Cottage Lake Tutors Come To You

Just a stone’s throw from Cottage Lake, Washington, Cottage Lake Gardens is a must-see for garden lovers living near or visiting the Seattle area. The property, on the eastern shore of Cottage Lake, includes a botanical garden, glass greenhouse, and small nursery.

Owners Kevin and Susie Egan developed their vision for Cottage Lake Gardens gradually. After managing law firms for over thirty years, Susie decided to follow her heart and explore her passion for gardening. Along the way, she earned her master gardener certification and became a landscape designer and expert gardening speaker. Kevin has worked in the biotechnology industry for over thirty years and is currently head of his own company, Borealis Biotechnology. He helps Susie in the garden and gets credit for building the greenhouse and the massive drip irrigation system.

The gardens were created to provide a peaceful haven for visitors, but the underlying mission is to protect and preserve all species of trillium, a rare and endangered wildflower. Cottage Lake Gardens is one of very few places where all fifty species exist in one location. Susie is involved each year in an international seed exchange for trillium enthusiasts. Though the number of hours required to clean, store, and package the seeds is daunting, it’s a great opportunity to spread different trillium species, varieties, forms, cultivars, and hybrid seeds all over the world.

Cottage Lake Gardens is on its way toward becoming a certified National Trillium Collection holder, and one of the requirements for the certification is to have all planting beds mapped and numbered. Those numbers then correspond to a plant database. The mapping took about 1,500 hours; the plant database includes 2,221 unique taxa, 4,085 accessions, and 1,200 pots of trillium seedlings (some with 100 seedlings).

To celebrate and share her trilliums, Susie offers a seasonal event at the gardens called Trillium Tea, Talk & Tours. Visitors start with refreshments served on trillium-decorated china, listen to a talk on the plants, and take a guided tour to view flowering trillium along the “trillium trail.” Afterward, guests may shop for trillium plants, companion plants, and gifts. Reservations are required (cottagelakegardens.com) and generally need to be made a year in advance.

Susie enjoys sharing her knowledge by giving lectures all over the state, and even some out of state, and providing hands-on practice at the gardens for volunteer “gardening angels.” Workers practically have their own Cottage Lake tutor as they learn about caring for trillium and other plants. Susie also enjoys giving advice about garden layout, plant recommendations, treating diseases and pest problems to local residents in need of gardening tutoring in Cottage Lake.