Mount Baker Station

Hosta & other plants fill this long planting bed.

Artspace Mt. Baker Lofts

 Mount Baker Station with plaza on Rainier Avenue S

Elevator, escalator & stairs. Photos were taken in June 2016.

The Mount Baker Station is not exactly in the Mount Baker neighborhood, but right next to it, with a view of Franklin High School, a Mount Baker landmark building.  It is located on Rainier Avenue S & Cheasty Boulevard S near the intersection with Martin Luther King Jr Way S.  It opened in 2009 after 4 years of construction.  It covers 30,000 square feet & is more than 400 feet long.  This structure is elevated 35 feet above an open plaza & access to the platform provided by stairs, escalators & elevators.  The light rail line enters the Beacon Hill Tunnel very near the station.  The properties next to the station have mostly not been developed.  The one prominent new building next to the station is Artspace Mt. Baker Lofts, whose ground floor retail spaces wrap around the building.  If each new building were to open retail spaces facing the station, the plaza could be quite a lively place.  At present, it is surrounded mostly by empty space & parking lot.  The landscaping at the station is better than usual for a public space.  I particularly like the long bed of Liquidambar styraciflua (Sweetgum), Hosta, Hydrangea anomala & a few other plants that runs behind the station.  The plaza in front of the station has few trees & much pavement.  Beneath the station there is a display of information about the Olmsted Legacy in Seattle.  Mount Baker Boulevard S & Cheasty Boulevard S were designed by the Olmsted Brothers landscape architecture firm.

Marion Street Plaza

These photos were taken in June 2016.

Marion Street Plaza is an odd little space on Broadway Avenue at Marion Street.  It was once a triangular island also bounded by Boylston Avenue.  But that was all resurfaced, including Boylston, which was closed to traffic between Marion & Broadway.  And it became a plaza with very low planter beds that run in parallel strips across the pavement.  The planters are edged in rusted steel, with some edges faced in blue.  The beds are filled with an eclectic array of perennials & very low shrubs, which appear to be randomly placed.  It's quirky & arresting in its deviation from normal landscaping of any kind.  The plaza also has benches & serves as a stop for Bus Route 9 & the First Hill Streetcar.  This is where you would get off, if you planned to visit Swedish Medical Center or Seattle University.  The streetcar is quite fun to ride from International District/Chinatown Station to Capitol Hill Station, because of the many things you can see along the way & the charm of the streetcar itself.

Carl Linnaeus Tribute and Healing Garden

Helenium autumnale (Common Sneezeweed)

Mespilus germanica (Medlar) These photos were taken in June 2016.

The Carl Linnaeus Tribute and Healing Garden can be found on the grounds of Swedish Medical Center First Hill Campus at the corner of Broadway Avenue & Cherry Street in Seattle.  This is particularly appropriate because Carl Linnaeus was Swedish.  Here there are a fairly wide number of plants, some of medicinal value, each listed by their common names & the botanical Latin names that Linnaeus gave them during his lifetime (1707-78). Linnaeus published Species Plantarum, the work that was the starting point of modern botanical nomenclature, in 1753.  The garden is small & pleasant, certainly worth a visit, if you are on First Hill, or at nearby Seattle University.  Swedish Medical Center has also created a vivid tropical garden here at the entrance to its campus on Broadway.  The Seattle Public Utilities Green Gardening Program has used these gardens as a case study for Transitioning to Sustainable Landscape Practices.

Olympic Sculpture Park

Photos were taken in September 2014.

The Olympic Sculpture Park is one of the finest gardens, public spaces & tourist sites in Seattle.  You can walk here fairly easily along the waterfront from the Seattle Aquarium, through Belltown from the Pike Place Market, or from Seattle Center.  It's about one mile from the market along Western Avenue, or from the aquarium along Alaskan Way & only half a mile from the Space Needle.  It features interesting sculptures, excellent native plant gardens, wonderful views of Elliott Bay, Puget Sound & the Olympic Mountains.  A charming part of the park is the pocket beach on Elliott Bay, which was created there, yet looks completely natural.  One of the most impressive sculptures is Wake by Richard Serra, consisting of 5 large rusted steel pieces, set in a small valley, creating a shaded micro-environment.  The Olympic Sculpture Park was created by the Seattle Art Museum, which can be found in Downtown Seattle on 1st Avenue at Union Street.  The park opened in January 2007.  It covers 9 acres & connects to Myrtle Edwards Park, which extends along the waterfront to the north.  The Olympic Sculpture Park is not gated & entry is free.  The park is open during daylight hours every day of the year.  There is pay parking available in the garage beneath the PACCAR Pavilion. 

