Sit in on one of the horticulture staff’s check-in meetings and you’ll quickly notice Kathleen Glasman because she’s game for everything: another team member needs some help running a volunteer opportunity in the Arboretum? She raises her hand. Someone else needs help clearing brush out of their area? She’s available and ready to help. She’s been in the horticulture game for more than 30 years, and her expertise shines through whenever you talk to her.

Kathleen is currently a horticulturist at the Washington Park Arboretum, but this isn’t her first time working here. She worked with the horticulture staff in 1988 and 1989 as a temporary seasonal employee, before moving on to work permanently at City People’s Garden Store for the next ~30 years, eventually becoming their perennial buyer and amassing an amazing knowledge of plants and gardening along the way. As she moves through the Arboretum, she can point out and name almost every plant you can see – and she still runs into folks who used to buy plants from her at the Garden Store, cheerfully greeting them by name as they cross paths on the Arboretum trails. After City People’s Garden Store closed, Kathleen worked for a short while at the plant nursery at Oxbow Farm & Conservation Center out in Carnation, Washington, before finally circling all the way back to the Arboretum more than 30 years after her first stint as a seasonal staff member.

Kathleen loves working at the Arboretum – to her, it’s a combination of half forest, half plants from all over the world that she gets to explore, learn from, and take care of. She originally studied and earned a degree in architecture, but she quickly realized after graduation that she wanted to be outside as much as possible, no matter the weather. “When you’re outside, you know it’s great to be outside. When you’re inside, you think you don’t want to be outside in that weather – it takes being out there every day to see how great it is.”

When I asked what her favorite plant is, she quickly replied “Osoberry! It’s so resilient and amazing!” Two minutes later, she added, “Actually, I’m also loving red huckleberry right now. It’s so graceful, and the fresh green leaves in spring – what a beautiful plant.” I have a feeling that if I asked Kathleen what her favorite plant was every day, she may very well give me a different answer each time.

You can find Kathleen working in the Arboretum in the Witt Winter Garden, the Sino-Himalayan Hillside, the Magnolia collection, and the hybrid Rhododendron section!

Photos by Mary-Margaret Greene