Sequoiadendron giganteum

 Sequoiadendron giganteum in Volunteer Park April 2010

Sequoiadendron giganteum in Volunteer Park April 2010

 Sequoiadendron giganteum in Mt Baker April 2010
 

Sequoiadendron giganteum in the Cascadia Garden April 2010

Sequoiadendron giganteum (Sierra Redwood) is my favorite tree.  I love the red spongy bark, the form of the mature tree & the colossal size.  If you think it is too large for a city garden, look around Seattle.  There are many that look stunning on average-sized lots.  The key is to plant the tree well away from the house.  I particularly admire a Sierra Redwood in my neighborhood that dwarfs the house.  The owners have wisely had the branches thinned, so that light comes through & it is beautiful to see from below.  You can see several very large & nicely pruned Sierra Redwoods in Volunteer Park.  I have Sequoiadendron giganteum in a pot on my patio.  It seems well-suited to container life.  Sierra Redwood is a xeric plant in Seattle.  After a few years in the ground, you never need to water it again.   

Dale's Garden

Dale's Garden July 2010

Hakonechloa macra 'All Gold' & Heuchera micrantha 'Palace Purple' in Dale's Garden July 2010

Euphorbia cyparissias, Hosta & Lonicera nitida in Dale's Garden July 2010

Hydrangea macrophyllum in Dale's Garden July 2010 

 

Impatiens omeiensis in Dale's Garden July 2010

Hemerocallis 'Tijuana' & Hosta in Dale's Garden July 2010
 

On a hot day in July I drove with a friend to visit Dale's Garden in Mt Vernon Washington about 60 miles north of Seattle.  This is a large private garden.  Dale is a friend of mine.  He started gardening here 10 years ago, grateful the previous gardeners had left a fairly nice garden.  Dale added many beautiful & interesting plants.  His garden was full of flowers in mid-July.  Surrounded by forest, the garden has areas of both shade & sun.  There are Astilbe, a very large Adiantum aleuticum, Hosta, Impatiens omeiensis & Rhododendron in the shady areas.  The sunny areas are filled with Cistus, Calluna, Hemerocallis, Hydrangea, Penstemon & Sedum.

Discovery Park

Discovery Park June 2010 West Point Lighthouse

Discovery Park June 2010  Erigeron speciosus

 

Discovery Park June 2010 Lighthouse Cottage

 Discovery Park June 2010 Rubus spectabilis

Discovery Park June 2010 North Beach

Discovery Park June 2010 South Beach

 

Discovery Park June 2010 Puget Sound  

Discovery Park is the largest park in Seattle.  It sprawls over the northwestern portion of Magnolia Bluff where it spills down to West Point on Puget Sound with the Discovery Park Lighthouse at its tip.  I went walking there with a friend on a calm, sunny day in late June 2010.  We parked in the north parking lot, walked to the trail that leads down the bluff to the north beach.  The tide was too high to walk on the beach, so we walked on the path above the beach, lined with native flowers & fruits, to the lighthouse.  Twin tugboats crossed the sound beside us.  On the south beach, we found many people.  We walked up the forested Hidden Valley Trail, across a grassy meadow, back to the car.  It was a lovely & varied expedition.  I highly recommend a visit to Discovery Park.

Rainier Valley Garden Tour

Rainier Valley Garden Tour July 2010

 

Rainier Valley Garden Tour July 2010

Rainier Valley Garden Tour July 2010

Columbia City Station July 2010

Rainier Valley Garden Tour July 2010

Rainier Valley Garden Tour July 2010

Today I went on the Rainier Valley Garden Tour with a friend & my sister.  It was really very entertaining.  As always, it was a pleasure to walk around Columbia City.  The Rainier Valley gardeners were very friendly.  There were goats, dogs & lots of chickens.  The tour was divided into 3 pods: Columbia Flats, Genesee & Othello.  The Columbia Flats Pod was very accessible from the Columbia City Station.  All of the gardens were between the station & the Columbia City business district on Rainier Avenue S.  The Othello Pod (in Holly Park) was accessible from the Othello Station.  Sorry Holly Park gardeners, but we skipped the Othello Pod.  The Genesee Pod was in an ambiguous area, which can be part of Mt Baker or Columbia City, depending on whom you ask.  We drove there.  A hint to the garden tour organizers: it's a long way from any light rail station.  Look for the Rainier Valley Garden Tour (formerly the Columbia City Garden Tour) next July.