South Seattle College Arboretum

The Helen Sutton Rose Garden

The Coenosium Rock Garden in the 3 photos above.

The Seattle Chinese Garden courtyard.  All photos were taken in September 2014.

The South Seattle College Arboretum is a mixed bag of gardens.  It is located on 15th Avenue SW on Delridge in West Seattle about half way between the West Seattle Bridge & White Center.  I often bring guests from out of town.  It is a bit of a gem.  I love the charm of coming on unexpected little gardens as I wander through.  The arboretum is big enough to make a bold statement, complex enough to intrigue & enchant.  It covers 5 acres.

I like the understated formal entry garden beside the funky pool made from broken concrete.  The rose garden has been remade in a pleasing form.  And for me it contains just enough roses, which is not very many.  The Coenosium Rock Garden is amazing, the best feature by far.  It's worth going to Delridge just to see that.  It's loaded with dwarf conifers, impressive granite boulders & a stream that mimics nature.  It's very well-designed.

Then there are more, smaller & older conifer gardens, like layers of an archaeological excavation.  They date back to the establishment of the arboretum in 1978, not ancient times, but fairly old for a garden.  The view of downtown from the pavilion is outstanding.  There are groves of maples & redwoods, another stream, more shaded gardens, another bridge.  You can wander in this place.

Next to the arboretum is the Seattle Chinese Garden, which at this point is an oddity.  There is a very impressive courtyard & not much else, just a small pavilion & a small pool outside the walls.  There are big plans for more, but this seems to be very slow in coming.

I hope this will convince you to visit this garden.  I think you'll be glad you did.  Just don't set your expectations too high.

Witt Winter Garden

Witt Winter Garden February 2013 

Stachyurus praecox at the Witt Winter Garden February 2013

Daphne bohlua 'Jacqueline Postill' at the Witt Winter Garden February 2013 

Cyclamen coum at the Witt Winter Garden February 2013

Hamamelis x intermedia 'Jelena' at the Witt Winter Garden February 2013

The Witt Winter Garden is located at the Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle, a short walk from the the Graham Visitors Center.  It can also be reached by crossing the Wilcox Footbridge over Lake Washington Boulevard E from the end of E Lynn Street in the Montlake neighborhood.  This is my favorite approach to one of the gardens I love best.  The Witt Winter Garden features a central lawn surrounded by large native conifers & an assortment of smaller trees, shrubs & perennials with winter interest. Many of the flowers are fragrant. The best time for flowers is late January & early February when the Hamamelis (witch-hazel) are in bloom.  The air can be filled with their fragrance on a warm & sunny winter day. I love this odor more than any other. The fragrance of Sarcococca (sweet box) is also pleasing & pervasive. Acer griseum (paper-bark maple) Betula albo-sinensis (Chinese red birch) Camellia, Cornus stolonifera (red-twig dogwood) Corylus (hazel) Corylopsis (winter-hazel) Cyclamen, Daphne, Helleborus, Garrya issaquahensis (silk-tassel) Mahonia, Rhododendron & Salix (willow) stand out among many other plants.  One thing I dislike about the garden is the lawn.  It is soggy & muddy in the winter.  Don't walk on it. There are plenty of paths around it & between the various beds. The winter garden was originally designed & planted in 1949. It was redesigned & named for Joseph A. Witt Winter Garden in 1987, then renovated in 2010. The renovation added Acer tegmentosum ‘Joe Witt’ (Manchurian snake-bark maple).

Wilcox Footbridge at the Washington Park Arboretum February 2013

Lakewold Gardens

Former home of Eulalie Wagner

Swimming pool designed by Thomas Church

Rose-covered gazebo

A path through the woods 

Garden wall with Actinidia kolomikta 'Arctic Beauty' (Hardy Kiwi Vine)

Parterre near the house with Gravelly Lake in the background.  Photos taken in May 2015

Click here to see more photos of Lakewold Gardens.

Lakewold Gardens covers 10 acres on the shore of Gravelly Lake in Lakewood, the southern suburb of Tacoma, Washington.  This is a beautiful garden, surely worth a visit & not far from Interstate 5.

