Mary Fisher followed her passion and created Cultus Bay Nursery more than 40 years ago in Clinton. Now she has decided to follow another passion by creating Cultus Bay Gardens where she focuses on doing garden design, garden consultation, and providing space for a variety of classes.
The classes offered range from paper crafts, drawing, pie making, floral design, basketry, birds and creating habitats. The class selection varies, but the setting is always charming and welcoming.
In 1983, Tom and Mary Fisher were doing commercial fishing and woodworking in Alaska. They decided they wanted to move to a rural community somewhere in the lower 48. Originally, they were heading to Eastern Washington, but a stopover on Whidbey was all it took for them to fall in love with the island.
They bought 46 acres of land in partnership with Mary’s brother and split the property between them.
The land on South Whidbey was just what they needed for Mary to have a nursery and for Tom to have a space to do woodworking.
Mary had enjoyed gardening in Alaska, and the property on Whidbey proved to be the right space for her to create Cultus Bay Nursery in 1986. Cultus Bay Nursery built its clientele through word-of-mouth for the first four years; Mary put out the sign on Cultus Bay Road to promote the nursery in 1990.
Over time she developed a loyal group of regular customers, and the nursery continued to grow. In 2008 the nursery was downsized a bit as Mary and Tom noticed that younger people were more interested in entertainment and tech than in gardening.
Her base of customers kept Cultus Bay Nursery busy for many years, but Mary has now decided to focus on providing a place for a variety of classes relating to crafts as well as gardening.
Mary has done an excellent job of laying out the plants in attractive patterns. Many people enjoy simply walking around the garden. The greenhouses and other buildings on the property provide excellent class environments.
In addition to Cultus Bay Gardens and Tom’s woodworking businesses, the Fishers are very involved with the community, Thirteen years ago, Mary created WIN (Whidbey Island Nourishes), that provides nourishing meals for low income youth. Tom is a well-known musician on the island, and often participates in concerts that provide funding for other local musicians who need help to become established.
Mary has created a popular email newsletter that currently has 1,800 subscribers. She often hears back from her readers: “We love the photos and the information you share.”
Cultus Bay Gardens is at 7568 Cultus Bay Road in Clinton. To find out more about the Inspirational classes, markets and events give Mary a call at 360-579-2329 or visit the website: https://cultusbaygardens.com/.
