Grow with Us: Volunteer Opportunities Now Open for 2026 Season!
BY ALICIA HAMILTON We’re happy to share that volunteer recruitment at the Arboretum Foundation is open for the 2026 season. Over the past few weeks,...
News Articles
Arboretum Mourns Loss of Volunteer Extraordinaire Skip Vonckx
Skip working with a fellow Garden Steward on Azalea Way in 2016. (Photo courtesy Paige Miller) The Arboretum family is mourning the loss of one of...
Now Online: Lecture on the Grassroots Movement That Saved the Arboretum from the Thomson Expressway
Now Online: Lecture on the Grassroots Movement That Saved the Arboretum from the Thomson Expressway On May 21, Franklin Butler gave a superb lecture...
News Articles
Black Walnut Tree in Arboretum Tests Positive for Thousand Cankers Disease
Cankers and beetle feeding holes on the inner bark of a downed walnut branch. (Photo courtesy: Elizabeth Bush, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, bugwood.org)FIRST DOCUMENTED CASE IN WESTERN WASHINGTON! This summer, Seattle Botanic Gardens...
Hidden Treasure of the Arboretum: Witch-Alder
Fall foliage close-up of a witch-alder in the Arboretum's Woodland Garden. (Photo by Niall Dunne)BY PHIL WOOD As a retired garden designer, I am always on the lookout for plants that offer multiple seasons of interest. Witch-alders (Fothergilla species and hybrids)...
Volunteers Help Host First Seattle Botanic Gardens’ Plant Sale
Volunteers helping shoppers at check-out in the Big Greenhouse. (Photo by Polly Teeter)BY ALICIA HAMILTON Our annual Fall Plant Sale took place at the Graham Visitors Center in the Arboretum last Saturday, September 19. Though it happened on a single day, the sale was...
Bulletin Stories
Hidden Treasure of the Arboretum: Witch-Alder
Fall foliage close-up of a witch-alder in the Arboretum's Woodland Garden. (Photo by Niall Dunne)BY PHIL WOOD As a retired garden designer, I am always on the lookout for plants that offer multiple seasons of interest. Witch-alders (Fothergilla species and hybrids)...
Symbiotic Marvels: Get to Know the Small but Mighty Lichens of the Arboretum
Figure 1: Lichens on the Ceanothus in the Graham Visitors Center parking lot, including Ramalina farinacea, Usnea species (fruticose), Evernia prunastri and Physcia tenella (foliose).TEXT BY KATHERINE GLEW | Photos by Richard Droker Hidden beneath the leaves and...
Conservation Corner: Large-Winged Wingnut
The winged fruits of Pterocarya macroptera maturing in summer. (Photo by Niall Dunne)BY CHRISTINA PFEIFFER Quietly tucked away in the Arboretum’s old field nursery, on the south side of Crabapple Meadow, a stately specimen of Pterocarya macroptera holds court amid a...
Bulletin Archive
Looking for past Bulletins? Check out our Bulletin Archive for past issues.