Urban Landscape, Native Landscape: Bosque (Cascadia Garden)

Chamaecyparis lawsoniana December 2008

Sorbus gonggashanica September 2008

Rhododendron 'Cynthia' May 2009

Mahonia aquifolium January 2010

Helleborus x hybridus January 2010

The bosque evolved over more than 40 years. Trees, shrubs & perennials were slowly added. The bosque is now composed of 5 large evergreen trees; 4 Chamaecyparis lawsoniana & 1 Thuja plicata. Acer circinatum & Sorbus gonggashanica grow at the edges. 4 hybrid Rhododendron cast additional shade. The bosque is located at the southwest corner of the property where land slopes to the west. It had been a very dry site. Plants for dry shade have been most successful there. The ground is covered mostly by Washington native forest plants & Helleborus x hybridus.

Bosque Plant List

Trees

Acer circinatum (Vine Maple)

Ceanothus arboreus ‘Trewithen Blue’ (California Lilac)

Chamaecyparis lawsoniana (Port Orford Cedar)

Sorbus gonggashanica (Mountain Ash)

Thuja plicata (Western Red Cedar)

Shrubs

Arctostaphylos bakeri ‘Louis Edmunds’

Comarostaphylis diversifolia (Summer Holly)

Holodiscus discolor (Ocean spray)

Mahonia aquifolium (Oregon grape)

Mahonia gracilipes

Mahonia nervosa

Mahonia repens

Philadelphus lewisii (Mock Orange)

Rhododendron hybrids

Ribes sanguineum ‘Pokey’s Pink’ (Flowering Currant)

Perennials & Groundcovers

Achlys triphylla (Vanilla Leaf)

Campanula poscharskyana (Serbian Bellflower)

Dicentra formosa (Bleeding Heart)

Helleborus x hybridus (Hellebore)

Liriope spicata (Lily Turf)

Maianthemum dilatatum (False Lily of the Valley)

Oxalis oregana (Redwood Sorrel)

Polystichum munitum (Sword Fern)

Smilacina racemosa (False Solomon’s Seal)

Smilacina stellata

About This Blog

This blog began in 2008 as Metropolitan Gardens to provide information on gardening in Seattle & places like it. Click on Gardening in Cascadia. The blog expanded to include Parks P-Patches Public Gardens in the US, Canada & Europe. Then Nature was added. (The difference between nature & gardens is intent. Nature happens. Gardens are planned.) Many recent posts are not about Seattle, or even Cascadia. They are Urban Landscape: streetscape & architecture. Cascadia is the region including the Cascade Mountains of Washington & Oregon. If you want to contact the blogger, leave a message in comments. Comments are moderated & private messages will not be posted.

Our Land & Climate

The city of Seattle rests between 2 bodies of water: Puget Sound & Lake Washington. Puget Sound is a substantial part of the Salish Sea & a very small part of the Pacific Ocean. The Salish Sea is set apart from the Pacific by the Olympic Peninsula in the state of Washington & Vancouver Island in the province of British Columbia. The dense, wet clouds of the Pacific Ocean travel as far as the Cascade Mountains, near the Salish Sea & not very far from the ocean. East of the Cascades lies the desert of the Columbia Basin. The moist, temperate climate of Seattle extends south to northern California & north to southeastern Alaska. The Pacific Northwest Coast from San Francisco Bay to Cook Inlet shares a flora dominated by evergreen coniferous forest. The central portion, west of the Cascade Mountains, is called Cascadia. The climate is cool & wet from fall to spring, warm & dry in summer. The Olympic Mountains block Seattle from much of the Pacific rainfall. Seattle is drier than the Atlantic coast of North America & northern Europe, cooler in summer & warmer in winter. It lies near the latitude of Paris & Quebec City.