Douglas Fir Tea: Ethnobotany and Health Benefits
The bright-green spring foliage of Douglas fir is prized by foragers for making tea. BY REBECCA ALEXANDER & NIALL DUNNE This regular column...
News Articles
Shasta Snow-Wreath: A Threatened Beauty
The flowers typically have multiple showy stamens but no petals. “Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us” is a quote attributed...
Supporting Urban Biodiversity
Anna’s hummingbird visiting a native twinberry honeysuckle (Lonicera involucrata) in the Arboretum. (Photo by Larry Hubbell) Research Confirms That...
Unit 86 Donation Helps Fund Restoration of Arboretum Creek
Volunteers from the Friends of Arboretum Creek on planting day. (Photo by Larry Hubbell) Arboretum Foundation volunteer Unit 86 was formed in 1966...
Hidden Treasure of the Arboretum: Sierra Laurel
Sierra laurel is a lovely, versatile Northwest native plant in the heath family (Ericaceae) deserving of more attention from home gardeners. A...
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 mul-tiple 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 mul-tiple 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...
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