Colman Park P-Patch

Tool shed at the Colman Park P-Patch September 2012

Colman Park P-Patch September 2012

Colman Park P-Patch September 2012

Colman Park P-Patch September 2012

 

Colman Park P-Patch September 2012

Although the Colman Park P-Patch is fairly large, it is only a small part of beautiful Colman Park, itself only a very small part of the grand & venerable Olmsted Legacy in Seattle & other cities in the United States & Canada.  The p-patch fills the broad ravine at the top of the park, near 31st Avenue S.  Access to the p-patch is most easily gained from 32nd Avenue S, where it dead-ends into Colman Park, just south of S Massachusetts Street.  This is one of the most lovely settings for a p-patch in Seattle, surrounded by trees & sloping toward Lake Washington in broad terraces.  It was once a Department of Parks & Recreation nursery.  There are 47 plots here on 14,000 square feet of land owned by the Seattle Department of Parks & Recreation.  The Colman Park P-Patch was established in 1974.  You can walk from here to the excellent Bradner Gardens Park P-Patch, which is very different, but equally worthy. 

Volunteer Park Conservatory in September

The new ticket vending machine (near the entrance) in the palm house in September 2013

The seasonal display house in September 2013

The cactus house in September 2013

The fern house in September 2013

The bromeliad house in September 2013

Click here for more photos of Volunteer Park.

The Volunteer Park Conservatory is always a pleasure.  In September 2013, I found two major changes.  Following the results of a 2012 study Seattle Parks and Recreation conducted to identify a more financially stable model for operating the Conservatory, the City adopted the $4 adult entry fee beginning on February 1, 2013.  Also, the center of the seasonal display house had been cleared & paved, with a few benches & planters set in a symmetrical pattern.  I liked the open space, which had been cluttered before.  But I thought the planters were tacky.  The planting design is consistently excellent, better than I have seen in any other conservatory. 

Built in 1912, the Conservatory is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  The Volunteer Park Conservatory is open except on Mondays, even on holidays, from 10 to 4.  Summer hours are 10 to 7. The conservatory has 5 houses, each quite different. There are bromeliad, palm, fern, seasonal display & cactus houses.  It is hard to say which is most interesting.  The seasonal displays are changed 6 times each year.  Plants are often replaced in all of the houses.

I think Volunteer Park is the greatest park in Seattle.  Not only is the park beautiful, but it has a number of first-rate attractions including the conservatory, the Seattle Asian Art Museum, Isamu Noguchi's Black Sun & the panoramic view from the Water Tower.  The park is easily reached from Downtown Seattle by the 10 Capitol Hill bus, which stops at the park.

August in Seattle

Beacon Hill in August 2013. A myriad of plants, both native & exotic, thrive in Seattle.  Yet many home landscapes are little more than lawn left to brown in the perennial summer drought.

Seattle Central Community College on Capitol Hill in August 2013. This building opened in 1970.  Tracks are being laid for the First Hill Streetcar.

Oddfellows Building on Capitol Hill in August 2013.  Built in 1908, this building contains a collection of retail spaces, offices & creative users.  Perhaps the best known is the Century Ballroom.  This part of the hill, the Pike/Pine corridor, has been recently revitalized with new shops, housing, bars & restaurants.

Alcea rosea (Common Hollyhock) in NewHolly in August 2013

Hydrangea macrophylla & Fuchsia magellenica in West Seattle in August 2013

August in Seattle was warmer & wetter than normal.  The mean temperature was 69.4F/20.8C.  The normal mean temperature is 66.1F/18.9C.  Total precipitation was 1.35 inches/ 34.29mm.  Normal precipitation is 0.88 inches/ 22.35mm.  The highest temperature was 88F/31.1C, the lowest 56F/13.3C.  There was 1 day with heavy rain, 4 days with rain, 12 days with light rain, 1 day with fog, 5 days with haze, 10 cloudy days, 14 partly cloudy days & 7 fair days.  It was about as pleasant as August can be.

New Holly 29th Avenue Garden

New Holly 29th Avenue Garden August 2013

The New Holly 29th Avenue Garden is my favorite garden in the New Holly Development at the south end Rainier Valley of Seattle.  It was in sharp contrast to the very nearby & superficially similar New Holly Lucky Garden, which was quite a mess when I saw it in August 2013.  The New Holly 29th Avenue Garden was beautifully maintained.  I lived near New Holly from April to September of 2013.  The New Holly 29th Avenue Garden is located at 29th Avenue S & S Brighton Street.  It covers 2,000 square feet with 11 plots that each measures 100 square feet.  The land is owned by the Seattle Housing Authority.  This garden was established in 2001.  New Holly (formerly Holly Park) was the first of the large Seattle Housing Authority properties to be redeveloped. 

New Holly Lucky Garden

Veggie on a stick?

 

New Holly Lucky Garden August 2013

The New Holly Lucky Garden is my least favorite garden in the New Holly Development at the south end Rainier Valley of Seattle.  It was in sharp contrast to the very nearby & superficially similar New Holly 29th Avenue Garden, which was beautifully maintained when I saw it in August 2013.  The New Holly Lucky Garden appeared to be down on its luck.  Himalayan Blackberry (Rubus armeniacus), considered a noxious weed in Washington, covered neglected compost bins & the veggie on a stick art project had gone to ruin.  I lived near New Holly from April to September of 2013.  The New Holly Lucky Garden is located at S Holly Street & Shaffer Avenue S.  It covers 2,000 square feet with 9 plots that each measures 100 square feet.  The land is owned by the Seattle Housing Authority.  This garden was established in 2001.  New Holly (formerly Holly Park) was the first of the large Seattle Housing Authority properties to be redeveloped.

