As much as Don and Vickie Sullivan admire the colorful sea of poppies poking from their garden beds, there’s a part of them that wishes nature could have delayed this spectacular show a little while longer.

Watching what they guess are 10,000 poppies in near, partial or full bloom is a sight to see, and the Sullivans just hope that a good portion continue to display their beauty two weeks from now.

June 28 is show time for Whidbey Island’s garden lovers, with two self-guided garden tours taking place on both ends of the island.

The Sullivans of Coupeville are taking part in the Garden Tour & Tea organized by the Oak Harbor Garden Club. This tour features five private gardens in Coupeville and Oak Harbor.

On the same day this year, the Whidbey Island Garden Tour will feature five gardens on the island’s south end.

The Sullivans had been approached in the past about showcasing their property and opted this year to bite after recently putting their home on the market.

What Don and Vickie Sullivan will unveil to the public is the product of a 10-year transformation, turning former farmland they purchased into a spacious Craftsman-style home with a grand garden and modern amenities.

Don Sullivan, who grew up on a farm in Iowa before going on to become a Navy squadron commander and  commercial airline pilot, isn’t one to shy away from ambitious projects.

He was his own general contractor on the Coupeville home he custom designed, and did most of the major construction himself, including the large shop and guest apartment where he and his wife lived for two years while he built their house.

“He’s very industrious,” Vickie said.

Once the house was completed in 2008, attention turned to the landscape and, in the process, another transformation took place.

“Until I came out here, I never gardened in my life,” said Vickie, who’s from Chicago. “I had no idea what a weed was.”

She recognizes them now, yanking them when she spots them while trying to keep up on their 4.5 acres of land.

Her knowledge of plants has grown immensely on Whidbey Island.

Their property features three raised garden beds teeming with peas, carrots, beets, potatoes and three types of lettuce.

The landscape maintains a country feel with open space and hedgerows on its perimeter, but takes on a more formal look closer to the house with tidy beds in the front containing hostas, blue Lithodora and an assortment of trees, including purple smoke, magnolia, plum, weeping mulberry, weeping hemlock and weeping purple beech.

The backyard is devoted to water and poppies.

The centerpiece is a massive pond Don built that features a small dock at one end. The pond’s only inhabitants are feeder gold fish that have grown over time.

A specially-designed windmill provides the bubbles that aerate the pond.

The latest addition is a waterfall that spills into another pond.

“I love the water sound,” Don said.

The freshwater attracts wildlife from hummingbirds to deer to raccoons.

Always tinkering, Don rigged a motion-sensor device that sets off a sprinkler when deer get too close to their vegetable garden.

If only Don could rig up something to spread poppy seeds.

The abundance is a result of Don and Vickie saving the seeds from pods in the late summer, then scattering them by hand in October and November to start the cycle all over again.

They’ve learned to distinguish a young poppy from a weed, let them “overwinter” and then watch them take over the garden again in the spring.

As with caring for any sizable garden, the work never ends.

To get ready for the garden tour, Don is building another pergola, then will plant a climbing vine. A metal sculpture will be placed nearby.

“All I do is create more work for myself,” he said, shaking his head.

“I’ve always been that way.”