For Tena Gagnon, a small gardening project started as therapy. Now six summers later and her therapy turned obsession is ready to be offered as a venue for events from weddings to class reunions. Fern Acres, as the gardens are called, is situated on five acres of evergreen forest land that features an extensive flowering garden, fern-edged walkways, a waterfall and pond, and a fire pit with a seating area.
From small flowering ground-covers to velvety burgundy poppies and 6-foot tall yellow lilies, the garden features an amazing array of color. Large leafy hostas sit below towering trees and big old-timer stumps mix in with the new life.
A fence circles the property and large rusty wheels link together for an attractive feature, but they also help to keep out the elk. The elk really like her hosta plants and it has taken a while, but Gagnon thinks she has won the hosta battle. Slugs also like hostas and she has used hazel-nut shells as a deterrent, plus it makes a great looking ground cover.
Tena’s husband, Brent Gagnon, owns West Wast and Recycling, and you know what they say “One Man’s Trash is …. a potential planter.” Over the years he has salvaged and recycled light fixtures and industrial metal objects that have all found their way into his wife’s garden to create a multitude of garden art and planters. Tena said “my nephew Brian even gave me a commercial crab cooker, it makes a wonderful planter.”
Her gardening style is that she plants what she likes, saying, “I don’t even know the names of some of the things I plant, I just like how they look.”
“I can’t imagine a yard without flowers, even when I was a child and my mother didn’t have much money, she found a way for us to have a few flowers,” she added.
Fern Acres is open May-September and is just 1.5 miles from downtown Forks. For more information or questions about holding an event at Fern Acres, contact Gagnon at 360-640-0204 or 360-374-5662 or by e-mail tenajg@centurytel.net or check out the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/fernacres98331/
Some upcoming events already scheduled are a Forks High School class reunion and a brunch for the “Forever Twilight in Forks” event in September.