The West Seattle Garden Tour celebrates the art of gardening for its 16th year on Sunday, July 18. 9 am to 5 pm

This year's tour features an eclectic mix of seven residential gardens including a bird sanctuary, a tree-filled garden, a “Disneyesque” garden of whimsy and, as an added bonus, the South Seattle Community College Arboretum. In addition, we are pleased to welcome Willi Galloway as our guest lecturer, who will present a noontime lecture at South Seattle Community College.

This year, all West Seattle Garden Tour ticket holders can sample culinary delights produced by SSCC students for free between 1:00 and 2:30 pm, immediately following the lecture. Simply present your ticket booklet for admission to the tasting. SSCC will showcase their student’s culinary efforts by providing small samples of different chocolates, confections and pastries, cheese and wine products. Quantity is limited and you must be 21 years of age to sample the wines.

For photos and additional information about the gardens, beneficiaries, sponsors, lecture, tasting and raffle items, visit: www.westseattlegardentour.com.

The 2010 West Seattle Garden Tour welcomes eight spectacular gardens to this years tour. A map with driving directions to all the gardens will be provided in the ticket booklet.

Birdland Garden
This gardener has combined her plant addiction with the needs of her vocal feathered friends which seek protection in multi-leveled trees and dense shrubs.
His and Her's or Her's and His Garden
Their joint efforts have transformed the back yard into "a surprising retreat."
Long Live the Bird Tree Garden
The garden has been a work in progress for over 25 years; an eclectic collection of trees, shrubs and perennials have found rapport here.
Master Composter's Garden
Enriching the soil and composting are at the heart of this gardenscape.
Set to Go Garden
This garden had good bones, plenty of grasses and lavender for a Tuscan theme.
South Seattle Community College Arboretum
Explore this garden and revere the Arboretum's exceptional beauty and honor the student labor which makes it possible.
Treasures of Strange Origin Garden
This garden is 6-years old, and the 6-year old within will rejoice in this "Disneyesque" world.
Tree Lover's Garden
This transformation into a lush, private paradise proves what one resourceful, creative and spontaneous woman can do.

Note: Not all gardens are fully walker and wheelchair accessible; refer to individual garden descriptions for additional information

Beneficiaries
Each year, the Garden Tour donates the net proceeds to Seattle-based non-profit organizations that promote horticultural, educational, or artistic endeavors. Last year’s West Seattle Garden Tour was one of our most successful, attracting over 600 attendees as well as raising over $22,000 for our beneficiaries.

The proceeds from the 2010 Garden Tour will benefit ArtsWest Theatre, Highland Park Elementary School, Duwamish Longhouse & Cultural Center, South Seattle Community College Arboretum and Seattle Tilth.

Tickets
Tickets for the tour are $15 (children under 12 are free). Ticket price includes admission to the lecture and the SSCC tasting.
Tickets may still be available at the following locations but may be sold out:
• Admiral Metropolitan Market - 2320 42nd Ave SW, West Seattle; 206/937-0551
• ArtsWest Theatre - 4711 California Avenue SW, West Seattle; 206/938-0339
• Capers - 4521 California Avenue Southwest, Seattle, WA 206/ 932-0371
• Junction True Value - 4747 44th Ave SW, West Seattle; 206/932-0450
• Swanson’s Nursery - 9701 15th Ave NW, Seattle; 206/782-2543
• Wells Medina Nursery - 8300 NE 24th, Medina; 425/454-1853
• West Seattle Nursery - 5275 California Ave SW, West Seattle; 206/935-9276

Raffle tickets are $2 and you have a chance of winning a $500 stone garden bench, blown glass flowers, C&P Coffee House gift cards, Gift Certificates and much more.

About the West Seattle Garden Tour
Begun in 1995 as a fundraising event for the ArtsWest Theatre, the West Seattle Garden Tour has evolved into an annual fundraising event for a variety of non-profit and educational organizations in West Seattle and surrounding communities. In addition to ArtsWest, some of the organizations which have benefited from the proceeds of the garden tour have included: Seattle Chinese Garden Society, Delridge Neighborhood Development Association, Lincoln Park P-Patch, West Seattle High School Environmental Sciences Academy, Alki Wildlife Habitat Project, Highline Botanical Garden, Lafayette Playground, California Substation Project Park, Log House Museum, Highland Park Elementary School, the Camp Long Native Habitat Learning Project, Multifaith Works, Ethel Dupar Fragrant Garden Lighthouse for the Blind, Elisabeth C. Miller Library University of Washington Botanic Gardens, Junction Plaza Park Project, Transitional Resources, Seattle Youth Garden Works and Plant Amnesty.

Previous guest lecturers have included Marty Wingate, Ciscoe Morris, Marianne Binetti and Cass Turnbull.

2010 Guest Lecturer – Willi Galloway:
As an award winning writer and radio commentator, Willi Galloway spends her days teaching people how to eat from their gardens. Willi is a longtime contributor to Organic Gardening magazine and is the creator of DigginFood, a popular gardening and cooking blog that serves up organic vegetable gardening advice, DIY projects, and seasonal recipes several times each week. Each Tuesday morning, Willi offers vegetable gardening advice (along with fellow gardeners Marty Wingate and Greg Rabourn) on the popular KUOW 94.9 call-in show, Greendays.

Willi served for six years on the Board of Directors of Seattle Tilth—a nationally recognized non-profit (and 2010 WSGT beneficiary) that teaches people to cultivate a healthy urban environment and community by growing organic food. She is also a volunteer for the King County Master Gardeners. Willi regularly speaks at gardening events around the country and frequently hosts workshops at major nurseries and for gardening groups in the Pacific Northwest.

This summer, Willi is working on her first book—a food lover’s guide to vegetable gardening that will be published by Octopus Books USA (a division of the Hachette Book Group) in the spring of 2011. She is also teaching a joint gardening cooking class with chef Matthew Dillon at the Corson Building in Georgetown and is filming a pilot for an online garden to table cooking show.

After gardening for years in containers and at community gardens, Willi settled into a small West Seattle bungalow in 2005. She now grows vegetables and a growing collection of perennials with her husband, Jon, their Labrador retriever, four pet chickens, and a hive of honeybees.

The Lecture Creating a Beautiful and Productive Kitchen Garden Even small urban yards can be transformed into productive edible gardens! In this fun, idea-filled workshop, Willi will address strategies for growing more food in a regular city lot, including vertical gardening, succession planting, and integrating ornamentals and edibles. She will also discuss the best vegetable varieties for the Pacific Northwest and showcase fantastic ideas from real-life edible gardens in the Pacific Northwest, including two wonderful front yard gardens that look attractive year round. A special question and answer period will be held after the lecture.

SSCC Culinary Arts and Viticulture Programs
Many people don’t know that South Seattle Community College has one of the top ranked culinary art training programs in the country. The School offers classes in the cooking of ganaches, fudges, candy centers, and the use of assorted mediums to create outstanding chocolates. They also offer students with advanced techniques to achieve high quality cheese production focused on European products. And the school offers three programs related to the wine industry. Options include the following: Winemaking (learning how to produce quality wines and develop an individual style of wine); Wine Making and Sales; and Food and Wine Pairing (the intricacies of bridging food and wine).

West Seattle Garden Tour tickets are available at West Seattle outlets (Met Market, Junction True Value, West Seattle Nursery and Arts West) as well as at Swanson's and Wells- Medina Nurseries and are also available on-line at www.brownpapertickets.com. The goal this year is to raise $30,000 for their beneficiaries.