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Plant Life By Valerie Easton
Inspired By NatureNative plants set an imaginative stage at the Seattle Art Museum's new park
IF YOU'VE DRIVEN by the site of the Seattle Art Museum's new Olympic Sculpture Park lately, you've seen a swarm of workers frantically planting to complete the gardens before the park opens to the public in January. No small feat. The plan is for 80,000 mostly native trees and shrubs to green the nine-acre site before Halloween. "Landscape is the foundation for the art," says Charles Anderson, landscape architect for the project. This week another 20,000 trees are going in. I can't tell you how often I've been asked where to see native plants used artfully. Soon, you'll be able to enjoy more native plants than you could have ever imagined right in the thick of the city, along the shore of Elliott Bay. Because this is the museum's venue for experiencing art in the out-of-doors, you might need to peer around a few sculptures to appreciate maidenhair ferns or tiny vanilla-leaf groundcover. From the Garden of the Ancients, a valley planted in dawn redwoods and ginkgos, to the masses of "Eddie's White Wonder" dogwood, you'll be submerged in native or near-native habitats right on the edge of bustling Belltown. No matter that the site is a total construct, a remediation of an old fuel-storage complex. Visitors will stroll through a deeply green coniferous forest, a deciduous grove of quaking aspen, a meadow of grasses and wildflowers, and a greensward homage to the parks-and-boulevard legacy of the revered Olmsted Brothers landscape-design firm. Anderson explains that these are all iconic Northwest landscapes, their essential characteristics ramped up a bit in intensity. Quaking aspens were imported from Idaho because they turn the most gold of all the aspens. The meadow is quintessentially ephemeral, the greensward an elegant grassy path connecting the urban edge of the park with the water. While native plants might not come to mind as ideal for such a disturbed and exposed site, Anderson didn't hesitate in thinking they were the absolutely right choice. So much art is inspired by nature that it makes sense to use natives, he says. He's decorating the site with colonies and patterns of natives to create habitat. It's the artistic, expressionistic aspect of the plantings that pleases Anderson so, which makes me think plant-loving museum visitors will be in for a real treat. 
Now In BloomPersian ironwood (Parrotia persica) is one of the finest small trees for autumn color. Its shape is distinctively wide and gracefully spreading. In winter, the exfoliating bark is showy, and in early spring parrotias reveal their kinship to witch hazels with curious little ruby-red, tassel-like flowers on bare branches. Parrotias peak with a fiery burst of yellow, orange and scarlet leaves in autumn. ILLUSTRATED BY JULIE NOTARIANNI The gardens will be a submersion in historic habitats, with each precinct (meadow, valley, grove) kept distinct in feel and plant selection. The sheltered, contemplative coniferous forest of larches and cedars gives way to the airy aspen grove. The promenade is all about views and sociability, while the shoreline, planted with grasses, shrubs and coastal trees, helps restore salmon habitat. The valley floor may be the most exciting space, taking us back 150 million years to when ginkgos and dawn redwoods populated our part of the country, as proven by fossils found in the Columbia Gorge. "We really dug back in history," says Anderson. When I toured the site in early July, it was mostly vast mounds of dusty soil. How to green it up in a few months? Anderson started by making good dirt — hauling in salvaged soil skimmed off construction sites. The entire site is irrigated. Planting is staged, with fast-growing and tough plants such as thimbleberry, snowberry, serviceberry, vine maple and Indian plum going in first to grow up and provide shade for the more delicate understory plants. Anderson credits Chris Rogers, the museum's project manager, for making sure the budget was adequate to create such strong plant communities. "If it wasn't for Chris's love of native plants, we wouldn't have this scale and scope of plantings," says Anderson. "The landscape is what will make the place." A concrete-workers strike delayed the originally scheduled October opening of the park. But the museum still plans to invite the public to a free, weekend-long community celebration when the park does open. Much of the planting should be completed. For dates and details, as well as a video rendering of what the park will look like, see www.iamsamcampaign.org. The park is on the waterfront between Broad and Eagle streets. Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and contributing editor for Horticulture magazine. Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net.
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