Mt Baker Ridge Viewpoint

View from the Mt Baker Ridge Viewpoint September 2012

Mt Baker Ridge Viewpoint September 2012

Sunset stone at the Mt Baker Ridge Viewpoint September 2012

Mt Baker Ridge Viewpoint September 2012

Diagram of solar positions at the Mt Baker Ridge Viewpoint September 2012

The Mt Baker Ridge Viewpoint is located at the top of the west slope of Mt Baker Ridge, above the Mt Baker Tunnels, which move traffic on Interstate 90 in & out of the City of Seattle via the  Lacey V. Murrow Bridge, across Lake Washington.  The viewpoint is located at 1403 31st Avenue S, in a small business district with a few eateries, offices & other businesses, in the Mt Baker neighborhood.  There are views of the northern end of the Rainier Valley, Beacon Hill, 1st Hill, Downtown, Elliott Bay & the Olympic Mountains.  The viewpoint is mostly a metal-grate platform extending out over the slope.  There is seating & also small basalt monuments (called sunset stones) to mark the movement of the sun throughout the year.  Construction of the viewpoint was completed in 2009.  It is easily accessible from Downtown via the 14 Mt Baker bus.

July in Seattle

Lavandula angustifolia (English Lavender) in Columbia City. July 2013

Downtown Seattle. July 2013

Capitol Hill with Queen Anne Hill in the distance. July 2013

Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill. This park covers a reservoir near Broadway Avenue E & E Pike Street, the two largest commercial centers on the hill. The crane & red wall mark the construction site of the Capitol Hill Station for light rail trains.  The water feature illustrates the flow of the municipal water supply from the Cascade Mountains to the city.  July 2013

Lilium martagon at Seattle University. This Jesuit university is a beautifully landscaped space on the east slope of 1st Hill. July 2013

July 2013 in Seattle was warmer & drier than normal.  The mean temperature was 68.1F/20.1C.  The normal mean temperature is 65.7F/18.7C.  There was no measurable rain.  Normal precipitation is 0.7 inches/17.8 mm.  The highest temperature was 89F/31.7C, the lowest 52F/11.1C.  There were 2 days with light rain, 15 days with fog, 2 cloudy days, 16 partly cloudy days & 13 fair days.  The days were mostly warm or hot, sometimes with morning fog.  There were 23 days at 75F/23.9C or above, 7 days at 85F/29.4C or above.  July is typically warm & dry in Seattle.

Bradner Gardens Plot B29B

Hemerocallis 'Bela Lugosi'. June 2013

'Vates' Collards. June 2013

 'Speedy' Bush Beans & Lamium maculatum 'Beacon Silver'. July 2013

Lilium auratum. July 2013

Clematis integrifolia. July 2013

Penstemon x mexicali. July 2013.

June & July at plot B29B were occupied mostly with weeding & watering.  I watered once a week in June.  But then in July I noticed that the vegetable plants in the other plots were many times the size of mine.  I started watering twice a week.  There was faster growth then, but my plants still lagged behind.  In June, the daikon (Asian radish) flowered without producing edible radishes.  I pulled them all out.  I was told I could eat the greens, but they were unappealing to me.  Toward the end of June I had my 1st harvest, which consisted of 11 green beans.  I cooked & ate them.  In July, a week later, I had many more beans, enough as a side dish for 2 people.  There were also 5 sizeable & very tasty 'Merida' carrots.  For the following 2 weeks, I had beans & 'Perpetual' chard. Flowers had been abundant earlier in the spring.  They petered out in June, when the daylilies stopped blooming.  The flowers of early summer were less bountiful.  Clematis integrifolia, Lamium maculatum 'Beacon Silver', Lilium auratum & Penstemon x mexicali bloomed in July.

Summit Slope Park & Unpaving Paradise P-Patch

Summit Slope Park July 2012

Unpaving Paradise P-Patch July 2012

Unpaving Paradise P-Patch July 2012

Unpaving Paradise P-Patch July 2012 with tool shed & alley behind

Unpaving Paradise P-Patch July 2012 with extra-long picnic table

Unpaving Paradise P-Patch is part of Summit Slope Park on the west slope of Capitol Hill in Seattle.  This is a very densely populated area.  The park & p-patch were created from a parking lot in 2010.  The design & execution were excellent.  This is among the nicest small parks in Seattle.  When I first saw the site, it seemed odd to me to have a p-patch in an area with so much pedestrian & vehicular traffic.  I thought vandalism would be rampant.  But I haven't seen any obvious injury to the space & now I really love it.  The largest part of the park is p-patch.  There are also 2 small pieces of lawn, some basic landscaping, areas of pavement including stairs, a tool shed, 1 barbecue grill & possibly the longest picnic table in Seattle.  There are 37 plots on land owned by the Seattle Department of Parks & Recreation.  The entire park covers 1/5th of an acre at the corner Summit Avenue E & E John Street, right next to the E Olive Way business district.  Click here to see more Seattle P-Patches.

Republican P-Patch

Republican P-Patch July 2012

Republican P-Patch July 2012

Republican P-Patch July 2012

Republican P-Patch July 2012

 Republican P-Patch July 2012

The Republican P-Patch can be found on Capitol Hill in Seattle.  So you should not expect most (or any) of the gardeners here to be Republicans.  Voters in this legislative district gave Obama 83.5% of the vote in the 2008 presidential election.  The Republican P-Patch is located at 503 20th Avenue E on the corner of E Republican Street.  The neighborhood here, known as Miller Park, is not as densely populated as other areas on south Capitol Hill.  It is composed mostly of smaller, early 20th century apartment buildings & houses.  This p-patch is one of the older community gardens in Seattle.  Established in 1986, it has 23 plots on privately-owned land, leased by the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods.  It has a quiet, earthy, yet urban feel.  Click here to see more Seattle P-Patches.