History of the Weed Identification Garden at Hovander Park

WSU Whatcom County Master Gardener Program

By Janis Walworth, WSU Whatcom MG 2009

When Leonard Vader became a Master Gardener at the age of 72, he chose for his project the establishment of a weed identification garden at Hovander Park in Ferndale. Dr Vader, a retired veterinarian, broke ground for his garden in 1988 in a sunny space near the two garden sheds that once served as outhouses for the Hovander homestead.

Weed identification gardens exist for the purpose of informing visitors about the weeds common in their area, but such gardens themselves are not common. The one started by Leonard Vader is one of fewer than a dozen weed gardens in North America and the only one on the west coast, as far as we know.

After Dr Vader died in 1996, the weed identification garden was tended by a succession of Master Gardeners, probably including John VanMiert, who may have been the person who gave Dr Vader the idea for the weed garden in the first place.

Botanist Dick Steele assumed leadership of the garden in 1998, when he became a Master Gardener. He supplied the garden with over 100 different weeds, each with a sign showing its common and botanical names. Perennial weeds were held over winter in the garden, and new annuals brought in each spring. Dick is always on the lookout for new plants to add to the garden — prospecting for weeds, he calls it.

In 2013, Dick turned management of the garden over to Janis Walworth, who had been volunteering in the weed garden since she became a Master Gardener in 2009. She replaced the old signs with new ones that provided additional information about each weed. Master Gardener Dave Keller built a display that allows visitors to see the underground roots and rhizomes of bindweed, and a raised bed that made viewing small weeds easier.

When the dahlia garden moved in 2014, the weed garden took its place in a shady area that wasn’t so good for dahlias but suited the weeds well. There the weed garden took on a more elegant appearance, retaining the curvaceous pathways it inherited from the dahlia garden. It also inherited rich soil and an irrigation system, resulting in very healthy weeds that first year.

The Puget Sound Pipeline carries tar sands oil from Alberta to Washington, passing directly under the weed garden’s new location. Because the garden was trespassing on the pipeline easement, it couldn’t stay there. In 2021, one of the few other shady spots in the park was chosen for the weed garden’s new home. The move to the area across from the front yard of the Hovander house was made in 2022.

Much about the weed garden remains the same. The display for observing roots and the raised bed were washed away in the flood of November 2021, but they have been recovered and are being rebuilt. The biggest change is that the weeds are now grown in containers, which will make it easier to keep them from spreading.

In 2023 we will be installing a drip irrigation system to water the weeds, and we plan more improvements in the future. Although the weed garden will now be on higher ground, it is still prone to flooding, so the weeds in their containers will be moved to a drier spot for the winter and brought back in the spring.

Visitors are welcome any time the park is open. The weed identification garden is operational from April to October each year. You can bring a sample of a weed from your yard and try to match it with one in the weed garden. Or bring your camera and photograph the weeds and their signs so you can take information home.

Janis