Whit and Mary Carhart’s Garden, take two

Whit and Mary Carhart’s Garden was another garden we toured during the recent Hardy Fern Foundation event on Vashon (and Maury) Island in Puget Sound, WA. This was the second time I'd visited this garden, the first during the 2024 Garden Fling (post here).

If you remember my past visit, then parts of this post may seem familiar—parts but not all—because this time I wasn't held back by a reinjured knee. Nope, I explored up and down all the steep steps of this fabulous hillside garden. 

I believe this beauty was Blechnum novae-zelandiae (Parablechnum novae-zelandiae).

There were several clumps along the steps.

Looking down...

And back up...

The garden description from the HFF tour materials: "This four season 2.5-acre garden features a diverse collection of plants, including unusual and rare woodland plants and ferns set among Japanese maples, species Rhododendrons and conifers. Winding paths afford an opportunity to pause and reflect among the naturalistic plantings of cedars, firs, Stewartias, hydrangeas and shade tolerant perennials. The garden features a waterfall and pond, an antique Indonesian garden shed and the sculptural art of Washington state and international artists."

Woodwardia unigemmata

Rodgersia sp.

Doodia media, aka rasp fern (so called because the fronds feel rough and harsh to the touch, with serrations along the edges).

Maybe Lonicera nitida 'Red Tips'?

There are red tips...

The pond...

The haze of blooms belong to a saxifrage.

There's a nice Pyrrosia sheareri there in the middle.

Cyrtomium macrophyllum var. tukusicola to the left of the Syneilesis (shredded umbrella plant).

One of the painted ferns, Athyrium niponicum.

Coniogramme, likely C. emeiensis 'Golden Zebra'.

This photo was taken down at house level, looking back up to the pond area. I'm about to go up there, but first I have to admire...

...the trough full of Bletilla striata.

So good!

And there's the pond.

Bald cypress, Taxodium distichum.

Hemiboea subacaulis var. jiangxiensis

Yes, that's a Wollemia nobilis (Wollemi pine) on the left.

Looking down on the pond from a different angle.

And now a shot from the far end of the property looking towards the house and the harbor.

Seeing these Eryngium venustum made me realize my plants have been shaded out, disappeared, and more are impossible to find! Please let me know if you see them out there in the nursery world.

This fern table was a favorite feature on my earlier visit and it holds up.

Lots of happy plants squeezed in there.

Quartermaster Harbor as seen from the back of the house.

More ground orchids with hardy begonia.

And another fern (and friends) table.

Ligularia sp.

Saxifraga × geum 'Dentata'

Dryopteris erythrosora 'Brilliance'

One last look at the pond, as I pass it by again on my way to the top of the garden.

Maybe Rhododendron pachysanthum...

Same, different angle.

And wrapping up with more Blechnum novae-zelandiae

I'm so glad I got a second chance to see this wonderful garden!

The Bit at the End

Check out the patch of Pleopeltis lepidopteris 'Morro dos Conventos' in this Juniper Level Botanic Garden post. I didn't notice any dry land ferns in Whit and Mary's garden, but this one seems like it would fit right in to their sunny spots.

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All material © 2009-2026 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude. 

If it's still there, then it's meant to be...

Have you ever played that little mind game with yourself? You pass on something you really want, but then find yourself thinking about it. A lot. Hmm. Maybe I'll swing back by, if it's still there, well, then it was meant to be...

Back on June 5th. I was headed up to Bellevue, WA, for the Hardy Fern Foundation's (HFF) FernFest. I stopped at Zenith Holland Nursery because a friend had mentioned it, and I'd never been. That's where I saw this double trunked tree fern (Dicksonia antarctica). I thought it was priced reasonably for a tree fern of it's size. But was more money than I was prepared to drop on a plant on a whim. I left it behind. This was the only photo I took that day.

Two weeks passed and I was back up in the area (just a mere 20 miles away in Tacoma, for the HFF Vashon Tour). I thought about the tree fern, but I did not go by the nursery. Nope! But then in the days after the tour, after visiting the Riehl Stumpery and falling under the spell of the tall tree ferns there, well, I could not stop thinking about my double trunked friend. 

Fast forward to Sunday July 26th (almost two months since I'd first seen the object of my obsession) and I was headed back up to the area for the NHS Meet the Board garden tour. I'd be driving right past the nursery. That's when I started with the "well, if it's still there..." thoughts.

And it was...

Talking with the helpful salespeople I learned it had been there at least through last winter, as that's when they moved it inside and into the place I found it.

The label told me it had come from Suncrest Nursery in Watsonville, California. Suncrest ceased to operate in June of 2023, so...this plant could have been bumping around Zenith Holland for 3 years...

The staff was very helpful, tying up the fronds and bagging the pot...

Because I had to lay it on it's side to get it in my car.

Home!

So just how tall its the trunk? The taller side...

And the shorter...

A friend (the same one who mentioned the nursery and has tree ferns with 4ft+ trunks) called this size a "starter trunk"...

So you're probably wondering where in the heck I'm going to plant my new plant friend? Especially since this spring (despite my stated intentions) I ended up not planting the trunking tree fern I already have.

 

I have three different spots in mind. One currently in the lead.

My only concern is that it involves a lot of digging and there will most certainly be magnolia (Clifford!) roots in the way. I don't want to kill an old friend to plant a new friend.

Such is the drama in a small garden...

The Bit at the End

I know the horrible fires in my hometown of Spokane, Washington, have been in the news so I wanted to share that, thankfully, my family and friends there are safe, living well away from the areas that have burned. They, of course, know people who have lost their homes, or been evacuated. It's awful. Seeing the destruction online my heart aches for everyone affected.

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All material © 2009-2026 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.