July 2019 Newsletter

Upcoming Classes & Gardening Tips

August 3, 2019 – Summer Art / Craft Market – Free – 10 am – 6 pm – new artists added!
October 26, 2019 – Nettle Cordage – Kaili Marsyna
October 27, 2019 – Cedar Bark Basketry Pouch – Kaili Marsyna

To register and pay go to our website www.cultusbaygardens.com

We just finished an inspiring class taught by Jason Jorgensen of Third Spring Landscape on Dynamic Drought Tolerant gardening. After a power point, lunch, pie & plant purchasing from Jason we headed to an incredible garden done by Louise Abbott & husband Dave.

We were all astounded and impressed by the layout of the garden and the huge selection of plants – most unusual, some rare & all totally inspiring. I look forward to adding some of their treasures to my own garden.

The beautiful Silver Broom in above photo is a huge specimen in their garden – Adenocarpus decorticans!! unreal and so stunning as well as very large,

A yummy lunch & pie in the lathe house before we all bought plants Jason brought up from Xera Nursery in Portland.

Salvia g. ‘Radio Red’ – one of many fantastic salvias in the garden we toured.

The Summer Art & Craft Market is fast approaching!

Linda and I are working hard to make our first Summer Market a fun & memorable event for all.

We have a great group of people selling their wares and we have some creative ideas on how to decorate the space. We sure hope you will hold AUGUST 3 from 10 am – 6 pm to stop by.

Leah Nguyen of PlanetPaintPeople will have these dynamic block printed kitchen blessing towels along with PNW flower essences she has made and other items as well. She’s a diverse and talented artist.

Siri Bardarson is both an accomplished cellist and Ipad artist. She’ll have her sketches and cards for sale – all so fresh and spontaneous. Some of Siri’s larger works will also hang in the lathe house.

Laura Hudson’s paintings of animals can’t help but make you feel you know the animal! She captures their energy and form to perfection. She’ll have both large and small paintings available. We’ll hang some of the larger ones in the lathe house where the refreshments will be.

Linda Apsitis has been very busy creating a whole new collection for this market. Many who come to our Holiday Open House will know her for her wonderful bird image art.

This market it’s all about Cactus and Succulents. The collages she brought over for me to photograph have blown me away. Detail and perfection. Truly fantastic. She’s also making Kokedama – a Japanese technique of growing plants in a ball of moss – to hang inside or outside. We can count on many surprises from Linda.

She has no IG, FB or Etsy site – so her work is seen exclusively at Cultus Bay Gardens!

Another wonderful artist at the August 3 Summer Arts & Crafts Market, Luanne Seymour will have her diverse zipper bags. Some have block prints like the rabbits, some have pieced materials with much stitching. All are from garment industry up-cycled materials making them environmentally good in addition to her diverse creative combinations.

Gardening Tips and Pruning Projects

An old garden I put in 18 years ago – the crabapples in front had gotten larger than he wanted so I did some major pruning to open it out. Fritz likes it feeling less cloistered.

Another pruning job at a new client.

This wonderful magnolia was curving way down, coming into the driveway as well as weaving up through the ceanothus.

Instead of taking it out completely I asked to let me try to prune it first to see if we could save it.

It worked out to everyone’s satisfaction and I’m glad we can see the interesting curving branches at the base as well as preserve an old plant with gorgeous flowers

A family of quail have been born somewhere in the borders at the gardens. One of the big treats is to watch the young mature.

Just last week the brood of 11 youngins came out of the thick border, scurried across the lawn, feed a bit, then marched down the stone path on the west side of the house under the katsura tree. They rounded the corner and hopped up onto the brick terrace where they foraged for awhile on all kinds of seeds.

The male, in addition to keeping a close lookout for predators, proceeded to reach just up above his head height to peck at the small European white Strawberry! At first I thought he was just eating the exterior seeds but he proceeded to eat the whole thing, then efficiently wipe his beak on the brick napkin!!

It was a magical evening to follow them around the house.

As soon as the male decided it was time to leave he hopped down the brick stairs to the driveway below. The entire family followed suit and foraged in the seedy driveway. Good reason to have a somewhat wild garden. NO pristine sprayed driveways for me. I prefer quail and bird habitat.

August 3, 2019 ~ Summer Art / Craft Market
Saturday, 10am – 6pm

We have a fun selection of artist/craftspeople participating in our first Summer Market. Fiber artists, jewelers, ceramics, plants, flower essences, mandala rocks and more. Below are just some of the folks participating.

Save the date and come join the experience in the gardens at Cultus Bay.

Tom Fisher ~ Wooden Wares

From building our house and outbuildings to carving salad bowls, spoons and cutting boards, Tom’s woodwork is beautifully done and filled with soul from his deep appreciation of each special piece of wood. One of a kind items from boxes to boards—all delightful!

Jane Jeszeck – Vintage Cigarette Cards

Jane retired from book design but takes her passion for paper, color, and imagery to create these delightful cards using vintage cigarette pack stiffeners from the 1920’s Great Britain.

