Skagway Trip: Jewell Gardens - Part One

Our visit to Skagway's Jewell Gardens was on our last day in Skagway, but, since I took so many photos there, I wanted to share them with you right away.

Jewell Gardens is a privately owned company that includes the gardens, a glass blowing studio, a gift shop and a restaurant.  It is just on the outskirts of town, on the Klondike Highway (the highway from Skagway to Whitehorse and beyond).

Sr. Dee and I browsed in the gift shop, where I bought two pairs of earrings, one for Phoebe and one for myself.  After looking at all the beautiful blown glass artwork, we decided to go into the gardens, despite the $12.50 entrance fee (I'm a known cheapskate, and thought that if you've seen one garden, you've seen them all).  I am so glad we decided to go in.

 The first thing I noticed was that they use a lot of the glass art in the actual flower beds and as decorative touches around the garden.

I liked the glass fish in this stream bed!

There was an electric train that traveled throughout the garden, past a little town and mining camp.   Note the "gold nuggets" on the back of the train!

These sculptures collect water and funnel it into the ground.

I was amazed by the wide variety of flowers in the garden - the garden takes hours and hours of work, and in addition to the paid employees, the owners have a bunkhouse where they put up garden volunteers.  The volunteers can stay for a week or for a whole summer!

Begonias

Black pansies

Wild geranium

Columbine and daisies

Delphinium

Fireweed

Lady's Mantle

A nice shed framed with Lady's Mantle and delphinium

Poppies

Purple pansies

A sink planter

Train tracks and flowers

A view of the garden with the forest beyond

Sweet little violas

And finally, a bench to rest on

What a perfect end to our visit.  Afterwards, Sr. Dee and I went straight to the ferry terminal to head home.

I will write more about the beginning of our trip, Sr. Dee, the train trip we took while in Skagway, and the great time we had together later in the week.