Season's Greetings from the Gardens

 May your holiday celebrations be full of joy and laughter.

May the New Year bring you good health, happiness, and peace.

Thank you for keeping the gardens flourishing in 2022.

We look forward to seeing you in the gardens in 2023.

Denny, Ellen, Judy, Kathy, Laura, Margaret

 

As we move into the holiday season, the refrain that pops into our head every year about now is, “Where has the year gone? The months have passed by in a flash.”

From a wet and colorful spring to an exceedingly warm and desert-like summer, to a fire-filled start to fall and hastening toward the cusp of winter, we now marvel at the clear, crisp beauty of the recent autumn days. As Albert Camus expressed it, “Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”

As you prepare for the holidays, we hope you will think about how beautiful Queen Anne Avenue is with its twinkling lights, the camaraderie of holiday shopping, the warmth of being surrounded by friends and family, and the lovely gardens that add so much to the ambiance of the heart of our neighborhood.

When considering your year-end gift giving, we hope you will include the curb-side gardens by donating to Picture Perfect Queen Anne. Season after season, the gardens are always there to brighten our mood and remind us how near beauty is.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Denny, Ellen, Judy, Kathy, Laura, Margaret

 

 

THANK YOU 

 FOR GivingBIG TO THE GARDENS 

You certainly GaveBIG on May 3rd and 4th!! Your generosity raised $17,711.00 for the gardens at Galer, Boston, and McGraw. The gardens are so fortunate to have neighbors who lavish TLC on them and are dedicated to keeping the heart of our hilltop neighborhood environmentally resilient, vibrant, and welcoming for all. 

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A heartfelt thank you to the volunteers who came out for the spring garden work party on April 23rd...

...and to everyone from uphill and downhill on Queen Anne who worked hard to pull weeds and remove debris from the Galer Stairs, remove weeds from the tree wells on Boston alongside the laundromat, and pick up litter along Queen Anne Avenue from Galer to McGraw as part of One Seattle Day of Service on May 21st.

You are deeply rooted in our community!

Denny, Ellen, Judy, Kathy, Laura, Margaret

🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

 

 

GiveBIG FOR THE GARDENS!

WON'T YOU BE OUR NEIGHBOR &

GiveBIG FOR THE GARDENS?!

Children and adults joined the garden work party 

on April 23, 2022

We’re excited to be taking part in GiveBIG 2022. We want to make sure you have the information you need to GiveBIG for the gardens along Queen Anne Avenue at Galer, Boston, and McGraw.

Early giving is underway. You can click here to contribute now. Or you can GiveBIG using the same link on May 3-4.

Generous garden supporters Virginia Anderson, Beth Bunnell, Mary Cole, Mawan Kashkoush & Phoebe Brockman, Lori Kent & Tracy Wald, Stacy Lawson & Steve Sarkowsky, Jeff & Sharon Parker, Kathleen Stallings, Ann & Robert Stier, Denny Bird, Laura Corvi, Kathy & Tim King, Judy Massong, Ellen Monrad, and Margaret & Deems Okamoto will match your donation dollar-for-dollar up to a total of $7,500.00, so your gift immediately doubles in value!

Please let friends and family know that you’re GivingBIG to support the gardens and encourage them to GiveBIG, too.

The gardens depend upon us all to thrive. Your gift ensures that the Seattle Conservation Corps will truck water to the garden beds and water them during the summer months, and Marianna Clark will professionally maintain the beds year round.

When you GiveBIG, the gardens GiveBackBIG to us. Your support means the heart of our hilltop neighborhood, remains pedestrian- and family-friendly, environmentally resilient, vibrant, and welcoming.

That’s FLOWER POWER!

 

 

Don Miles, Longtime Queen Anne Resident, Has Died

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A Champion of Public Spaces and Communities that
Reflect the Vision of Those Who Live and Work in Them

 

Transformative change begins with one person identifying a need, many people coming together to propose ideas and articulate a vision, and that special person to facilitate discussions and design the plan rooted in that vision.

Don Miles was that special person.

                                                 (Photo courtesy of ZGF)

Don was a principal at architectural and urban planning firm, Zimmer Gunsul Frasca (ZGF) when the PPQA Board met him in 2005. With funding from Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods, we hired ZGF to work with our neighborhood in crafting a vision for the streetscape (the public sidewalk space) of Queen Anne Ave N from Galer to McGraw. The outcome of the public meetings was the Queen Anne Avenue Streetscape Master Plan. 

Over the years, Picture Perfect Queen Anne and our community have used this plan to transform the streetscape of Queen Anne Avenue from cracked and crumbling gray concrete and weeds to repaved sidewalks and colorful gardens.

Don’s fingerprints can be seen everywhere along Queen Anne Avenue:

• The plaza at the Towne Center with its bronze sculptures created by Georgia Gerber at Don’s request

• The Sweet Brier and Eden Hill developments that set aside public space and created amenities for the Queen Anne Farmers Market

• The gardens at Galer, Boston, and McGraw

• The street furniture and light standards

Don was involved in the writing of “The Upper Queen Anne Neighborhood Design Guidelines” that serve as a reference, along with the Streetscape Plan, for the West Design Review Board as they evaluate development projects proposed for our retail corridor.

In retirement, Don remained a tireless advocate for what he believed to be key to vibrant neighborhoods: pedestrian-and family-friendly public spaces and beautiful places that invited people to stop and mingle. 

Don Miles died on December 2, 2021. He was 79 years old. We will continue to carry his legacy forward.

The PPQA Board: Denny Bird, Laura Corvi, Kathy King, Judy Massong, Ellen Monrad, Margaret Okamoto