The Elisabeth C Miller Botanical Garden

Near the minimal parking area at the Elisabeth C Miller Botanical Garden September 2011

On the west-facing bank below the house at the Elisabeth C Miller Botanical Garden September 2011 

Colchicum autumnale flowering among the foliage of Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost', Epimedium & Heuchera americana at the Elisabeth C Miller Botanical Garden September 2011 

The house at the Elisabeth C Miller Botanical Garden September 2011 

 The bank northeast of the house at the Elisabeth C Miller Botanical Garden September 2011 

Polystichum setiferum & Smilacina racemosa in the woodland above the house at the Elisabeth C Miller Botanical Garden September 2011 

Next to the house at the Elisabeth C Miller Botanical Garden September 2011 

Back to the west-facing bank between the house & the parking area at theElisabeth C Miller Botanical Garden September 2011 

The view west to the Olympic Mountains & Puget Sound from the Elisabeth C Miller Botanical Garden September 2011 

On a warm & humid day in September I visited the Elisabeth C Miller Botanical Garden with a group of 14 other gardeners.  I had seen the garden once before, perhaps 10 years earlier, in spring.  I remember telling the head gardener then that it was the nicest public garden I had seen.  This time I was not as impressed.  I've seen many more public gardens since my last visit.  I'm sure the time of year made a big difference.  In the Pacific Northwest every garden looks best in spring.  But I was also disturbed by the Miller Garden because it demonstrated something that bothers me about my own garden.  It felt overcrowded.  Elisabeth Miller was an ardent plant collector.  She seems to have packed in as many different plants as she could.  That has been followed by the additions of head gardeners & curators during the years since she donated the garden to the University of Washington upon her death in 1994.  There are now 5,000 taxa on 5 acres, but mostly squeezed into the area around the house.  One of my fellow tourists asked me what I had learned from the garden.  My immediate response was, 'Plant less!'  I heartily recommend visiting the garden.  It is an amazing place guaranteed to give a strong & lasting impression.  Because the garden is located in The Highlands, a private & gated community in the City of Shoreline, just north of the Seattle city limits, the number of people who may visit the garden is limited to no more than 500 people each year, no more than 15 at a time, no more than 30 in a day.  Contact the garden to arrange a tour.