Champagne Garden Gala set August 23 at elegant Medina garden

May 22, 2009 3:13 pm

Proceeds to Benefit the renovation of the Northwest Perennial Alliance Border at the Bellevue Botanical Garden

The Northwest Perennial Alliance’s Champagne Garden Gala will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23 in an elegant Medina garden which is rarely open to the public.

Tickets for the event are $70 for NPA members and $100 for non-NPA members. All proceeds from the event will support the renovation of the NPA Perennial Border at the Bellevue Botanical Garden.

The NPA Border is well-known throughout the U.S., and is a gift from NPA to the Northwest gardening community and visitors to the Bellevue Botanical Garden. It has been featured in many books, articles and photographs, and has been the site of countless horticulture classes, garden club tours and family strolls.

“For the first time since its creation in 1991, the NPA Border at the Bellevue Botanical Garden is undergoing a significant renewal to make the border more accessible and easier to maintain,” said NPA President Michele Cournoyer. “This renovation would not be possible without the support of our community and people like Denise Lane. We are very pleased to be able to hold our gala in her glorious Mediterranean garden.”

Guests will enjoy champagne, sweets and savories as they stroll through the garden, viewing garden art and sophisticated plantings while being serenaded by live harp music.

Lane’s garden, created over the last 20 years, contains winding shady paths on a wooded property just shy of an acre. The property’s natural topography with enormous conifers and bogs is accented with perennials, ornamental grasses and mossy borders.

At the heart of the garden, tall columns stand in a watery bog bordered with purple heuchera and yellow grasses. This installation, called “The Ruins,” was created by artists Little and Lewis of Bainbridge Island.

Tickets for NPA’s Champagne Garden Gala may be obtained by contacting the Northwest Perennial Alliance by e-mail at info@northwestperennialalliance.org or by phone at 425.647.6004.

The Northwest Perennial Alliance, established in 1984, is one of the largest nonprofit horticulture organizations in the Northwest, with over 1000 members in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties and surrounding regions.