Garden and beach views at Point Defiance Park

After taking the ferry backmost to Tacoma, the Puget Sound Fling buses stopped successful Point Defiance Park for a speedy look astatine the nationalist gardens there. Point Defiance is simply a jewel for Tacoma: a 760-acre parkland that includes a zoo and aquarium, gardens, beaches, bluffs, trails, a boardwalk, boathouse, and 400 acres of old-growth forest.

I was excessively engaged talking to instrumentality galore pics of the gardens, but I couldn’t defy these fluffy, color-drenched hydrangeas.

Fuchsias are amusive to spot successful a plot — truthful exotic for this Texan.

One much hydrangea

Owen Beach

Before the Fling began, my hubby and I had an other time successful Tacoma, and we explored Owen Beach astatine Point Defiance Park. At a tiny plaza adjacent to the beach, a woody orca sculpture seems to aboveground done the paving.

What a chill portion of art, and truthful evocative of the region.

A fewer families were celebrating birthdays on the beach, and 1 radical was gamely soaking successful the chilly h2o of the sound. But it was a mellow vibe, with seagulls crying, waves lapping the pebbly beach, and achromatic sailboats drifting.

These are not the wide-open, sandy beaches of Texas oregon my South Carolina childhood. Trees turn on the beach, bluffs plunge down to conscionable the sea, and a snow-capped Mount Rainier rises supra the h2o successful the distance. Wave-sanded histrion trunks littering the enactment marque convenient driftwood benches.

As we walked on the beach, a seal lifted its caput retired of the h2o to look around. As we got nether the formation trees and began clambering implicit driftwood, I said, “This is wild. I wonderment if we’ll spot different seal.” On cue, 1 popped up! Staring hard astatine the water, I said, “Do you deliberation I tin manifest an orca now?” Alas not this time, but it’s happened before.

What a magical place. As the prima sank debased and sailboats cruised toward harbor, we headed backmost toward the mountain.

Up next: Happy hr astatine the stunning, rock-terraced Gray Garden. For a look backmost astatine colorful Froggsong Gardens, click here.

I invited your comments. Please scroll to the extremity of this station to permission one. If you’re speechmaking successful an email, click present to sojourn Digging and find the remark container astatine the extremity of each post. And hey, did idiosyncratic guardant this email to you, and you privation to subscribe? Click present to get Digging delivered straight to your inbox!

__________________________

Digging Deeper

Come larn astir gardening and plan astatine Garden Spark! I signifier in-person talks by inspiring designers, scenery architects, authors, and gardeners a fewer times a twelvemonth successful Austin. These are limited-attendance events that merchantability retired quickly, truthful articulation the Garden Spark email database to beryllium notified successful advance; simply click this nexus and inquire to beryllium added. Season 8 kicks disconnected successful autumn 2024. Stay tuned for much info!

All worldly © 2024 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The station Garden and formation views astatine Point Defiance Park appeared archetypal connected Digging.