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Other Great Public Gardens in Washington
Bellevue Botanical Garden
Comprises 53 acres of display gardens, woodlands, meadows and wetlands, including a diverse selection of native plants. Bellevue Botanical Garden displays the best plants and gardening practices for healthy, beautiful Northwest gardens. Visitors are encouraged to participate in Garden volunteerism, events and programs that are engaging, educational and inspiring. The Master Gardener Foundation of King County is proud to be a partner organization of BBG.
The Reserve’s 150 acres are a unique blend of natural woodlands and beautifully landscaped gardens, including a Japanese Garden, a Moss Garden, and Reflection Pool, and the Bloedel’s former estate home.
Carl S. English Botanical Garden at the Ballard Locks
The grounds combine the elegant lines and vistas of the romantic English landscape style with the original character of more than 570 species and 1,500 varieties from around the world, including local natives. The garden offers color, fragrance, and open spaces to awaken your senses all year long.
Covington Water District Waterwise Demonstration Garden
This garden showcases WaterWise gardening. Some areas never get water beyond what Nature provides. Come stroll, touch and smell in this beautiful water-efficient landscape while picking up ideas for your own yard. Includes drought tolerant native plants.
Ethnobotanical Garden at Daybreak Star Cultural Center
The Bernie Whitebear Memorial Ethnobotanical Garden is a learning garden that contains a treasure of over 60 species of native plants. These plants are key to supporting the health, welfare, and traditions of the Coast Salish and other indigenous people of the Pacific NW.
This Olmsted Bros. designed garden displays plants ranging from diminutive trilliums to towering Douglas firs. New and old intermingle, as plants dating back to the 1910s coexist happily with those just set into the soil. Woodland gardens, perennial borders, and great sweeps of lawn are just a few of the elements that make up the garden. Month by month, year by year, the garden grows and changes, while its historic quality endures. Tours may be arranged April-September.
13533 Northshire Rd NW, Seattle, (206) 362-0933 or info@dunngardens.org www.dunngardens.org
Eastpointe Native Plant Demonstration Garden
Part of project of NATIVE (Native Appreciation through Indigenous Vegetation at Eastpointe), this garden uses volunteers to educate the public about native plants and their environmental benefits.
3600 – 136th Pl. SE, Bellevue, (425) 296-6602
Erna Gunther Ethnobotanical Garden at the Burke Museum of Natural History
Ethnobotany is the study of the plant lore of a people. The Gunther Garden displays many of the most useful plants in the Northwest; plant labels indicate traditional uses, as well as natural habitats and suggestions for use in wildlife enhancement, land reclamation, or waterwise gardens.
Their campus in Des Moines has a Washington native plant habitat garden. Divided into four regions, eastern Wash, coastal, NW forest, and subalpine, about 100 representative species.
South 240th Street & Pacific Highway South, Des Moines, (206) 878-3710
Kruckeberg Botanic Garden
This four-acre public garden contains a unique blend of Pacific Northwest native plants and unusual exotics set in a naturalistic wooded setting. It may take multiple visits to see the more than 2,000 species, which include native and exotic conifers, hardwoods, rhododendrons, magnolias, ferns and groundcovers. Several trees are the largest or most rare in the state. Birdwatchers have identified over 40 bird species in the garden.
Offers landscape architecture by Thomas Church surrounded by rare and native plants, State Champion trees, over 900 rhododendrons, 30 Japanese maples and stunning statuary. A Washington State historic landmark, Lakewold’s Georgian-style mansion and historic architecture complete the 10 acres. Tours available by reservation, walk-ins welcome.
Transformed nine-acre industrial site into open and vibrant green space for art. This new waterfront park gives Seattle residents and visitors the opportunity to experience a variety of sculpture in an outdoor setting with native plants, while enjoying the incredible views and beauty of the Olympic Mountains and Puget Sound. Admission is free.
Thematic gardens, including a Japanese Garden, Rose Garden, Dahlia Trail, Rhododendron Garden, Fuchsia Garden, Herb Garden, Iris Garden, and Northwest Native Garden provide a wide variety of horticultural experiences for visitors. Tacoma Garden Club currently maintains the Northwest Native Plant Garden that offers visitors the chance to see native plants in cultivation, including rarities that the general public rarely sees.
Home to one of the largest collections of species rhododendrons in the world, the garden displays over 600 of the more than 1,000 species found in the wilds of North America, Europe, and Asia, as well as the tropical regions of southeast Asia and northern Australia. Conservation has come to be a primary importance in recent years with the destruction of Rhododendron habitat in many areas of the world.
The UW Botanic Gardens has many distinct gardens on its two main sites at the Center for Urban Horticulture and the Washington Park Arboretum. The north end of the arboretum features representative native trees and shrubs and a nature walk. The Soest Herbaceous Display Garden aims to help local gardeners select plants appropriate to a variety of site conditions commonly found in Pacific Northwest urban gardens. This garden features over 280 kinds of herbaceous plants that include perennials, annuals, and bulbs. Irrigation is applied using “water-wise” techniques to avoid wasteful runoff and evaporation.
Woodinville Water District Waterwise Demonstration Garden
Waterwise demonstration garden includes NW native plants, providing visitors with information and techniques to achieve a healthy, waterwise landscape. Each year a Spring Garden Fair is held, hosting seminars on waterwise gardening topics taught by local horticulture experts.