Tour My Gardens

Once upon a time, I moved into a 1920 beach cottage filled with potential, with views of the gorgeous Puget Sound in Washington State.

I never imagined that one day I’d grow gorgeous flowers and create cozy cottage-style gardens that overlook our charming bay.

Over the years, with lots of love and learning, I’ve transformed this property into a blooming haven that truly feels like home.

A Unique Property with a Front-Yard Surprise

From the street, you can see the beauty we’ve created. While most people online assume our garden and water views are in the backyard, the reality is very different.

With the backyard shaded and sloped, the front yard became the perfect place to capture sunlight and showcase our greenhouse, cottage, and cut flower garden.

Above is a view of our beach cottage and greenhouse from the street.

The Deck: Our Front-Row Seat to the View

One of the first projects we tackled was building the deck off the front of the house.

Before this, there wasn’t anywhere to sit and enjoy the stunning water views. The deck has become our favorite spot to relax, sip coffee, and watch the bay change with the seasons.

The plants and shrubs were so overgrown you couldn’t see out the windows.

We spend so much time out here on the deck entertaining and relaxing.

There’s nothing like a summer barbeque to celebrate the season.

There’s plenty of room to enjoy the view with several summer outdoor spaces on the deck.

We even use the deck in the winter when it’s not raining. Because the deck is made of ironwood, it is fire resistant, so we can enjoy the firepit.

The Cut Flower Garden: A Colorful Labor of Love

Growing flowers has turned out to be a true joy for me. I love snipping blooms from my cut flower garden to brighten up the house and give to friends.

It’s hard to believe that my cut flower garden started out like this.

Zinnias are one of my favorite cut flowers. They could be the easiest flowers I grow.

In spring, I grow tulips in the raised beds before transplanting the summer seedlings.

My Cut Flowers

Let me share my favorite annual flowers I grow in the garden.

Zinnias

These cut flowers are practically the perfect cut flower for both beginners and seasoned gardeners. They bloom like crazy all summer and produce fresh flowers the more you cut them.

What I love most about zinnias is their incredible range. You can find them in pretty much every color except blue, from soft pastels to bold, vibrant shades that really pop in a vase.

These hardy flowers are easy to grow from seed and don’t need much fuss. Once they start blooming, each flower lasts about a week in a vase, and they won’t drop pollen all over your table like some other flowers do.

Plus, butterflies and bees absolutely love them, so you’re getting a two-for-one deal: beautiful bouquets for your home and a bustling pollinator party in your garden.

Cosmos

These airy, dancing blooms with long stems have an effortless, wildflower vibe that makes every bouquet look like it was casually picked from a meadow. Cosmos bloom from summer until frost.

These low-maintenance flowers aren’t picky about their soil and don’t need much water once they get going. They come in gorgeous shades of pink, white, and deep burgundy, and some varieties even have double flowers that look like little pom-poms.

Snapdragons

These overachievers have charming spikes of blooms that start flowering in spring when most other flowers are still thinking about waking up.

Snapdragons are worth starting early indoors because they’ll reward you with multiple harvests. When you think they’re done, you can cut them back, and they’ll send up another series of blooms. Once established, they’re surprisingly tough and can even handle a light frost.

For anyone looking to have flowers from early spring until late fall, snapdragons are absolute must-haves in the cutting garden.

Strawflowers

These gorgeous flowers look dried even when they’re fresh. The papery blooms have this amazing crinkly texture that feels almost like they’re made of straw.

What makes strawflowers special is their superpower as everlasting flowers. While they’re beautiful as fresh cut flowers in bouquets, they really shine when you dry them. Cut them before they’re fully open, and hang them upside down.

Strawflowers are tough little plants that can handle heat and don’t need much water. Just give them full sun and well-draining soil, and they’ll reward you with armloads of these unique blooms that look almost too perfect to be real.

Sweet Peas

Sweet peas are incredibly fragrant climbers that make your whole garden smell incredible. These delicate-looking flowers send out these twirling tendrils that’ll climb up anything they can grab onto.

They come in the prettiest colors, from soft pastels to deep jewel tones. The trick with sweet peas is getting them started early. They love cool weather with weeks of blooms before the summer heat kicks in.

The more you pick, the more they bloom. Don’t forget to deadhead and harvest your sweet peas, or they’ll think their job is done and stop flowering.

Sunflowers

There’s something magical about growing these towering blooms that start from tiny seeds and end up taller than you are in just a few months. While most people think of the classic yellow giants, sunflowers actually come in this amazing range of colors, from deep burgundy to cream, and even some gorgeous rusty oranges and chocolatey browns.

What makes sunflowers shine as cut flowers is how versatile they are. The big traditional ones make stunning statement pieces on their own, but the branching varieties will produce dozens of smaller blooms perfect for bouquets all summer.

Plant them in stages every few weeks if you want continuous blooms, and stake the tall varieties for support.

Yarrow

These flat-topped clusters of tiny flowers might look delicate, but they’re actually tough and will grow pretty much anywhere you plant them. They come in gorgeous colors such as terracotta, fuchsia, peachy cream, soft yellow, and dusty rose, adding a fabulous vintage feel to bouquets and dried arrangements.

What makes yarrow unique is its versatility. It’s three flowers in one. Use it fresh in summer bouquets, dry it for fall arrangements, or leave it in your garden, which’ll feed pollinators.

Yarrow plants are low-maintenance. The more you cut them, the more they branch out and bloom.

The Cottage Style Garden: Vintage Charm and Ever-Changing Views

Our cottage-style garden is full of personality, with vintage yard art, whimsical pathways, lush greenery, and vibrant flowers. Every detail tells a story, from weathered iron pieces to rusty watering cans.

Dahlias are another favorite in my garden, but unlike the other flowers in my cutting garden that grow from seed, these grow from tubers.

It doesn’t hurt to have a water view when you’re gardening! The view is always changing with the seasons.

Our Greenhouse: Small But Mighty

One of my favorite features of our garden is our greenhouse. This space is a sanctuary for geraniums and tender plants in the colder months, keeping them safe and warm.

From February to May, the shelves are bursting with seedlings. While we didn’t have enough space to build a bigger structure, this greenhouse proves that even small spaces can produce big rewards.

It’s my happy place, especially during the quiet winter months when the rest of the garden sleeps.

Here is one of my favorite views of our greenhouse.

Here’s a look inside of the greenhouse. Jax loves hanging out inside when I’m sowing seeds.

The shelves are full of seeds from February to May. All of my geraniums live here through the winter.

Before and After: A Garden in Bloom

When we first moved here, this garden was a blank slate—untouched, uneven, and a little rough around the edges. It’s incredible to look back at those before photos and see just how far this space has come.

With each flower bed planted, each yard art piece placed, and each season passed, these garden spaces reflect both hard work and love.

I hope you enjoyed this little tour of our gardens and found some inspiration for your own outdoor spaces. Whether you’re growing flowers, vegetables, or simply dreams, a garden is always worth the effort.

Welcome to our little slice of garden paradise. 🌸