2011 Mukilteo Garden & Quilt Tour & City Rank's #9 in Forbes

Of reasons that Mukilteo gets No. 9 on the list of best places to live, are the folks who graciously and enthusiastically volunteered to open their gardens for the 2011 Mukilteo Garden and Quilt Tour!

Those private gardens are normally the hidden gems that only friends and family get to share, but on July 16, they were visited by throngs of ticket holders who ‘oohed’ and ‘ahhed’ with delight!

The weather was not the best, but it didn’t spoil anyone’s day, as these local gardens were all created with so much time, sweat, money (plants and hardscape can get expensive!), artistic design – and don’t forget love

In addition to these spectacularly beautiful private gardens was the showcase of veggie gardens by the volunteers at the Mukilteo Community Garden. Even though the skies were gray, more people than ever came to this year’s garden and quilt tour.

Our regrets to anyone who missed coming, but it will be back in two years and that time is what we will need to find more Mukilteo gardens that can compare to these beauties.

On behalf of the Mukilteo Way Garden Club we give our sincere “thanks” to these gardeners who made the tour a success and our community the neighborly place we all enjoy

living in!

As our garden club begins its 78th year, we are able to fund many local projects with our portion of the tour proceeds. (The Mukilteo Lighthouse Quilters are the other half of the tour hosts – as well as our good friends!)

 Our involvement in this community began this week with the announcement of the recipient of this year’s horticulture scholarship. It was open to any individual who is pursuing any of the horticulture programs at Edmonds Community College.

 Kevin Myhre of Mountlake Terrace was chosen. He is currently employed as a landscaper while also seeking to broaden his knowledge and obtain his degree in Landscape Management and Installation Specialization. We hope the scholarship helps him fulfill his dreams!

 We also choose to support other local gardening and environmental projects outside of our club.

 The Japanese Gulch Group was recently given monetary support as part of our proceeds, as has the Mukilteo Community Garden, the Evergreen Arboretum and Compass Health, both of which are in Everett. Our members often donate their time to caring for gardens at many of these places, as well.

 If you have been to the new Rosehill building, you may have noticed the garden across from the main entry doors. We began work there this spring designing and planting a garden meant to look like a quilt.

 This garden is named “Crossing Paths,” as it recognizes the friendly bonds that have been made between the Mukilteo Way Garden Club and the Mukilteo Lighthouse Quilters in hosting our tour.

 Garden club members will maintain this garden and redesign it annually with new quilt-like designs.

 Since 1953, the garden club has also been involved with caring for the historic Fowler Pear Tree (thought to be the only remaining tree from the 1863 orchard), which overlooks the railroad tracks on Mukilteo Lane.

 Tour proceeds helped us purchase the new mulch that we spread there as part of our plans to improve this small park.

 Lastly, we would like to point out that we are able to provide an educational speaker program for the garden club. This year’s line-up begins with our local Mukilteo Wildlife Habitat program and then U.W. Associate Professor of Landscape Design Iain Robertson, growers from some of the northwest’s specialty nurseries, etc.

 Guests are always welcome at our meetings to share in these programs.

 We appreciate so much the talented garden owners and the dedicated members of the quilt guild, the generous local sponsors, all the special volunteers, and the city of Mukilteo and the Snohomish County Tourism Board for their support so that we can put on this local tour.

Thanks and we will see you again in 2013 at the next Mukilteo Garden and Quilt Tour !