BI’s popular Bloedel Reserve transforms entrance

By Nancy Treder • May 17, 2022 1:30 am

Bainbridge Island’s most renowned garden has transformed its main entrance into a peaceful gathering place where the sounds of songbirds and rustling leaves will greet thousands of visitors this summer before starting their walks through the Bloedel Reserve.

The gatehouse plaza is the latest garden to be developed at the 150-acre site that is BI’s most-popular tourist attraction.

CEO Ed Moydell said: “We’re celebrating the opening because it’s part of a larger master plan and campaign that we have to make this place more beautiful, accessible and sustainable.” Moydell said the Reserve called upon landscape architect Erin Hill to ensure that the arrival experience made a good first impression.

Moydell said the changes were needed because the Reserve is drawing up to 80,000 people a year. “There are more people coming in with mobility issues, and it’s easier to get around now.” People who are in wheelchairs or have strollers can now access the basic services easily and safely.

Hill and her team installed richly diverse plantings in the garden beds, to soften the walls of the gatehouse and both sides of the entrance. Hill explained that the hardscape pavers were expanded to accommodate the impact of the thousands of visitors the garden receives each year. The area was not designed for such high traffic and the areas around the bathrooms and near the start of the trail were getting worn out.

Moydell said one of the challenges was figuring out how to direct visitors to the trail without posting signs. “This is a different kind of place because there’s no signage anywhere. The environment is supposed to tell you where you’re supposed to go. Most of the time that works, but here it does not.”

Originally the entrance was designed for the private Bloedel residence and not a public garden. Hill said, “We are attempting to mold the landscape as best we can to solve some of those problems.”

Sue Nevler has been visiting the garden for years and used to bring her now-grown children when they were little. She said the new gathering place offers respite, solace and tranquility. “I love it because it is that mix of natural and open, and it’s kind of elegant to me. It’s sort of symbolic of where this garden is going. It is jumping by leaps and bounds, and it’s priceless,” Nevler said.

Steven Starlund, who greets guests at the gate, said he has noticed a change in their behavior. “Before the whole opening of the plaza, people would just come to the trail like you would for a park, hit the trail and go. Now … they can sit, relax and rest.”

Starlund was impressed with the gardeners responsible for the rapid transformation. “The plantings happened like that! Thousands of little plants [appeared] … They created this in a very short period of time, and everything’s looking wonderful.”