Garden Tour is this weekend!

Share a summer afternoon with a friend, stroll through the fir forests, traverse winding garden paths and get free garden tips from experts. Tickets are available at many Island businesses and at VAA all weekend.

In addition to five bountiful gardens, hear live music, view art and shop Garden Market (with rare plant sale by Robinswood Nursery). Garden Tour music will include Con Brio Ensemble, a classical violin quartet at Todd and Mary Margaret Pearson’s garden. Nonesuch, a Celtic trio comprised of Marilyn Kleyn, flute, Nicholas Anderson, bouzouki and Steve Austin, fiddle, will play at Bruce Fillinger and Barry Foster’s garden. Harpist Leslie McMichael will perform at Sylvia Soholt’s garden Saturday afternoon. The Magpies (Steve Amsden, Jean Richstad, Dan Brown and Cliff Simpson) perform at Garden Market Saturday, noon to 1. And they become Geordie’s Byre on Sunday with the addition of Jasper Forrester, Wally Bell, Rochelle Munger and Mindy Mandy-Little.

Thanks to seminar coordinator Melissa Schafer, this year’s Tour experience will include more garden talks than ever. Speakers include Jan Nielsen and Jonathan Morse, Dave Hunter and Sara Van Fleet, Melissa Schafer and the Lavender Sisters, Leda Langley and Tom Conway, David Pfeiffer, Sylvia Soholt, Barry Foster and Whit Carhart. Each brings a wealth of experience and knowledge and will inspire you to try something new in your own garden. Complete seminar schedule available at vashonalliedarts.org.

Remember to stop by Garden Market on the K2 lawn, an arts event in itself, and open to the public featuring goods by more than 20 artists, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., all weekend. Raffle tickets are available for a chance to win up to $500 of useful gardening supplies and/or services generously donated by Island businesses.

This year, nine artists will be featured in the gardens and more than 20 will participate in Garden Market. In addition, 13 artists embellished ewers (watering cans) available by silent auction at Garden Market on Tour weekend.

Here’s what to expect in the gardens: Gregory Burnham’s bamboo screens and Steve Zartman’s metal sculpture in the Soholt garden; Clare Dohna’s tiled creatures and David Erue’s large metal sculpture in the Carhart garden; Brian Brenno’s cut can metal sculpture and Jim Chobot’s furniture in the Fillinger/Foster garden; Dean Hanmer’s large cement humanoids and Barbara Wells’ bronze and glass in the Pearson garden; and Charlotte Masi’s painted gourds in the Pfieffer/Klein garden. "The goal with art in the garden is to fit art with the landscape that both enhances the garden and showcases the artists," according to Mike Urban and Catherine Maclean Urban, volunteer art coordinators.

Ewer artists used the classic metal vessel as their canvas. The one-of-a-kind silent auction pieces showcase the originality and creativity of these Island artists: Mary Rothermel, Hita von Mende, Joy Mann, Haley Mosteller, Mary M. Briggs, Kristen Reitz Green, Hartmut Reimnitz, Ilse Reimnitz, Alison Trundle, Margi Amstrup, Nancy Foster Moss, Amy Mercer and Britt Freda. Enter your bids!

All proceeds benefit Vashon Allied Arts’ programs. Special thanks to lead sponsors Puget Sound Energy, Vashon Thriftway, John L. Scott, Island Home Center and & Lumber, JR Crawford and Palouse Winery. Additional planting seeds sponsors include Giraffe, The Hardware Store Restaurant, Kathy’s Corner, DIG Floral & Garden, Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie and Minglement and The Country Store & Gardens and Colvos Creek Nursery.

VAA 22nd Annual Garden Tour: Saturday and Sunday, June 23 & 24, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., Tickets: $25 per person. For more information and tickets, go to www.VashonAlliedArts.org.