Luanne Seymour ~ Zipper Bags

Luanne is a self proclaimed recovering graphic artist! After many years working as a Creative Director at Adobe she left and returned to designing primarily with fabric and thread. She loves collaborating with other artists with a goal of reducing amount of fabric that would end up in a landfill.

IG @luanne.seymour

Leah Meridoc Nguyen ~ Flower Essences

Handprinted Dishtowels, Truffles, Cards, and more

A diverse and talented artist Leah will bring a variety of things she works on, from healing flower essences she has crafted from local plants, her art work applied to dishtowels to brighten those kitchen duties and her incredible truffles which are dairy free and made with coconut sugar—truly delicious.

IG @planetpaintpeople

Tuna tenugui dress with plain front decorative back – modeled by Leah Nguyen

Mary Fisher ~ Maemae Sew & more

Handmade clothing, tops and dresses using a carefully selected group of fabrics chosen for style and comfort. All material pre-washed and dried so there’s no guess work.

Jams, jellies, preserves made from local fruits from the gardens using a low sugar approach. Ramilleta paper cutout cards and botanical delight cards, and perhaps some small fresh fruit pies.

Healing comphrey salve for wounds and rashes.

IG @maemaesew

Grace Gow ~ Jewelry

From casual to Northwest elegant, Cat McCadden will have a selection of her jewelry available. From gold stud barnacle earrings with diamond insets to crab claw open chains for a more hip relaxed look, Cat’s jewelry exhibits a broad range.

@gracegowjewelry

Laura Hudson ~ Painter

Laura is a local artist whose work as been in galleries, as well as at Prima Bistro in Langley. Well-known for her farm animals and beguiling chickens—from paintings to sketches, her work emits a warm friendly presence.

IG @laurahudsonartist

Darcy Sinclair ~ Jeweler

Darcy recently moved to Whidbey full time. I first noticed her work when she came into the nursery a couple years ago. After commenting on how lovely it was, I asked it she’d like to be part of a market. She only retails in one location in Edmonds so I feel lucky she wants to join us at the summer market. Her work is delicate and sensitive. Darcy will be demo working on a piece while at the market.

darcysinclair.com

Cara Jung ~ Potter

Cara will be bringing her more practical ceramic work to the market—vases, plates and who knows what else. She also does more sculptural work which can be seen in a local gallery on Whidbey.

IG @carajungpottery

Jenny Smith ~ Magnolia Curve Ceramics

Vases, cups, vessels and more with a variety of glazes—recently inspired by a workshop she attended in the east, she continues to explore new avenues of marrying clay shapes with glaze. You can see her work on IG @magnoliacurveceramics

Rosi Gross-Smith ~ Bookbinder/Boxmaker

Rosi’s master’s degree in Bookbinding and restoration has lead her to up-cycling old cigar boxes with a beautiful mixture of papers. From organizing to holding special letters, jewelry or tea storage, her boxes can serve a variety of uses. She recently retired from many years at the Southern Poverty Law Center and is looking forward to a move west and getting back to her creative outlet.

Greg Warnick ~ Potter

From plates to large vessels and small sweet spoons, Greg finds inspiration in natural forms, seed pods and his many hikes into the mountains of the PNW. His love of an organic look and connection to earth shows in his style. I’m delighted he can join for the Summer Market since he was unable to be at our Holiday Open House last year.

IG @gryphyx

Renee Boyce ~ Painted Rock Mandalas

Renee has a clear focus on the dot patterns that make up her very popular and detailed rocks—from a stone that stays in place to a stone which is incorporated into a pendant—you will be drawn into the fine work and detail she achieves. When I first saw them, I was reminded of the wonderful patterns on a sea urchin shell. Renee will be demo painting while at the market.

IG @freelandartshack

Brittany Olsen-Boblitt ~ Hand Spun & Dyed Yarn

From raising her own sheep and rabbits to procuring wonderful materials from other farmers, Brittany turns out gorgeous yarn both blended and solid. A knitting and crocheting paradise of selection. She will also bring her spinning wheel and demo her work.

IG @yarnbob

Sandra Wallace ~ Jeweler

Since learning how to hand solder silver jewelry ten years ago, Sandra has been creating personalized pendants and bridal bouquet memorial keepsakes for her shop on Etsy. She is putting together a special selection of pieces for the August Market, featuring pressed flowers and ferns from England and her family’s home country of Latvia. Her custom work can be seen at her Etsy shop link: https://www.etsy.com/shop/glassrealm

Linda Apsitis ~ Kokedama & other surprises!

Linda is known for a wide variety of well-crafted items she has made for our Holiday Open House each year. For the Summer Market she’s doing new things—the Japanese technique of Kokedama being one of them—come be delighted.

Siri Bardarson ~ Giclee prints

Siri is an ipad digital artist with an emotional hotline to beauty. If she sees something and it hums to her she draws it! As she says “My work is always “live” in an attempt to capture a moment, and I finish drawing in one session. I want the energy of the moment to be captured in the image. My technique is gestural, sometimes using a stylus or sometimes just my finger.

Prints and cards from the world of beauty she sees.