The Berk/Kessler Garden, a Puget Sound Fling stop

My visit to the Berk/Kessler Garden in Seattle was on the "bonus" Monday of the Garden Fling weekend last July. I'd been wanting to tour this garden since I first saw it from across the street, while visiting the Bednarksi garden, during the 2022 NPA Study Weekend event. 

In the intervening years I learned the garden belonged to Bonnie Berk, whom I know as the president of the Hardy Fern Foundation, I was thrilled to finally visit Bonnie's garden...

From our Fling brochure: "Welcome to Casa Nirvana, a tapestry garden that brings together art, color, history, plants, and many passions. 

History and site: designed in 1916 by noted Seattle Architect Arthur Loveless, our house sits high above the street, in the historic Mt. Baker neighborhood. Layered terraces frame the stairway; these were carved into the hillside in 2000 to manage the steep slope, as part of a complete hardscape renovation project...The unusual, large side garden is defined by a towering, 20-foot hedge, original to the house, although much taller. 

Plants! This is a plant collector's garden, with an uncounted number of unusual specimens acquired from specialty nurseries on both coasts. The collection is broad and eclectic, from rare shrubs and ferns to aeoniums in profusion. The garden's development has been informed by visiting gardens in the US and Europe, by workshops in England and Great Dixter, and especially our region's great plant explorers. The underlying theme is foliage—bold, variegated, black, unusual."

Let's head up those steps and see what there is to see...

Oh hey, there's Bonnie, come to greet us.

It looks like Bonnie loves gardening with containers too, and she's got a succulent table! (the sunny answer to the popular fern table)

Glancing to the side of the staircase, that's some seriously dense planting...(dare I call it cramscaping?)

Hydrangea macrophylla Eclipse®

Succulent perfection!

Time to make my way up and see what's at house level, of course I had to stop and admire things along the way.

Wowsa, that's a green wall back drop!

Some of those "aeoniums in profusion" mentioned in the garden description.

Sinopanax formosanus

The meeting of the saxifrage.

Pyrrosia lingua ‘Hiryu’, I believe.

Blechnum spicant, aka Struthiopteris spicant

One of the painted ferns, Athyrium niponicum, I never can tell them apart.

Adiantum aleuticum var. subpumilim

A few of my fellow Flingers, taking it all in.

Bonnie is definitely not afraid of bold color, and I love the pot full of gardening tools.

Strobilanthes gossypinus

Leucadendron 'Ebony'

More of the plants up against the tall green wall hedge.

Hey, is that Red Fred? (Begonia 'Red Fred'), I need to ask Bonnie where she overwinters all of the not hardy plants, cause she has a lot of them.

Pyrrosia lingua 'Cristata'

Walking up to the deck/patio area at the front side of the home.

Marcia Donahue pottery mulch?

Our time here has drawn to a close...

Thanks for letting us wander around your beautiful garden Bonnie!

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All material © 2009-2025 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Froggsong, a Fling Garden

Froggsong Gardens was another "first day" garden during the 2024 Fling, and it was also our lunch spot where both buses stopped at the same time and we were all able to mingle.

The listing on Froggsong from our Fling brochure included this: "A five-acre estate garden...It is a blend of formal and informal design. A rose pergola, roundel garden, a stone ruin, and a sunken garden, all share a space that frames and defines the senses. I call this type of garden Northwest Formal..."

Looking at their website it's clear weddings are the primary target, and what a memorable venue this would be for a big gathering like that. 

I wasn't thinking of a wedding though when I set out to see what I could see on the property (lunch would have to wait).

The Fling was held over a weekend in late July and that meant lilies were blooming in nearly every garden we visited. Coincidently it was also my birthday weekend, which I share only to note that I've always been able to associate blooming lilies with my birthday, it's a wonderful marker of time.

I spy a Tetrapanax in the distance...

I think nearly every Flinger took a shot like this. 

Eventually I made my way down to the pond area.

And then over to this sort of "secret garden" spot. Naturally I was a fan of the containers.

Oh! Maybe this was the stone ruin mentioned in the description?

More exploring...

Nice pruning!

There was no way into that structure (a sort of greenhouse?), believe me I tried.

It's always good to spot a Yucca rostrata in the mix.

Even better when it's joined by an agave!

Frustrated clematis grower that I am I was quite jealous of this happy plant.

For some reason clematis just do not like my garden.

It took me awhile staring at this large pane of glass before I realized I was looking at a shower.

Walking on I came to this small Asian-inspired garden space.

And further still, Dierama pulcherrimum. I was able to grow these to blooming size in my garden for just two years, then they were shaded out. Oh how I love those flowers!

After I finally surrendered to the need for lunch, I explored this final section of the garden.

Maybe it's the sunken garden due to the bermed edges? There were lots of flying insects moving about, and Flingers too...

I'll wrap this post up with a photo of one of the most popular blooms in this part of the garden. Cephalaria gigantea, aka giant scabious or yellow scabious

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All material © 2009-2025 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.