Lakewold Gardens, Part Deux - The Woodland Garden

Lakewold Gardens has an extensive woodland garden in addition to their English Garden. I don't mind saying that the woodland garden was by far my favorite part of Lakewold. The Woodland Garden begins upon exiting the teahouse.

The path from the teahouse take you to the Shade garden and the Wolf tree, a multi-branched douglas fir hundreds of years old. I understand there are Himalayan blue poppies that bloom in this garden in May/June. Alas, arriving in late July, I was too late to see those wonders of nature:



closer:



A large lace leaf maple resides here. It was tough to take a photo of it in the deep shade of this garden with my little point and shoot, but I think this picture captures the twisted structure of the maple:



A moss encrusted Buddha also lies hidden within this garden space under a bonsai pine and amongst the ferns:



Exiting the shade garden, a path leads you to a garden room in the deep shade of the woodland:



As one sits and rests in this peaceful place, they will soon notice some garden sculptures hidden here both on the ground and up above:





Exit this room and a woodland trail leads even farther down the hill:



Native foliage along the pathway:



Next we pass a grove of ferns and azalea:





Passing the ferns, we arrive at a man made pond and stream that appear to be part of the natural landscape. It begins under a Japanese maple and runs down the slope from there:



and creates a waterfall:





and a pool:



water plants along edge of pool:



Along the edge of the stream grow various japanese maples,ferns, and conifers (you know, those plants we can't grow in Austin):



I can't remember what type of conifer the one on the right of this photo is, but I really liked its weeping form:



Moving along the path and below the stream, the trail opens onto a view of Gravelly lake beyond some ancient-looking junipers:



Continuing along past the lake, we move back into the woods and into the next garden room 'Picnic Point'. Here is a giant picnic table made of large split logs:



A pot of succulents sits in the middle of the table as a natural centerpiece:



Moving past natural the dining area, the path again opens up, this time looking back up towards the house:



Looking across the lawn to the far side of the property are more maples and a japanese lantern:



Walking back up the trail through the woods, the woodland trail terminates just past this tree that stretches across the path, dropping you out back near the duck topiaries:



Just when I thought I was done with my tour, I noticed that Lakewold Gardens has a little garden shop on the way out. Within this shop I discovered the biggest selection of gardening tools in the state of Washington! And I'm talking high-quality garden tools - none of that big-box store crap. Just look at this gardening tool wonderland! *swoon*:



I really, really wanted this 5-tine cultivator, but decided I might not be able to get it back through security on the plane. I should have just mailed it to myself:



They also had the most ginormous selection of Bonsai tools I have ever seen:



And on the way out I spotted this really cool bell. It appears to be Japanese, but I'm no expert. All I know is it was really keen and I think it would look just splendid in my garden, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't for sale: