Skip to content

Outdoors

Read More ›

Best Places to See Washington’s Blooming Spring Flowers

The Pacific Northwest shows its true colors during the spring’s flower festivals

Yellow and red tulips from bellow on a sunny spring day.
Yellow and red tulips from bellow on a sunny spring day.

This article originally appeared in the March 2019 issue of Seattle magazine.

This article appears in print in the March 2019 issue. Click here to subscribe.

Goodbye gloom, hello bloom. Our annual influx of springtime daylight is coming (spring forward on March 10!), and with it a vibrant interruption in our dreary winter weather. Whether it’s daffodils or tulips that do it for you, Seattle is a fantastic home base for beholding the floral blossoms.

Within Seattle, by mid-March the University of Washington Quad is awash in crowds that come to view the cherry blossoms (check the blooming stage of the trees). Farther afield, daffodils get their due during the fifth annual La Conner Daffodil Festival, with events throughout March and more than 450 acres of blooms. It’s followed by the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival (4/1–4/30), and finally by Wenatchee’s Washington State Apple Blossom Festival (4/25–5/5). Check websites for specific events.

The Northwest’s Gateway to Wine, Culture & Adventure
Sponsored

The Northwest’s Gateway to Wine, Culture & Adventure

Escape the crowds. Slow down. Savor fall in the Lewis Clark Valley. As autumn paints the hillsides in gold, crimson, and amber, the Lewis Clark Valley becomes a picture-perfect place to slow down and savor the season. Where Washington and Idaho meet, fall brings crisp days, colorful landscapes, harvest among the vines, and plenty of…

Meet West Seattle’s “Freelance Beaver Detective”

Meet West Seattle’s “Freelance Beaver Detective”

A group of urban beavers helped Pamela Adams through a tough time. Now she’s returning the favor.

Pamela Adams was living in Port Townsend when her marriage fell apart. Little did she know at the time that she would soon find love again while doggedly pursuing the Five Families—not the ones of Mafia lore, but a four-legged sort living along the Longfellow Creek Watershed. Prior to moving to Washington, Adams resided in…

A Wellness Pilgrimage to the Olympic Peninsula

A Wellness Pilgrimage to the Olympic Peninsula

Two hours from Seattle, a new kind of luxury is taking root—one built on stillness, old-growth forests, and the subtle art of slowing down.

There is a school of thought among the overworked and overscheduled that the most subversive thing a person can do is stop. Put down the phone, close the laptop, and go somewhere that actively resists attempts to stay plugged in. The Olympic Peninsula has always offered this, in its blunt, mossy way. For some city…

Seabrook Is a Little Coastal Utopia

Seabrook Is a Little Coastal Utopia

This walkable beach town gives families room to roam, relax, and leave the car parked.

There’s nothing quite like finding an edible mushroom in the forest with a five-year-old. The excitement and pride my son displayed when we found chicken of the woods were contagious, and after battering and frying the mushrooms, our wonderful day got even better. The dark, wet forests in which our mushrooms grew are part of…