4/27/2007 11:01:00 AM Destination gardens Two local gardens that beckon islanders and visitors to wander
Mary Evitt / For the Examiner
Maxwell Anderson, an employee at Lavender Wind Farm, spreads organic compost in preparation for planting around the newly-installed pond.
Mary Evitt / For the Examiner
Lee and Lori Spear soak up sunshine at their Hummingbird Farm Nursery and Gardens north of Coupeville.
At a glance
Lavender Wind Farm
Where: 2530 Darst Road.
Information: Call 877-242-7716 or visit www.lavenderwind.com
Hummingbird Farm Nursery and Gardens
Where: 2319 Zylstra Rd.
Information: Call 360-679-5044 or visit www.hummingbirdfarmnursery.com
By Mary Evitt For the Examiner
Everyone has their own idea of a garden paradise, but few people turn their garden dreams into a reality to share with other enthusiasts.
Not so Sarah Richards who developed Lavender Wind Farm and Lori and Lee Spear who are restoring Hummingbird Farm Nursery into a destination for gardening fans. Both of these gardens are open year 'round on Central Whidbey.
Lavender Wind Farm
Sarah Richards offers visitors a feast for all the senses at Lavender Wind Farm near Coupeville.
She works with the natural beauty of her 8.75 acres on Darst Road, overlooking sweeping views of the Olympic Mountains and the Strait of Juan De Fuca. She's planted drifts of fragrant lavender and colorful floral gardens. Now she's adding streams and a pond to the labyrinth and other attractive features to this destination for garden enthusiasts.
The field was being used to grow hay when she recognized a potential Eden back in 1998. It fit with her philosophy for creating a public garden.
"That was part of it, to share my blessings of being able to come here and derive pleasure from the farm and to share the beauty with other people," she said.
The land was farmed for at least 100 years before she arrived. It lies within the Ebey's Landing Historical Reserve. Richards bought the land from the late Gerald Darst, who grew potatoes as part of his crop rotation.
"We plant a memorial row of Yellow Finn potatoes each year in honor of him," she said.
Initially, Richards wasn't sure if the land would support her horticultural ideas, so she consulted with Don Meehan, an agricultural extension agent for Washington State University.
"You'd better grow something that doesn't need much water," he advised.
She doesn't have an irrigation source and this part of the island only gets about 16 inches of rain because it's sheltered by the rainshadow of the Olympic Mountains. The bluff also faces into the prevailing west wind, and is buffeted regularly by drying and damaging wind gusts.
The growing conditions are perfect for lavender, she recognized. She had spent a year living in Provence, a prime lavender-growing region of France.
She started with nine plants on the windy side of the farm. By the fall of 2000, she grew 400 lavender plants. The following summer she sold fresh lavender and lavender craft items at local markets and fairs.
Now she grows nine varieties, about 9,000 plants, with more coming when a recently acquired field is ready for planting. And she produces a variety of products that are sold at the farm shop, including such unusual items as lavender-flavored ice cream, jams and jellies. Lavender hangs in fragrant bouquets from the ceiling, while shelves are filled with everything from soap to candles to lavender oils.
She employs seven part-time staff and two full-timers, one of whom is herself, to run this complex and demanding year-round enterprise.
Maybe Richards' earlier life experiences provided perfect basic training for taking on Lavender Wind Farm.
"I'm a multi-careered person," she told a visitor recently, while sharing hunks of toast spread with her delectable jellies.
She hails from an East Coast academic family, so returning to school several times over the years to enable career changes was second nature. Her eclectic collection of careers includes a stint as a one of the first female telephone installers in Denver, computer programming at the New York College of Veterinary Medicine and mental health counseling in Oregon.
Her persistent agricultural stirrings date back to childhood.
She grew up in Martha's Vineyard, where the soil is a rich, sandy loam.
"It's all about the dirt," she said of her search for a farm to call home.
In her travels, she encountered various soil types, but nothing tugged at her until she visited Western Washington. Friends had moved to Port Angeles and that led her to visiting central Whidbey in her quest for a new home.
Finding a place to set down roots turned out to be simple. She spotted a huge "for sale by owner" sign for the land on Darst Road. Then she touched the soil.
"It's sandy loam. I know I'm home," she recalled thinking at the time of the encounter.
