Mildly disappointed. The roses were in full bloom. The carousel was gorgeous. The grounds were pretty, but not as diverse as I had anticipated. Lots (and lots and lots) of bedding begonias and old-lady geraniums, I suppose as a filler for whatever may have been blooming earlier in the spring? I was also a bit surprised at the lack of labeling -- although that can go either way. It's nice to just enjoy the combinations without the intrusion of labels. It's also nice to know what you're looking at. They may have had a plant key among the voluminous literature available, but I just walked past all the paper. It was on my bucket list, though, and now is crossed off. Here's a couple pix, but we were there at high noon so the light is pretty harsh.

Gorgeous photos!

My grandma and her girlfriends had a getaway for a long weekend there almost every year for a long time--in fact she and I were just talking about another road trip :)

I was there in early spring about 15 years ago and it was dazzling. I hope you get a chance to see it that way at some point!

The trip itself was great - we took Amtrak to Seattle, spent the night, took the Clipper to Victoria, stayed two nights across from the inner harbor, then flew back in a small 6-seater seaplane to Kirkland. Topped it off with a visit with my 2 year old granddaughter, then drove our truck home. Very picturesque 4 day get-away.