Local deer are licking their chops and gazing in wistful longing through the well-built fences of Orcas Island’s blooming gardens. Fortunately, only humans are allowed to buy tickets for the annual garden tour, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, June 26 and 27, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The six gardens on tour boast a plethora of flora to tempt the spotted fauna.

The first belongs to Loretta Horowitz, sited on the highest point in Victorian Valley.

“This splendid garden has something for everyone,” said garden club president Midge Kraetzer. “There’s about a 180 degree view out over the San Juans and a very unusual house.” In Horowitz’s garden guests can wander a pathway through waterfalls and ponds, terrace wound with roses, and discover the “secret garden” she has created within her garden. Unlike most destinations, the house will be open as part of the tour.

At the edge of Victorian Valley is Mimi Anderson and Steve Diepenbrock’s Morningstar Farm, a sustainable agriculture operation featuring beds of vegetables, flowers and berries, two hoop houses, a large worm bin and a sizeable compost area. The family also keeps chickens and horses. Anderson and Diepenbrock have farmed on Orcas for over 20 years, and their oldest children, Emily and Taylor, graduate from Orcas High School this spring.

Charles Carver, also at the edge of the valley, is growing over 400 different iris varieties in his gardens. “Why irises? I just love irises. I’ve been collecting them for 20 years. I love the range of colors; I love the elegance of the form. They’re just a really lovely flower, and there’s tremendous variation among them,” said Carver. Iris was the ancient Greek goddess of the rainbow, and Carver’s collection reflects this with a radiant array of hues. Nearly half his collection are historic iris, with the oldest dating back to the 1500’s. Carver also keeps a gravel-mulched Mediterranean garden of exotic, drought-tolerant species, and a third area he describes as “a more classic English cottage garden,” with South African species and varieties of torch lily. A wetland area nearby is planted with bog lanterns (skunk cabbage) and willow.

John and Margaret Greever’s enclosed 13 acres include an arboretum, ponds, orchard, enclosed flower, vegetable and berry garden and a shade garden near the house.

“This garden has it all,” said Kraetzer. “The arboretum area contains trees rarely seen on Orcas or even the Northwest… there are paw paw and southern maples together with trees more common to the northwest such as Acer palmatums. The orchard is planted with plum, Asian pear, apple and pear. The enclosed garden is filled with tulips and daffodils in the spring and lilies, delphinium, roses and more in the summer. Rounding out this display are vegetables of all kinds.”

On 10 acres overlooking Deer Harbor, C.T. Bayley’s property has been cultivated since the 1940’s, and mature plantings surround the buildings.

“There are some lovely large trees that lead the visitor down toward the waterfront,” said Kraetzer. Large beds contain vegetables and flowers, rimmed by climbing roses, and a greenhouse nurtures vegetable starts and more sensitive plants.

To conclude the tour, guests will visit Sharon and Scott Schmidt’s place, also in Deer Harbor.

“This is an utterly charming garden surrounding a lovely old cottage,” said Kraetzer. “Plants have been collected over the years and have been nurtured to show themselves in their best light.” She said the Schmidts have combined vegetables and flowering plants in unusual ways. “Large tree paeonies combined with bulbs in the spring are followed by late flowering dogwood and then penstamons, daylilies, roses, ligularia for the summer,” she said. The fence enclosing the garden is heaped with climbing roses.

Go ahead and drool, Bambi.

Tickets are $20, available at Driftwood Nursery, Darvill’s Bookstore and Smith and Speed Mercantile.

For more information on the club or tour, see www.orcasislandgardenclub.org.