Bloedel Reserve

An award winning garden so popular that reservations are sometimes required. A 150 acre forest garden made by the vice-chairman of a lumber company, under the influence of the conservation movement and Asian philosophy. Prentice and Virginia Bloedel wished to "capture the essence of the Japanese garden — the qualities of naturalness, subtlety, reverence, tranquility — and construct a Western expression of it". Although the Reserve includes a traditional Japanese garden, the Bloedels' approach for the rest of the property stands in contrast to that of "Japanese gardens" which achieve their effects through the use of ornament. The Bloedel Reserve has both natural and highly-landscaped lakes, immaculate lawns, woods, a rock and sand Zen garden (formerly the swimming pool where poet Theodore Roethke drowned in 1963), a moss garden, a rhododendron glen, and a Reflection Garden designed with the assistance of landscape architects Richard Haag and Thomas Church. The Bloedels' French Chateau-style home including many original furnishings, is preserved as a Visitor Center.