The Center for Urban Horticulture, part of the University of Washington Botanic Gardens

Since I was already at the Center for Urban Horticulture to see the paper botanicals exhibit I decided to explore the campus...

I first visited this extension of the University of Washington Botanic Gardens with the Garden Bloggers Fling in 2011. That visit was brief and I think I spent most of my time in the Miller Library.

I'd always wanted to really explore the area and I spent about an hour walking around.

"The Center for Urban Horticulture, opened in 1984, is part of the University of Washington Botanic Gardens. It includes a 16-acre landscaped site with buildings and gardens, and the 74-acre Union Bay Natural Area, which provides publicly accessible wildlife habitat (more than 200 bird species have been sighted there) and an outdoor laboratory for UW research."[source]

There are also greenhouses, which I was hoping I could walk into.

No.

Darn it!

Those were some impressive cordylines, before last winter hit (I am assuming).

They're all staging a come back, although it will be years before they have trunks like at again.

Ha! A pine and an agave sharing a container.

That's something you don't see every day! Agave parryi ssp. huachucensis.

Sempervivum at its feet.

It's time to see what's at the top of the steps.

Nolina some somebody (?) to the side.

Part way up the steps is this handsome arctostaphylos (noID).

Oh look, there's an agave tucked in there...

Arctostaphylos x densiflora 'Harmony'

Dryopteris erythrosora 'Brilliance'

Colchicum

Lycoris squamigera

Now we're walking out to the area known as the Farm...

The orange arrows point out Husky Stadium, the only thing that reminds you you're in a very urban setting while strolling this very rural feeling farm.

Oh, check out this cool thing...

Looks like an oven, do the heat source and the food both go into the top space?

There are lots of flowers at the farm, this I knew from following Riz all these years.

There's a composting toilet too!

Another interesting structure.

With a seed library.

Looking inside...

Wheelbarrow art.

Well that's a tempting seat, don't you think?

Comfy too.

With a nice view. I enjoyed it for a few minutes and then it was time to head to the car and start the long drive back to Portland.

To receive alerts of new danger garden posts by email, subscribe here. Please note; these are sent from a third party, you’ll want to click thru to read the post here on the blog to avoid their annoying ads. 

All material © 2009-2024 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Visiting two very different gardens in the Seattle-area

I was surprised to discover I still had photos from our February trip up to Seattle (for the NWFG Fest) waiting to be published—today we take a quick look at two very different gardens, starting with the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden. I stopped on our way up to Seattle, but unfortunately had less than an hour before they closed. I shopped the nursery and then cut through the garden to the fern stumpery.

Pyrrosia!

I think the large fronds belong to Woodwardia unigemmata, the jewelled chain fern.

Blechnum spicant (deer fern) and Blechnum penna-marina (alpine water fern). 

I've heard a few people disparage the spreading nature of Blechnum penna-marina, but for now I'm loving how it's starting to expand in my garden—nothing like the enthusiasm shown here though.

Hydrangea integrifolia climbing the tree. 

I can't tell you the name of the round-leaved ground cover, maybe you know and can tell me?

Bleached blades of hakonechloa, Japanese forest grass. Spring clean-up was still a few weeks off. I love seeing this grass left to age gracefully in place.

Oh, I think I know the name of the plant with the little round leaves in this photo, Lonicera crassifolia.

More quickly taken photos...

Everything was very green!

Polypodium scouleri

Saxifraga dentata

Woodwardia unigemmata and Cyrtomium falcatum (Japanese holly fern), I believe.

Rhododendron sinogrande, looking a little deflated.

Saxifraga stolonifera and a bright green bed of moss.

This is the end of the shady Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden coverage...

... as we transition to the sunny Pacific Connections Garden at the Washington Park Arboretum.

These two gardens (the RSBG and PacConn) book-ended our five day trip, this was our last stop before we hit the road back to Portland. 

Some kind visitor placed this camellia blossom where it could be appreciated.

The Pacific Connections Garden contains plants from five countries connected by the Pacific Ocean—Cascadia, Australia, China, Chile and New Zealand. Well, make that four countries and one region.

These stalks belong to Cardiocrinum giganteum, from China.

The odd black cylinders must be protecting the small plants that will grow to bloom in the coming years? Perhaps from nibbling rabbits?

I don't think I would have noticed the large fern on the roof of the shelter had Andrew not been looking up. 

Hebe ochracea ‘James Stirling’ (in the foreground) is such a stunning plant.

It's at the entrance to the New Zealand Forest.

The Seattle area had an epic cold winter and those cordylines are showing their displeasure with odd coloring at their growing point. 

There were many astelia that didn't look like they were going to make it. This was one of the good ones.

Ditto for the phormium.

Astelia nivicola 'Red Devil' has been one of the best performers of the genus for me.

The Cordyline indivisa hadn't melted yet, but they look a little off in their coloring.

Ditto for the Wollemia nobilis

It should pull through.

It's been amazing to watch this garden mature over the years, I hope it's not set back to hard as the plants react to the historic cold.

Grevillea x gaudichaudii

And the pendulous blooms of Garrya elliptica (Coast silk-tassel) end this look at two very different gardens, both of which I love to visit every chance I get.

All material © 2009-2022 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.