• Our searchable summer camp database will help you plan summer activities for your kids.
Vashon Island Garden Tour: Rocks, pizza, gum trees
- Three towering eucalyptus trees grace the entry to Linda Weiss’ Vashon garden, offering delicate shade and dropping their aromatic leaves all over the blue-gray gravel just in time for the annual Vashon Island Garden Tour. But Weiss doesn’t mind. Raking up the leaves is a small part of what is a pretty low-maintenance garden, one that takes inspiration from sunnier places such as New Zealand, Arizona, Greece and the gum trees’ native Australia. Created on a sunny patch of bare grass when they bought the house in 2004, Weiss’ garden – on the tour for the first time – isn’t just another piece of outdoor eye-candy. It’s also a great example of how to pull in the sun – and the laid-back vibe that goes with it.
Northwest Wine Summer in the Pacific Northwest means spending more time outdoors and cooking with regional ingredients. This is why we keep fresh white wines in the fridge and ready to open the moment we fire up the grill.
Curious what my garden looks like? Here’s your chance. My hometown of Enumclaw is hosting a tour of eight local gardens to benefit our hospital care van. The tour is Saturday and includes garden art vendors at every garden. I’ll be giving a seminar at the garden that is hosting the food vendors. The topic will be “Shortcuts to a Show Garden” and you’ll learn tips on how anyone can dress up a landscape with very little time or money.
You don’t have to go to some high-end steakhouse or shell out $200 a pound for ultra-marbled Wagyu beef from Japan to get flavorful, tender beef for your next barbecue. Just keep three crucial factors in mind: the grade, the grain and the aging. A well-informed purchase and a couple of easy prep steps can make the difference between a so-so steak and one that sends your eyeballs skyward.
The sun-drenched colors and inviting textures of summer provide plenty of decorating ideas. The trick is doing it right: A summer-inspired interior can become a tacky, tropical disaster if it’s done with too heavy a hand.