Sissinghurst Castle Garden

Sissinghurst Castle July 2009 

Mixed Border Sissinghurst Castle Garden July 2009 

 

Lower Courtyard Sissinghurst Castle Garden July 2009

Hop Barns Sissinghurst Castle July 2009

White Garden Sissinghurst Castle Garden July 2009

I visited Sissinghurst Castle Garden on July 4, 2009. Because the climate of southern England is similar to Seattle, Portland OR or Vancouver BC, the plants in this garden appeared much as they would in the Pacific Northwest in July.  From my journal: Colin had said he would have me back to London by noon.  But when we reached the carpark at Wisley Garden, he suggested we go on to Sissinghurst.  It was a long drive to Sissinghurst, near the English Channel, not far from Hastings.  I slept for awhile.  I awoke to lovely country near Hastings.  The Sissinghurst Castle Garden was wonderful.  There was a very charming old manor house, a tower remaining from the castle, cottages & an Elizabethan barn.  The garden contained a rose garden with much more than roses, a cottage garden, an herb garden, 2 courtyards with borders & a white garden.  There was also an orchard, a nuttery & part of a moat.  I enjoyed it thoroughly, was not sorry to be away from London for the day.

Carkeek Park

Carkeek Park June 2010

Carkeek Park June 2010: Piper's Creek

 Carkeek Park June 2010: Piper's Orchard

Carkeek Park June 2010: Physocarpus capitatus

Carkeek Park June 2010

Carkeek Park June 2010

 Carkeek Park June 2010: Puget Sound, Olympic Mountains

On a Sunny day in mid-June I went to Carkeek Park. From the Eddie McAbee Entrance on NW 100th Place near 8th Avenue NW,  I walked with a friend down through the ravine along Piper's Creek, past the old Piper's Orchard, through the wetlands, across the metal pedestrian bridge over the train tracks, down to the beach.  It was sunny, windy & cool.  The Olympic Mountains were white & jagged across Puget Sound.  We walked on the pebbly beach, then returned by the same route.  It was a delightfully varied experience.

Georgetown Garden Walk

Georgetown Garden Walk July 2010
 

 

Georgetown Garden Walk July 2010

Georgetown Garden Walk July 2010

Georgetown Garden Walk July 2010

Georgetown P-Patch, Hat n Boots, Oxbow Park July 2010

Georgetown Architecture July 2010

Today I went on the Georgetown Garden Walk with my sister.  I've done the garden walk several times before.  I must say that the gardens have improved in the past few years.  Georgetown is a quirky Seattle neighborhood, isolated from other residential areas by Interstate 5, Boeing Field & the Duwamish Industrial Area (SoDo).  It's quite a mix of charm & seediness, with its own business district along Airport Way S.  The houses range from Victorian to contemporary, handsome to derelict.  Oxbow Park is the site of the Georgetown P-Patch & the locally famous Hat n Boots, now fully restored.  Georgetown feels like another world.  The Georgetown Garden Walk is an annual event that happens on the 2nd Sunday in July.

Wisley Garden

Glasshouse Border Wisley Garden July 2009

Trough Gardens Wisley Garden July 2009

Helenium autumnale & Veronica spicata Wild Garden Wisley Garden July 2009

Kniphofia caulescens Trials Field Wisley Garden July 2009

Long Border Wisley Garden July 2009

I visited Wisley Garden on July 4, 2009. Because the climate of southern England is similar to Seattle, Portland OR or Vancouver BC, the plants in this garden appeared much as they would in the Pacific Northwest in July.  From my journal: I met Colin at Victoria Station at 17:30.  The train ride to Bromley was only 20 minutes.  We walked from Bromley Station to the house, a small 1890 duplex.  I had dinner there with Colin & Owen.  We sat in the parlor afterward & talked.  I heard several stories about men they had met online.  I wondered what my story would be.  I slept in their guest bedroom, which was much more comfortable than my hotel.  In the morning, Colin took me to Wisley Garden in his red Cooper Mini.  The garden was vast, excellent, amazing.  There was a very long border, trials field, model gardens similar to those at Strybing Arboretum in San Francisco, alpine display houses, trough gardens, a wild garden with prairie flowers from North America, borders along the Glasshouse & a lovely old manor house.  I thought Wisley Garden was one of the finest public gardens I had ever seen.

Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve

Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve June 2010

Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve June 2010

 

Eriophyllum lanatum (Oregon Sunshine) at Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve June 2010

Festuca idahoensis (Idaho Fescue) at Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve June 2010

 

Viola adunca at Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve June 2010

Cladonia (Reindeer Lichen) at Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve June 2010

Zigadenus venenosus (Death Camas) at Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve June 2010

I went with a friend to the Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve in early June 2010.  It was about an hour's drive from Seattle in the mid-afternoon.  I had often heard about the mounds.  But I had never been there before.  Both the mounds & the preserve are somewhat small.  But there are enough of the mounds to make an amazing sight: dozens (perhaps hundreds) of small mounds close together in a random pattern, covered with grasses, wildflowers, lichen & kinnikinnick.  To get there, take Interstate 5 to Exit 95, then drive 4 miles through Littlerock to the T intersection, where a sign directs you to turn right.  The mounds are just 5 miles from Interstate 5.