Soliel had wonderful fields of 'Grosso' lavender along with several other varieties.   'Grosso' produces the best oils and strongest fragrances.   
U-cut lavender 
was only $12 for three generous bundles!  What a treat it was to cut lavender to 
my heart's content!

 (Olympic Lavender Farm)

Lavender lovers like me owe it to themselves to schedule a trip to this wonderful festival.    The Olympic National Park and the ferry
to Victoria, British Columbia 
are just minutes from 
Sequim.  
  

Each evening we returned to the cottage to watch the hummingbirds, otters and eagles from the deck until the sun went down.

 We enjoyed the most glorious sunsets and the sunrises were spectacular too!  

Next post:

George Washington Inn and Lavender Farm

  

Back from Vacations

I've been on a long blog break...much too long.   I didn't intend it to last for months but family, work and summer

vacations took priority.  

We had been dreaming of going back to Seattle and Victoria, British Columbia for several years.  The weather there is a welcome break from our hot Oklahoma summers, so when I discovered there was an  annual lavender festival in Sequim, Washington we decided this was the year to go.

We flew into Seattle then visited Pikes Market, had lunch and did some shopping before heading to the Olympic Peninsula to Sequim.   I couldn't resist purchasing a gorgeous bouquet to enjoy from the market.  The flower selection is overwhelming and the prices unbelievable!    We also purchased some fresh fish and prawns that they packed on ice for our afternoon drive. 

    Pikes Market is amazing and what a joy it must 

be to shop there every week!

We decided to drive the entire way to Sequim instead of taking the ferry...we soon realized that the ferry would have been the fastest way to get there, but we wanted to explore the area and go through Tacoma and cross the

 Hood Canal Bridge.   

The little waterfront cottage we had rented in Sequim was perfect and we couldn't have been more pleased as the view was incredible!

My favorite room in the cottage was the sunroom!
Complete with a birder's field guide

and binoculars it was the perfect space to hang out. 

   My bouquet of flowers from Pikes Market was the perfect accessory!

We were surrounded by wildlife and two bald eagles are permanent residents on the property.  
What a joy it was to watch them fish in the evenings and early in the morning.

To be continued....

First Lilies

The first lilies in my garden bloomed this weekend. The  Stargazer bloomed a little early but that's okay with me.    I'm sure all the rain and cool weather

 has plants confused as to what season it is, but I'm always 

excited to see the first lilies.  

I really think Stargazer lilies are my favorite flower...that is if I HAD to pick just one.   

I'm so glad I can have several favorites because my love of flowers goes back to my earliest memories as a child.

I was blessed to live in Hawaii and completed kindergarten through third grade there.   We were always surrounded by flowers.   I remember making leis out of plumeria  flowers that grew in our front yard.   They smelled wonderful and were easy to thread because of the way the flower petals join leaving a small round hole.

Orchids were easy to thread too and we usually purchased these leis since we didn't have orchids 

growing in our yard. 

I grew up in such floral abundant places like Florida, California, Hawaii and the Philippines.  I have to work a little harder to enjoy flowers here in Oklahoma but I so enjoy being surrounded by blooms in the garden 

and it's always worth the effort.

I had a great -aunt who was the President of the Pensacola Garden Society back in the 1960's.  She was born with a green thumb and had a wonderful greenhouse.  I was always a little afraid of stumbling upon a snake in there but I so enjoyed my childhood visits to her greenhouse!  

She also instilled in me a love of 

flowers and gardening. 

Flowers make me smile and remind me of the 

beautiful places I've been and those I've spent time 

with in the garden.  

We are looking forward to another visit to Butchart Gardens for our anniversary next month.  

I'm counting the days!