Soon her farming urges rooted in the fertile soil and she was producing more fresh lavender than she could sell. She set her sights on creating products that utilize the crop and developing events to bring visitors to the farm, not only at peak-bloom season in July but throughout the year for artistic gatherings, games and other activities.
Bev McQuary works in the office, and in marketing and manufacturing.
"Sarah is amazing. She's my hero," McQuary said.
Richards is definitely a multi-tasker.
A door is delivered for the gazebo, she tells employee Maxwell Anderson how to prepare the edges of the new pond, a tour bus empties a load of visitors into the driveway - one that Richards forgot was scheduled.
Richards takes it all in stride. She directs the tourists to the garden and calmly takes her place in the shop where she can answer questions about products and about the lavender and other plants she has for sale.
"Welcome to Lavender Wind Farm," she greets the visitors filing into the shop.
Hummingbird Farm & Nursery Lee Spear is returning to his horticultural roots at Hummingbird Farm Nursery and Gardens.
He is the fifth generation in the nursery business and he's continuing the tradition by running the farm with his wife and children.
The place is aptly named. The grounds are reminiscent of a trip to "The Secret Garden," plants tumbling in profusion inside a picket fence painted periwinkle blue. The trees and bushes resound with bird song.
"It's a wildlife habitat," Lee Spear said.
He's making sure. He has built birdhouses and bat houses that are positioned among the branches. Groups of school children visit to learn about the interconnection of soil, plants and wildlife.
The Spears have accomplished plenty in the few years they have lived on the 2.37 acre-parcel in a park-like setting at the corner of Fort Nugent and Zylstra roads.
An unusual array of perennials, garden furniture and art items are displayed around two greenhouses filled with plants. A shade house displays even more specimens. Lori Spear turned a rustic green building into a shop filled with garden-themed giftware.
She enjoys shopping for one-of-a-kind treasures for the shop.
"It's so much fun," she said.
She used to dust her grandma's teacup collection. Now she's got shelves of china and glassware of her own to tend, amid a potpourri of toys, jewelry, art and books.
Lee Spear is completing a barn where the Spears already hosted several special events.
The Spears' route to the farm was serendipitous, the result of a chance encounter when they were visiting relatives in 2001. The Spears were regular Washington visitors. Lori Spear had moved to California with her parents in the 1950s; she still missed the mountains and trees.
Lee grew up in rural Texas. He learned of the beauty of the Northwest while reading historical tales. He credits his maternal grandma with educating him about horticulture when he was a teenager working in her nursery.
The Spears dreamed of living in Washington and raising their two children in a small rural community.
The couple was visiting relatives in Anacortes and looking for property on Whidbey in 2001 when they found Hummingbird Farm Nursery for sale. They made an offer and within a few days were proud farm owners.
Lori was drawn to Whidbey because it boasts two hospitals. She is a labor and delivery nurse and currently works at the hospital at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. Lee is a retired building contractor who studied the sciences in college; he wanted his next job close to home.
The farm deal moved a little quicker than they thought because they were in the process of building a house in San Jose, Calif. As soon as the house was finished, they sold it and moved themselves and their two children north in 2002. The following year they re-opened the nursery on a small scale and have literally been growing ever since.
When not helping birth babies, Lori is busy running the gift shop. Lee goes out the back door of the farmhouse to nurture plants and seedlings in the greenhouse. And when not in school, teenagers Thomas and Emma Spear help their parents with everything from weeding to selling in the shop.
"This really is a family-run business," Lee Spear said.
Future plans call for expanding the garden into the corner field next to the barn, adding water features and weaving walkways through the trees and bushes. A wide strip fronting the barn will blaze with colorful blooms for cutting and drying during the summer and fall.
And the Spears are working to restore specialty gardens that got overtaken by weeds while the nursery was untended during the change in ownership. First, Lee is working on the Moon Garden, a patch where he's rescuing silvery plants, some that are evening blooming. Next comes the Hummingbird, Butterfly and Fragrance gardens.
Lee offers a standing invitation to garden-less gardeners who want to help with weeding and planting to come join in the horticultural adventures. Who knows what rare plant specimens await discovery? If not, the rolling hills, birdsong and mountain views provide enough inspiration.
For folks with gardens, Lee offers plant seminars and workshops where he shares his expertise and personal philosophy.
Gardening is often hard work, but shouldn't become just another chore.
"The key is not to take gardening or ourselves too seriously. Do only those gardening activities that you enjoy and forget the rest," he advises.
