PNW Gardens: Bloedel Reserve
Bainbridge Island, WA | $ | Public charity
Visiting the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island took us most of the day, including travel to and from Olympia. It was a pretty great day. Expect to walk several miles, there is a long loop that will take you through the entire garden, or several smaller loops that allow you to cut it up or only see the parts of the garden that you want to. We did a combination, for time and energy purposes.
Reservations for timed entry were required when we visited in 2021, I believe they continue to be required. The easiest way to accomplish this is via their website. They also have special events and open days, but I’m not familiar with any of those processes.
We parked in the main parking lot and went by the map to the collection of small outbuildings in the Arrival Garden, including the main restrooms and the entrance Gatehouse, and then continued towards the Sheep Sheds on the wilder half of the garden.
The Buxton Bird Marsh was the first stop. A large pond and native plantings create a haven for wildlife. A newly installed boardwalk gives visitors a front row view without disturbing the habitat underfoot.
Next to the marsh is a wide open meadow seeded with a delicious mix of pollinator friendly and drought tolerant wildflowers. It was quite a show, and we spent far too much time perusing here, that ended up hastening the end of the visit on the other side of the garden.
As you leave the meadow, you seemlessly transition to a more wooded area, starting with a magnificent trestle bridge that spans a ravine with towering trees all around. Then you move to a woodside wetland, where another boardwalk takes you through skunk cabbage and foxgloves and horsetails.
As you exit the woodland you come to a paved road, this is the main road from the gatehouse to the residence used by staff. Stop for a bit here to get the popular Mid Pond with Residence view. From here we headed to the residence and bluff overlooking the Salish Sea.
After the residence and bluff we skipped a few areas and headed straight to the Japanese Garden and guest house. There was a group on the deck of the guest house so we moved to the entrance/exit gate at the other side of the garden.
The last area we visited was just a glimpse of the Moss Garden, and upon looking back I wish we had taken just 30 minutes more. I definitely want to make it back sometime in spring for some of the ares we didn’t spend time in, like the Rhododendron Glen near the residence.
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