Clippings

An occasional gathering of garden notes

A Garden Grows

With a Miller/Hull-designed visitor center and a new manager search in the works, the Bellevue Botanical Garden is changing. But at 36 acres, it's on the small side for a public garden. A recent purchase of another 17 acres will increase the garden's size by nearly 50 percent. The new parcel lies adjacent and south of the existing garden, buffering it from development, protecting views and linking to city parklands. "It's really a purchase for our grandchildren and future gardeners," says garden co-president Denise Lane. (To visit: 12001 Main St., Bellevue; 425-452-2750; www.bellevuebotanical.org)

Library Innovation

Not quite a year after moving into its new building, the Miller Library at the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture has a new head librarian, programs and collections. Stop in and say hello to library manager Karen Preuss, freshly arrived from Montgomery, Ala., and thrilled to live in a climate where it's possible to grow so many kinds of plants.

Bring the kids for a free Saturday-morning story time (10 to 10:45 a.m.). Upcoming programs include "Plants Gone Wild!" on Feb. 18 and "Seeds And Sprouts" on March 18. And be sure to check out the new collection called "Pacific Northwest Connections" with books by Northwest authors. Here you'll also find field guides and botanical floras from the countries to be featured in the new arboretum gardens, such as Chile, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, China, Japan and areas of the Mediterranean. (To visit: 3501 N.E. 41st St., Seattle; 206-543-0415;www.millerlibrary.org)

And Speaking of New Arboretum Gardens . . .

The first new gardens in the Washington Park Arboretum since the 1980s are being designed. This initial project under a long-awaited master plan will stretch roughly between the stone cottage and the lookout near the south entry — the Madison Valley end — of the arboretum.

The centerpiece of the south-end restoration will be a sunny Pacific Rim meadow, designed as a gathering spot. Trailheads will depart from the meadow, leading to five new gardens rich with plants from East Australia, New Zealand, Chile, East Asia and Cascadia (Washington, Oregon, Northern California). Plans include a renovated 1938 Holmdahl rockery, Madrona Terrace featuring the Chilean garden, and a new interpretive shelter. Work will begin next autumn, when irrigation will be installed and the existing holly collection relocated to make room for the new Pacific Rim gardens. After more than a dozen years of planning and fundraising, it's exciting to finally see the master plan taking shape.

What's In and What's Out for 2006

According to the Garden Media Group's Trend Report, outdoor living is what's new in gardening. "It's not just about gardening anymore, and it certainly is not about the Latin name of plants," says group president Susan McCoy. Outdoor-living products and services reached $62.5 billion in 2004, and plants accounted for only a third of the sales. Seems that homeowners are busy decorating outside their doors, using art, collectibles and containers to give their property "personality."

Who would have guessed houseplants would be hot? What's new is tender plants summering outside on the deck or patio, brought indoors for the winter. Also in the "everything old is new again category" is food gardening. The marketers are telling us it's newly hip to harvest at home.

Note: "Safe" is both in and out. It's out in relation to adventuresome, the example being that a cottage garden is safe while a Zen garden is edgy. But opposed to reckless gardening, "safe" means sustainable gardening practices.

Among the other trends on the Garden Media's list:

What's In

Lived In Gardens

Simple Elegance

Gardening in Small Spaces

Adventuresome

Boom without Bloom (foliage, perhaps?)

Mixing Containers

Indoor Living Color

Safe Gardening

Fountains

What's Out

Showplace Gardens

Fussy Gardens

Colossal Landscapes

Safe

Just Flowers

Mixed Containers

Plant-less Houses

Reckless Gardening

Ponds

Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and contributing editor for Horticulture magazine. Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net.