Spring 2004

Table of Contents

Award-winning BWS gardener invites tours
by Stephen Lamphear, "The Lazy Gardener"

(Editor's note: When we learned that BWS Manager Stephen Lamphear's self-described "Lazy Garden" was a contest winner featured in a national magazine that solicited his writing a regular gardening column, we asked him to describe his experience. His wildlife-friendly garden is often on scheduled summer garden tours, but with advance notice he's also happy to host fellow BWS-managers. Contact him at 206-439-7362 or stephen.lamphear@comcast.net. )

My hillside garden in Burien has been in the WDFW Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary program for more than 10 years. Before that, my Ballard garden was enrolled. It's been delightful to learn about the critters that share my retreat. Habitat-friendly gardening has increased the critter population many times over: Anna's and rufous hummingbirds, evening and black-headed grosbeaks, song sparrows, wrens, goldfinches, golden-mantled squirrel, merlins and other raptors, red fox, opossums, salamanders, too many raccoons, beautiful bugs and spiders.

My public gardening career started in 1997 when I won the Arboretum Foundation Pacific Garden Contest. The first prize of a trip to London for the Chelsea Flower Show was the first time I traveled to Europe. While there I visited the Baroness Rothschild's garden, of which I am still in awe.

After the contest win, my garden was featured in an article and cover photo for the Summer 2000 issue of Garden, Deck and Landscape magazine. Photos of my garden are also included in Barbara Blossom's 2000 book Backyard Retreats. In 1998, the Highline Times/Des Moines News asked me to write a regular garden column. Today, the ‘Lazy Gardener' also runs twice monthly in the West Seattle Herald and the Federal Way News.

As a member of the Burien City Council since 1998, I encourage eco-friendly public policies. I've served on the Watershed Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 9 forum charged with salmon restoration. In 1996, I co-founded the annual Burien Garden Tour, and founded the Highline Botanical Garden (SeaTac) in 1997.

My "Lazy Garden" continues to develop as a trial and learning resource for low impact garden practices. I think the attention it's received proves that a garden can be sophisticated and attractive to people, as well as critters.