Kay & Vern Burdick's Garden is a Feast for the Eyes

Let Vern and Kay Burdick loose in their heated, 364-square-foot greenhouse with seeds from last year's gardens, and by mid-summer their yard explodes with such a carnival of color that cars driving past their home north of Bonners Ferry often pull over and stare at the swell of flowers cascading down their yard.

Almost a half acre of the Burdick's property is a breathing feast-for-the-eyes that combines a mix of hardy perennials and annuals that bloom like crazy with an almost Technicolor lushness of seemingly every shade imaginable.

Try finding a weed among the nine-foot plume poppies, delphiniums and asters, or even a dandelion sprouting along the brilliant cluster of marigolds, dahlias, petunias and mini-roses.

Chances are you won't find one, even if you're packing a microscope. Growing plants and tending gardens has practically been in Kay Burdick's blood ever since she was a child.

"Gardening and growing flowers and vegetables is something I grew up learning up from my mother," she said. "It's something that was passed down to me that I grew to love."

It is also something that she has passed onto her children as well.

Her daughter in Sagle grows flower gardens so well that she sells cut flower arrangements at the Sandpoint Farmers' Market, while her son in Bayview also has a green thumb and grows beautiful gardens.

Starting the majority of her plans from seeds in her greenhouse, Kay has organized her flowers to bloom at four different "blooming seasons" or stages, beginning with bulbs - tulips, daffodils and crocuses - in early spring. Those slowly give way to more emerging bursts of color in late spring with peonies, phlox and a multitude of other flowers before a rainbow slide-show of color hits at the height of the summer.

But in late summer and early fall, the Burdick's gardens seem to bloom with an even more spectacular glory, while her vegetable gardens grown in raised beds are nearing harvest. There are even hanging flower baskets near water fountains and ponds holding goldfish and poi brimming with aquatic plants.

"We have a lot of garden here, and it really is a joy to create them and watch them take off," said Kay.