Restful Facade hides a hive of activity

Shaded morning chairlift perch
Photo by Lee Rolfe

By Lee Rolfe

Do you ever walk your dog down a quiet residential street and wonder about the yard that lies behind that comfortable little single-storied house? You could stop the advance of your eager friend and consult an aerial view on Google Maps. 

Or, mark your calendar for June 20, 2026 the date of the 22nd annual Secret Gardens of Lake Forest Park Tour. This year’s event affords you a whole Saturday to explore six imaginative gardens, each of them enhanced by live onsite music, plein air artists, and the company of fellow garden makers.

One such garden on this year’s tour lies behind a conifer-shaded house with an air of introspection. Although the Little Free Library out front suggests a house of physical languor, the comfortable little single-storied house hides a deep back lot filled with colorful activity and industriousness. 

Here among the many plants lie two outdoor points of repose and two indoor points of personal craft and professionalism.

The first outdoor point is an open air platform swing recalling alpine adventures. Sitters can sway, overlooking colorful perennial beds, bird feeding stations, and the neighbor’s evergreen property line. 

The second outdoor point is a shaded, vine-draped open air patio, furnished with cushioned seating for seasonal gatherings. It must have hosted many grateful friends during COVID times, as a point of fragrant, ventilated shelter.

A frisbee’s throw from these open-air destinations are two additional mini-structures, both eaved and hospitable in all weather. 

One, a writer’s hideaway painted pea green with coral trim could have been transplanted from Astrid Lindgren’s imagination. The owner occupies it near daily to focus and create. 

The other, a zinc-white, porched and bell-towered little bungalow could have sprung from a village in north Marin County. This building serves as the newer home of a long-standing professional practice, ending many years of commuting to a distant office space.

Although the scores of tulips blazing there today will be gone by June, the buildings’ paint trims echo their palette. There will be painted accents of vivid magenta, paprika red, and Scandinavian golds holding forth against the gray-green of winter.

While the structure of the garden owes much to these built environments, the plants occupy center stage. Doug fir, cedar, magnolia, cherry and many rhododendrons fulfill the woody role. The vines onsite include wisteria, honeysuckle, and three cultivars of grape are developing their chops. 

Creeping Jenny, sweet woodruff, and forget-me-nots edge the beds. These days they are filled with chartreuse euphorbia, glossy bold acanthus leaves, and a many textured collection of ferns and bamboo. The timber-bordered beds contain hosta, rose, peony, hydrangea, iris, geranium and foxglove; in the owner’s words, many “generous-spirited plants”.

The accomplished gardener-owners and their now adult children have all contributed to the success of this garden. The former can be consulted for insights on plant-sourcing, how to interest teens in doing garden maintenance, the benefits of applying six yards of mulch, and the merits of enlisting a certified arborist. Their pets can comment on the ingenuity of rabbits and coyotes on the block.

Check it out!

Buy tickets here

Secret Gardens of Lake Forest Park Garden Tour and Market
Saturday, June 20, 2026
9:00 am - 3:00 pm

Gardens throughout Lake Forest Park

Map Pick up - Third Place Commons

17171 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park WA 98155