The tour

The Rainier Valley Garden Tour started as the Columbia City Garden Tour. The focus was on the gardens in the neighborhood directly surrounding the retail core of Columbia City. After some time and a few great tours, it seemed only right to include the surrounding neighborhoods on the tour, hence the Rainier Valley part of the name.

The Rainier Valley Garden Tour features demonstrations and living, working gardens in the neighborhoods of Columbia City, Genesee to the north, and south to Othello. Within the area there is an amazing collections of vegetable gardens, organic flower beds, city chickens and goats, bee keeping, shade gardens and pea patches. The tour highlights gardens that focus on sustainability and responsibility. The collection of featured gardens changes each year so that the community can, bit by bit, experience what the Rainier Valley has to offer.

Demonstrations and informational guests are a highlight of the tour. There are hands on experiences in many locations and experts with brains to pick in others. Please see the demonstrations page for more information about what we've done in the past and what we have planned for this year.