Meanwhile, back on Vashon Island

Vashon Island is a magical place and part of that magic since the 70's has been the Country Store and Gardens, run by Vy Biel, a local institution.  Unfortunately, none of the pictures I took are worth sharing (bad blogger!) so I'll just use words.  The store itself, located in a turn-of -the-century style building, carries a little bit of everything: books by local authors, antiques, clothes & shoes, locally made food products, garden tools, seed potatoes, onion sets, windchimes, you name it and it's probably around there somewhere.  There are 10 acres of gardens to discover and most of the plants you see are available in the plant sales areas which are spread out all over the place. Plant prices are very reasonable.   There are lots of great garden staples along with some more unusual treasures.

One of the treasures you'll find on the grounds of the Country Store is Colvos Creek Nursery as you can see, the sales area is small and you may be tempted to pass by but do NOT!  This place is packed with great plants!  Check out the impressive plant list on their website.  Registered Landscape Architect Michael Lee has been running this nursery specializing in Northwest and West Coast Natives, drought-tolerant plants, and hard-to-find plants of all kinds for several decades.  One Saturday last fall, I visited and had the pleasure of watching him whittle away at a small branch and push cuttings into pots of pearlite; a simple garden task but in the hands of a master, it was a wonder to behold.

 Plants are sometimes small but this facilitates better survival for mail-order customers.  Check out the trachycarpus fortunei in four inch pots.  At only $4.00 each, you could plant a whole palm forest (Louis) and still have enough change to take home a few Acacia pravissima

  Read more about Photinia davidiana (Stranvaesia)

 and you'll find that it's a cooler plant than one might think!  O.K. so it's cooler than I thought because I'm not enough of a plant geek - yet!  It is wise to take a reference (book, internet, favorite plant expert, etc.) of some sort when visiting Colvos Creek because some nifty plants can be overlooked and Mr. Lee is only there on weekends. I speak from my own ignorance.  This is a place focused on plants and tags have only plant names, no lengthy descriptions.  (Brings back fond memories of Heronswood when we had to copy the latin names of plants on tags with tiny pencils while balancing the catalog containing Dan Hinkley's descriptions, camera, reference books and note pad - ah, those were the days.)

 More trachycarpus babies - aren't they adorable?

Here's a shot of the entire place which is contained in the turn-around area of the Country Store.  It's true, good things do come in small packages!

As we leave Colvos Creek, we know we'll be back!  Heck, this is where I found my first Embothrium coccineum .

This is a creek that definitely deserves a wade!