To the editor:

Pleasure! Beauty! Joy!

These words describe the recent Whidbey Island Garden Tour and the benefits derived from it.

Gardening enthusiasts from our area will be happy to know that because they chose to visit the “show” gardens, $20,000 (that’s TWENTY THOUSAND) has been contributed to local organizations: the Clinton Progressive Association, the Greenbank Farm, Island County Fair Compost Committee, South Whidbey Children’s Center, South Whidbey Commons, South Whidbey Good Cheer, South Whidbey Historical Society, Super Sprouts Garden Club and Forget Me Not Gardens of the South Whidbey School District, Whidbey Institute at Chinook, WSU-Island County Master Garden Association and Whidbey General Hospital.

Thanks also to the many volunteers who worked so hard to make this event happen—the garden docents, the parkers, the planners. And major hugs and kudos to the four garden hosts: Pat and Ted Brookes, Janie and Gary Gabelein, Jo Ann and Artie Kane, and Julie Rosten. The gardens were glorious. I could spill hundreds of words about these gardens.

I know how much work the owners put into showing their best—and they did. The weather was wonderful and the Garden Tour Committee’s goals were met — even in a scary economic time. Would that next year’s garden tour, Saturday, June 26, be as successful. See you then.

On behalf of the Whidbey Island Garden Tour Board: Nancy Andrews, Sarah Birger, Trish Brooks, Susan Lindsey Cohen, Gloria Koll, Kate LeBaron, Jo McCloskey, Terry Rose, Fran Seemann (President), Monica Shull and Mary Tauscher, I thank you again for contributing to the success of the 2009 Whidbey Island Garden Tour.

Suzanne Dobrin

Secretary

Whidbey Island Garden Tour