Discover the Display Gardens Open House
Held annually on the last Saturday of June
2025 Info Coming Soon!
2024 Info
Tour the Gardens with a Discovery Passport
If you can’t make the open house, all three gardens are free to visit and open to the public 7 days a week from dawn to dusk. Take a self-guided tour!
Explore 8 acres of gardens at one location in Skagit Valley
Skagit Valley is home to three demonstration gardens operated by volunteers as a learning resource for the public. On the last Saturday of June, the gardens host an open house. See plants chosen to perform well in the Pacific Northwest. Learn about effective garden practices, soil health, composting, pollinators, fruit tree pruning, native plants, weed identification, and more.
The gardens are located on the grounds of Washington State University (WSU) Northwestern Washington Research and Extension Center (NWREC) at Mount Vernon, WA (map).
Skagit County
WSU Extension
Master Gardener Discovery Garden
Discover the 30 garden rooms with individual themes. While enjoying the gardens: check out our wildlife snag; Follow the yellow brick road; see our raised bed designs; watch mason bees in action; browse the children's lending library; look for frogs and fish in the ponds; see a tree support system; discover the online plant list...
Western Washington
Fruit Research Foundation
(NW Fruit)
A 6-acre fruit orchard open to the public 7 days a week from dawn to dusk. Learn about fruit tree varieties that grow well in the PNW, and how to care for them. There is a Self-guided Tour which begins at the kiosk at the east side of the center oval with 40 points of interest, or just tour the Antique Apple Collection.
Salal Chapter
Native Plant Garden
Salal Native Plant Garden is a half-acre oasis of native plants suitable for the home landscape. The garden was created twenty-five years ago as a collaboration between the Salal Chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society and the Washington State University Agriculture Extension Agency at Mount Vernon (WSU). Learn about gardening with natives, conservation, and invasive species.