WHEN STEPHANIE Feeney moved to Bellingham from Alaska a decade ago, she didn't know an annual from a perennial.

She set about learning all about gardening by collecting information the way many of us collect hostas or hellebores. "Gardeners are generous," says Feeney. "People gave me so many bits and pieces of advice and ideas." She pulled it all together in a little directory that sold out right away. Her much-enlarged seventh and latest edition of The Northwest Gardeners' Resource Directory has grown to cover Washington, western Oregon and British Columbia.

This month Feeney has a new kind of book coming out, born of the day tours she conducted for garden-lovers as part of her work with the Whatcom In Bloom Garden Society. "I had to put it all in a book," she says. "I discovered so many great places that I can't keep to myself, and it was so inefficient to tour around only two carloads!"

Now she has packaged up what she has learned in 20 intriguing tours such as Ornamenting the Garden, Botanical Bainbridge Island, A Plant Collector's Expedition and Kid's Tour, Too. Itineraries include shopping, nursery visits, garden and bookstore browsing, places to eat and places to spend the night.

I challenge any gardener not to find something new and engaging. And if an entire day devoted to your favorite passion isn't possible, the book is easy to dip into for a single destination or just an afternoon, with a thorough geographic and subject index. "Note the tour timing tips," suggests Feeney. "You may just happen to be on Vashon Island when a plant sale is scheduled."

Context and direction are provided with clear and detailed maps, driving instructions and a history of the destinations. "I loved going back years and years and learning about the heart and spirit of the places I've included. Now when people visit Swanson's Nursery, they can find out who Swanson was," says Feeney.

Each tour has at least three lunch choices, ranging from a quick spot for a picnic to the kind of white-tablecloth place ideal for a leisurely tea with a visiting aunt. Many of the bed-and-breakfasts feature historic gardens, such as the restored English perennial borders at the turn-of-the-century Thornewood Castle B&B on the Garden and Nursery Loop South tour. Looking for something more casual, or planning on taking the kids? Feeney recommends campgrounds noted for their rhododendron collections or woodland plantings.

What fresh finds excite this self-described horticultural sleuth? "I was so impressed with the appealing, expert staff at Emery's Garden Nursery," says Feeney. "They bring a refreshing spirit to rejuvenating an older nursery." She was thrilled to discover the sophisticated dried arrangements of flowers, pods and cones at Lavender Heart Botanicals, an artist's gallery set on one of the oldest and loveliest holly farms in the Northwest, just on the Whidbey Island side of the Deception Pass Bridge.

If Feeney hasn't visited each and every attraction, lingered at the tea shops and lunched in every restaurant, she certainly fooled me with her specific suggestions and enthusiastic descriptions.

("Gardeners On The Go: Twenty Terrific Tours Around Puget Sound and Seattle," by Stephanie Feeney ($15.95, Cedarcroft Press). Feeney has a master calendar of plant sales, events, tours and symposiums on her Web site, which you can visit at http://www.cedarcroft-press.com)

Valerie Easton is a horticultural librarian and writes about plants and gardens for Pacific Northwest magazine. Her e-mail address is vjeaston@aol.com -------------------------------

Early warning - May 2 is shop-till-you-drop day: Kubota Garden Foundation Spring Plant Sale, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., 206-725-5060; The Bellevue Botanic Garden Society Plant Sale, 10 am to 4 p.m., 425-451-3755; and the 16th annual Seattle Tilth Organic Edible Pant Sale at the Good Shepherd Center, 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., 206-633-0451. -------------------------------

Now In Bloom: Euphorbia griffithii `Fireglow' comes into bloom just in time to warm up the late spring border with its fiery orange flowers. The color lasts all season long, and combines well with shrubby hypericums, yellow-striped grasses or the bronze tones of purple-leaved barberries.

captions: STEPHANIE FEENEY Decorative garden paraphernalia at the Garden of Distinction in Seattle.

STEPHANIE FEENEY Garden items from Through the Garden Gate in Mount Vernon.