Originally published October 10, 2007 at 12:00 AM | Page modified October 10, 2007 at 1:44 PM
Sprucing up a place for plants
It's underfunded, overlooked and, because of a lack of staffing, parts are just plain weedy. That's the 230 acres, with their 10,000 plants...
Seattle Times staff reporter
It's underfunded, overlooked and, because of a lack of staffing, parts are just plain weedy.
That's the 230 acres, with their 10,000 plants, that make up the Washington Park Arboretum in the middle of Seattle. Its enthusiasts admit the park is better known elsewhere than in its hometown.
It is one of the country's great botanical gardens, renowned for its collections that include oaks, hollies and rhododendrons.
Now, finally, there is discernible progress at the park.
A big, new, splashy garden, covering 12 acres, is being created.
In the local horticultural world, that is cause for great excitement.
It was in 1934, when the arboretum was founded, that the last such major garden work was done.
It almost seems inevitable that when your main product line includes trees, progress is measured very slowly. Still, that's a wait of 73 years.
"I think that because it's [at] our back door, people just see it as a park," said Mary Lou Smith, 55, a 10-year volunteer.
That's why an 11:30 a.m. ceremony Thursday at the arboretum — as hokey as it might appear as participants will follow a carved cedar pole as they shake gourd rattles — means so much to her. The pole will be used to support an interpretive shelter at the new garden.
"Everybody's excited. It's a big step forward," said Smith.
The new Pacific Connections Garden will have plants and mini-forests representing this region and four other countries in the Pacific Rim with similar climates.
![]()
Chosen as "iconic" plants from each region will be ginkgo trees from China; the New Zealand flax, a grassy perennial; the eucalyptus tree from Australia; the monkey puzzle tree from Chile; and, from here, the Western red cedar.
Money is the main reason why it took so long to bring about such a major project.
For example, said botanist David Mabberley, the arboretum's director, its budget gives it only six gardeners to look after all those 10,000 plants.
A master plan says the park really should have 40 gardeners if it had the same staffing as botanical centers in San Francisco or Vancouver, B.C.
"It does look a bit tatty," said Mabberley, using a term from his native England, about the arboretum's unkempt look.
During six sessions, under the guidance of the Pomegranate Center — an Issaquah nonprofit — some 40 volunteers used power and hand tools in carving the poles. Smith helped carve two of 12 such poles, all from cedar trees blown down in the park during last December's windstorm.
"I was dusty from head to toe," she said. "It gives you a sense of ownership."
A $2.2 million gift from the Arboretum Foundation, along with $450,000 from parks levy money, has made the initial work on the garden possible. Mabberley said several million dollars more will be needed to finish the project.
Smith also knows it'll be many years before the vision is a reality.
It's not just the money; ginkgo trees don't exactly grow fast.
There is no mandatory overtime for plants.
Erik Lacitis: 206-464-2237 or elacitis@seattletimes.com
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company
Illegal workers quietly let go
Metro won't cut bus service after all
Jerry Large: Food-bank theft turns into a gift
Bumper to Bumper: How can the city let bridges go dark?
NEW - 01:26 AM
Tattoos at Mill Creek church pierce skin, soul

Raw Video | Real Salt Lake receives the MLS Cup trophy
Real Salt Lake is handed the 2009 MLS Cup trophy at Qwest Field, November 22, 2009.
nwjobs

Post a comment

Michelle Goodman blogs about work/life balance.
How to tell your office you're gravely ill
Post a comment
nwautos

Choosing a new sedan? Weigh the impact of your choice on your wallet and on the planet.
Post a comment
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Tugboat sinks at Seattle waterfront pier
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- Craigslist adoption ad: A plea by young mother-to-be? A scam?
- Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
- Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
- Denny Triangle gains skyline, but tenants slow to come
- Snow piles up on Cascade slopes
- Woman stabbed by stranger in North Seattle
- Husky Men's Basketball Blog | Saturday's Pac-10 games in review
- Senate vote clears hurdle
239 - Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
134 - Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
128 - Palin excitement builds in Tri-Cities
123 - Tight Senate vote launches health care over hurdle
122 - Cutting through breast-cancer confusion
90 - Historic health care bill clears Senate hurdle
82 - Game thread
70 - New York terror trials will restore faith in rule of law
62 - Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
54
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- It's possible to recover a life lost to hoarding
- Washington state wines make annual best-of list
- Banff: powder, peaks & purity
- Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
- Denny Triangle gains skyline, but tenants slow to come
- Protect yourself from baggage loss
- Northwest Living | On Whidbey, a unified home from multiple recycled parts
- Rediscovering Moab, 'the most beautiful place on Earth'









