Point Defiance Park gardens

Location: Tacoma.

Length: More than 25 miles of trails in the park.

Level of difficulty: Flat-to-gentle, grass and gravel trails within the gardens.

Setting: One of the region's premier urban parks, this lush peninsula offers stunning views of Puget Sound, the Olympic Mountains and the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Forest trails lace the upper part of the park, and a sidewalk runs along the park's northeastern shore.

This is prime viewing season for the gardens — last week the rose garden was in full glory (actually in its second bloom). A wave of fragrance envelops visitors as they approach the rainbow-colored beds; the roses are unusually fragrant this year, according to the park gardeners. The dahlia trial garden is beginning to look lovely, and it will be even more glorious in August.

Highlights: Dahlia hybridizers from all over the country send the park new varieties of dahlia tubers that they may have spent years developing. Tended weekly in the trial garden by members of the Dahlia Society, the plants bloom until about the end of September, when judges score each variety. The results are sent to the grower, and if the plants receive a high enough score, the growers consider whether to patent the variety. In late August, visitors from all over the world attending the International Dahlia Society convention in Seattle will make a trip to the trial garden.

Facilities: Restrooms, water and phone.

Restrictions: Leash and scoop laws in effect for pets; no bikes allowed on unpaved trails.

Directions: From Interstate 5, take Exit 132 (Highway 16) toward Gig Harbor. Take the 6th Avenue exit and turn left off the exit ramp, then take an immediate right on Pearl Street. Drive about four miles straight into the park; the gardens are just ahead on the left.

Information: www.metroparkstacoma.org/parks/gardens.view or 253-305-1000

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