A woodland art collector’s garden on Vashon Island
While touring the Carhart Garden at the Puget Sound Fling last month, I met one of the owners, Mary Carhart, who upon learning I was from Texas enthusiastically told me that she is from Texas too. Decades ago, she and husband Whit moved to Washington for work and fell in love with Vashon Island, and I can see why. It’s a short ferry ride and a world away from busy Seattle — likewise from mellow Tacoma, our home base for the Fling.
The couple created their 3-acre garden themselves starting in 2000, first planting up the space around the house, which overlooks Quartermaster Harbor, and then taming the steep slope as it climbs toward the road.
The entry garden, with a lovely wooden bench near the door and an enormous lavender-pink hydrangea in bloom, sets a welcoming tone.
As you explore you discover that the Carharts have filled their garden with art that evokes the Pacific Northwest, like these ravens perched on boulders.
A double gate off the driveway invites you in.
A potted banana glows in bright sunlight, its red foliage echoing chairs and a table along the lawn.
Another patio shaded by an umbrella is enclosed by bushy, upright grasses and a mix of golden plants.
In a clearing, a pink and yellow meadow in full flower surrounds an interesting sculpture with a cut-out piece.
Poppies were going to seed in a sunny patch overlooking the harbor.
Bees were seeking out the flowers.
Fern tables are popular in the cool, moist Pacific Northwest, and I saw them in many gardens, including this one. I don’t know exactly how this one was made, but it appears to be soil piled up on a flat, elevated surface, with branches, stone, and moss sort of holding it all together, and planted.
A colorful playhouse dwarfed by two of the massive trees on the property
Astrantia, a plant I so wish I could grow here in Texas. They tell me it’s practically a weed in the PNW.
Crocosmia in fiery flower
It blooms in a shadier spot too. Beyond, happy flowers are painted on a pink wall.
Several mosaic sculptures by local artist Clare Dohna appear throughout the garden, including this giant bug.
I first admired Clare’s work in the Portland garden Floramagoria, where she created a mosaic “rug” on the patio, as well as other pieces. I adore this tapestry-backed insect as well.
Abutilon making a color-echo with red chairs
Fabulous Corten planters in a gravel garden along the back of the house
And a fabulous view to match!
Zimbabwean artist Dominic Benhura created Relay Racers, a group of children running with batons in a grassy garden.
Figurative sculpture can be hit or miss for me in a garden, but I really enjoyed the playfulness and blocky texture of this work.
Purple coneflower, a friendly face from home
Astilbe
A mosaic sphere by Clare Dohna, elevated atop a red pot
Speaking of elevate, let’s climb. A winding stair leads up through a ferny, mossy garden toward a steel moon gate above.
Fern shadow
More fern and moss
At the top of the slope, a conifer has been trained along the steel structure of the moon gate.
You walk through, pausing to admire a bouquet of cones…
…and then a remarkable swimming pool disguised as a natural pond opens before you. It’s huge! With a tree-planted island!
I was agape over this pool-pond ringed with boulders and set in a forest of gigantic trees.
It’s so densely planted all around that you can’t even see the pool in this photo, although it’s just to the right. Can you imagine the experience of swimming here?
Up-slope, an Asian-style pergola shelters a small sitting area, which overlooks a boulder-strewn waterfall.
The path skirts to the side of the waterfall, giving you time to take it all in. A little ceramic bluebird perches on a mossy boulder along the way.
And a Clare Dohna bird sculpture too
The pergola offers shade on a summer day or an escape from misty rain in other seasons.
An inviting spot, it’s about halfway between the house and the upper garden.
From the pergola you look out over the waterfall to the swimming pool and, beyond that, the blue harbor.
Let’s continue uphill, where the garden becomes thickly forested.
Glancing back down toward the pergola
And pausing to admire the shaggy red bark of a tree
The upper garden mixes understory trees and conical evergreens with ferns and other perennials under tall straight trunks soaring skyward.
It felt very much of its place.
Complete with a giant mosaic slug!
Indian pink
At the street entrance, a tall gate — part of the deer fencing that surrounds the garden — is another work of art, with a metal tree studded with little birds…
…like this one…
…and a mosaic ring by Clare Dohna making a colorful tribute to the life of a garden.
Up next: Lunch at welcoming Froggsong Gardens. For a look back at the cheerful Halstead-Robinson Garden on Vashon Island, click here.
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There was so much in this garden, the upper woodland, the meadow, the grassy sitting area, the front entry and so much more. Just amazing.
I agree, Janet. It’s a big garden on multiple levels, and packed to the brim on each one.
My kinda’ garden!
Yes indeed. You would have loved exploring it, Jim.
Another garden that reinforces the importance of rooms and branching paths. Although I enjoyed the meandering paths descending down to the house, it was the lush green popping off the warm, sunny browns of the house that made me feel at home. Those tiny little tree islands in clear, cold water are so emblematic of the mountain lakes of the region. I could retire on one of those islands and would never want to leave.
Good point — I can see the wider landscape of the PNW represented in the design of the pool/pond. It’s incredibly clever and evocative of their place in the wider world.
It’s so enjoyable to see this garden through your lens and to experience its splendor once again
Thanks, Michelle. I appreciate that!
Wow, what a gorgeous garden. I love how they’ve created something that honors the local geography and plant life, while enhancing the natural beauty. And that pool!! What a gem. Thanks for sharing it with us.
It was my pleasure, Maggie. I’m glad you enjoyed the tour!
I absolutely loved this garden and the warmth and generosity of its guardians. The variety of interesting trees and woodland plants captured my interest for so long, so much so, I found I had to hurry around the gardens down around the house. I loved the backdrop of the harbour….glimpses of it from between the trees. What an incredibly diverse garden housing some great pieces of art. I loved the Salmon leaping up in the river of Hakenochloa macra, the relay racers and the numerous resting spaces throughout. The wooden deck at the top of the garden was a great space for Flingers to sit atop the garden and gaze and what Whit and Mary Carhart have created. I wish I could go back and see it again. Your photos have really helped!
Thanks, Avril. It was a marvelous garden to explore!