If you told Sheila Lee that her garden reminded you of your grandmother’s she wouldn’t be insulted. She’d take that as a compliment.

“We wanted people to feel comfortable here, like they’re at home,” Lee said.

Walk up to the Oak Harbor home of Jody and Sheila Lee and immediately realize you’ve arrived home — whether this is your address or not.

People attending Saturday’s Oak Harbor Garden Tour will be welcomed home to the Lees’ in addition to six other gardens that will invite people to come in, stay a while, and absorb all the ideas you can while you’re there.

Garden Tour chair Sharon Purcel and the other garden club members have been giddy as school children in recent weeks as the tour nears. “The only disappointment of garden tour weekend is that I don’t get to go on the tour myself,” she said.

But, by luck this year, garden club members will get a preview tour Friday so they won’t miss a thing.

The Oak Harbor Garden Club has worked hard to find gardens that offer a wide representation of what gardeners can dream of creating on an island.

“We want to give them inspiration and show them what is possible,” Purcel said.

This year’s gardens include a West Beach garden that withstands wind and salt spray in addition to integrating a family gardening legacy. There’s a native plant haven by the sea that perfectly blends with its beach setting. Wander into a geranium lover’s paradise that includes gorgeous flowers, garden art, a lagoon garden and pastoral scenery. Stay a while in a stunning secluded garden that invites deer into its gorgeous scenery. Don’t fly past the nursery-garden that blends a casual combination of Japanese formality and English cottage garden — as well as a farmer’s market supplying vegetable garden. And be sure to visit the beach front garden that blooms with gorgeous flowers, driftwood art and whispering grasses.

And then, there’s the Lees’ country charmer. When the Lees moved to their Oak Harbor home and its quarter-acre property a decade ago it was love at first sight for Sheila’s husband, Jody.

“Jody has always had a passion for flowers and planting gardens,” Sheila said. “He’s always had a greenthumb.”

That greenthumb was grown on his grandparent’s farm in Fallon, Nev., where its rustic charm and simple floral elegance left a lasting memory that Lee channeled in his own backyard sanctuary.

Grandma would be proud of the 50 rose bushes Lee has nurtured to bright, sweet blooms. The rustic tools that adorn walls and decorate outside shelves are likely ones Grandpa himself would have had in his barn. And the goat head? Well, that came from a family friend.

The Lees have now started another generation loving the charmed garden life. Their 19-year-old daughter is a fan of all the backyard barbecues the couple host in their cozy home that’s decorated inside and out with rustic adornments.

The Lee garden is a repeat performance on the garden tour, back after popular demand following a 2003 inclusion on the tour.

“People like to see that they don’t have to hire a landscaper, they don’t have to have a professional pond,” Sheila Lee said. “They don’t have to have a lot of money to have a beautiful garden.”

The Lees grew their country charm over time. The antiques that adorn fences, dot flower beds, and decorate outdoor shelves were collected over time. Each and every flower, from Sheila’s cutting garden of poppies, dahlias, iris and blue globe thistle to the glorious roses were integrated year by year.

Their kitchen started with one Pyrex bowl. Today it’s filled with colorful Pyrex, nostalgic tables, chicken-wire cabinets and other retro country kitsch.

“We just started collecting,” Sheila said.

While the garden and house are a joint endeavor, Sheila admits there is one creative mind leading the charge.

“This is Jody’s baby, he grows it and I enjoy it,” she said.

This is the ninth tour host by the Oak Harbor Garden Club, and Sharon Purcel has enjoyed watching the tour grow year by year.

The Oak Harbor tour began when Helene Valdez, Joan McCollum and Purcel decided there needed to be a tour on North Whidbey.

“You learn so much on garden tours,” Purcel said. “It’s great to get acquainted with people who have the same interests as you and swap ideas.”

Garden club members, as well as the garden owners, will be on hand to answer questions, point out plant species and give insight to each garden.

The tours are also a way to sow new gardeners and show off gardens that might not otherwise get fame outside friends and family.

The first tour featured seven gardens with about 300 tickets sold. New growth has come pouring in as the garden club now hosts a tea at the final garden that will be complete with tea, treats and musical entertainment.

Funds from the tour help the garden club complete all of its beautification efforts around Oak Harbor. The tour, a wreath sale in December and plant sale in April are how the club maintains its funding for ongoing projects such as maintaining hundreds of planters around town and Hal Ramaley Park.

Earlier this year, the garden club dedicated a Blue Star Memorial Highway plaque at Hal Ramaley Park and they continue to educate on gardening skills.

“We truly appreciate all of the owners for opening their gardens to the public,” Purcel said. “They go through so much trouble and effort to make this day so memorable. It’s definitely a can’t-miss time that everyone gets spruced up for.”