The property was first developed in 1908, but really came into its present form after it was purchased by G. Corydon & Eulalie Wagner in 1938.  The Wagners hired Thomas Church to design the major elements of the garden in 1958.  Based in San Francisco, Thomas Church was one of the most famous landscape architects of his time.  He continued to visit the garden to suggest improvements.  You can see his work in the brick walk, parterres & swimming pool, an unusual mixture of modern & vintage European styles.

Lakewold Gardens also contains quite a lot of woods near the lake & lawn surrounding the house.  The drive is lined with tall Douglas firs & Rhododendron.  Over 900 Rhododendron grow in these gardens.  There is a very charming perennial garden behind the house.

Eulalie Wagner donated the property to the Friends of Lakewold in 1987 to be maintained as a public garden. The State of Washington has made Lakewold Gardens a historic landmark.

Woodland Park Rose Garden

The Woodland Park Rose Garden in June 2014

The Woodland Park Rose Garden covers 2.5 acres at the south entrance to the Woodland Park Zoo, outside the zoo grounds, at the intersection of N 50th Street and Fremont Avenue N, on Phinney Ridge in Seattle.  There are 200 varieties of roses & 3,000 individual plants.  It is one of only two dozen certified American Rose Test Gardens in the United States.  The garden is maintained by the Woodland Park Zoo Society.  Construction of the rose garden was completed in 1924 & originally covered 1.8 acres.  The art deco heritage clearly shows in the design of the pool & frieze behind it.  While not a very small garden, it has an intimate feel, in great contrast to the sprawling Washington Park International Rose Test Garden in Portland, OR.  I have seen a number of other rose gardens, within much larger botanical gardens.  None of them had the subtle charm Seattle's largest rose garden.  There is also the much smaller Helen Sutton Rose Garden located at the South Seattle College Arboretum.

Seattle Japanese Garden

All photos were taken in September 2014.

Click here for more photos of the Seattle Japanese Garden.

The best known Japanese garden in the Seattle area is located the Washington Park Aboretum.  In 2010 the Seattle Japanese Garden celebrated its 50th anniversary.  In 1924 the Olmsted Brothers designed the University of Washington Arboretum.  By 1937 it was agreed that the arboretum needed a Japanese garden, a project not realized until end of the World War II, for obvious reasons.  The Arboretum Foundation began raising funds for the creation of the Japanese Garden in 1957. The Foundation asked Tatsuo Moriwaki of Tokyo Metro Parks to help guide the process. He selected Kiyoshi Inoshita & Juki Iida to design the project.  The design was finished in 1959.  Under the supervision of Juki Iida & Nobumasa Kitamura, construction began in March 1960 & was completed within four months. More than 500 large granite rocks from Snoqualmie Pass were used. Construction was done mostly by local Japanese-American gardeners including William Yorozu as the prime contractor for plants, Richard Yamasaki for stone setting, and Kei Ishimitsu for Garden structures.  The Seattle Japanese Garden was the earliest postwar public construction of a Japanese garden on the Pacific Coast.  It had a strong influence on the design of future Japanese gardens throughout the region.  The original tea house was burned by vandals in 1973 & reconstructed by Yasunori (Fred) Sugita in 1981.  A new gatehouse & community meeting room were completed in 2009.  The bronze gate was designed by Seattle sculptor Gerard Tsutakawa.

Bellevue Botanical Garden

The Ravine Experience at the Bellevue Botanical Garden August 2012

The Yao Japanese Garden at the Bellevue Botanical Garden August 2012 

The Alpine Rock Garden at the Bellevue Botanical Garden August 2012

The Northwest Perennial Alliance Border at the Bellevue Botanical Garden August 2012

The Northwest Perennial Alliance Border at the Bellevue Botanical Garden August 2012

Click here for more photos of the Bellevue Botanical Garden.

The Bellevue Botanical Garden is an amazing place.  And even more amazing, it gets better all the time.  This is certainly one of the largest & best gardens in the Seattle area, which has rather few impressive public gardens.  One 53 acres, there are gardens, natural woodlands & wetlands.  Most impressive of the gardens is the Perennial Border maintained by the The Northwest Perennial Alliance.  The Yao Garden is also quite impressive, one of the best Japanese gardens in the Seattle area.  In addition to these, there is also an Alpine Rock Garden, the Waterwise Garden, the Shorts Ground Cover Garden, & the Native Discovery Garden.  The newest feature (as of 2012) is the Ravine Experience, a footbridge suspended over a ravine in the native woodland.  You have a rare opportunity here to see a small portion of the native wetlands that once covered most of lowland King County.