Sienna Wessel is the first-ever second botanist at the Washington Natural Heritage Program (WNHP), bringing with her experience working for multiple land management agencies across the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. Hailing from the Midwest, Sienna’s botanical journey began in the tallgrass prairie, where she developed a deep desire to protect plant biodiversity within the tiny remaining refugia of this once vast ecosystem. 

The weekend of July 12th – 14th found 15 Rare Care volunteers and assorted partners on Table Mountain in the Cle Elum Ranger District for the annual Monitoring Weekend. We conducted 21 surveys and successfully located the target plant on 16 of them, with all of the teams participating in at least one success and one new discovery. Thank you to all of our fabulous volunteers! 

Scientific Name: Camellia sasanqua
Common Name: sasanqua camellia; the Japanese name for all camellias is tsubaki,“tree with shining leaves,” while the Japanese name for Camellia sasanqua is sazanka, “plum-flowered tea.”
Family: Theaceae
Conservation Status: Least Concern
Native Range: Lowland forests of southern Japan
Culture/Habit: Organically rich, evenly moist, well-drained soils in shade to sun. Small trees to 16 feet tall or vining shrubs growing wider than tall, often depending on sun exposure. 

A Day in the Life of a Red Wiggler
Hey there! I’m just your average worm living in the UW Farm’s bustling vermicompost bin. Let’s wriggle through a day in my underground life.
Rise and shine, it’s morning routine time. I move through our cozy bedding in search of breakfast. I can always find my buddies lined up at the buffet. 

Here at the Washington Park Arboretum we are lucky to care for many extraordinary trees. One of these amazing trees is our single specimen of Montezuma pine, Pinus montezumae var. lindleyi (Accession number 506-65-A) planted at the northeast corner of Crabapple Meadow in 1969. I first became acquainted with this tree in the spring of 2017 when I was the Teaching Assistant for a Landscape Plant Recognition class at the University of Washington. 

An endemic plant found only in Benton County of Washington State, Umtanum desert buckwheat (Eriogonum codium) is a long-lived perennial adapted to grow in an arid landscape. This compact, tufted plant forms a low-branching woody stem from a stout taproot and spreads 2-9 dm laterally but rarely reaching a height much higher than 8 inches. Leaves are basal, oblanceolate to elliptic in shape, and only 6-12 mm long x 3-6 mm wide. 

Each Year Rare Care recognizes volunteers for their outstanding contributions
Jane Engle is a relatively new Rare Care volunteer, having completed the training in 2022; however, she has come out of the gate running. Jane contributed over 147 total hours in 2023. As a first year seed collector, Jane collected seeds for Veronica schizantha in Gifford-Pinchot National Forest with the help of her assistant and mapper Duane Engle. 

Rare Care’s team has changed once again this year. We would like to welcome all of the new faces and recognize the returning staff who make our work possible.
In late 2023, Andrea Cummins was hired as the new Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator–most of you have probably already seen a flood of emails from her this year. Andrea is a past Rare Care volunteer (several years past) and is very pleased to once again be a part of a program that plays such an important role in plant conservation and lands managment across the state. 

Planting 672 plugs and sowing 45,000 seeds by hand takes no small effort. That was our goal this past fall when we planted Wenatchee Mountains checker-mallow (Sidalcea oregana var. calva) at three sites in Chelan County and Umtanum desert buckwheat (Eriogonum codium) at one site in Grant County. Fortunately, we had three days, nine volunteers, seven agency partners, one graduate student, one faculty, two undergrads and three staff to get it all done. 

Scientific name: Prunus species
Various species:
P. Sato-zakura Group: Cultivars: ‘Shirotae’, ‘Shoetsu’, ‘Ukon’ ‘Chosho-Hizakura’, Sekiyama’
‘Ohochin’ ‘Oeshokun’
P. serrulata: Cultivars: ‘Asagi’ ‘Iohiyo’, ‘Shirofugen’, ‘Tai-Haku’, ‘Taoyome’ ‘Wase-Miyako’ ‘Horinji’
P. subhirtella: Cultivars: ‘Eureka Weeping’ ‘Pendula’ ‘Rosea’ ‘Stellata’ ‘Higan Weeping’ ‘Whitcomb’
P. sargentii: Cultivar: ‘Pink Flair’
Prunus x yedoensis: Cultivar: ‘Akebono’, ‘Shidare-yoshino’, ‘Somei-Yoshino’
P. x juddii
Common name: Japanese Ornamental Cherry
Family: Rosaceae
Native Range: Japan
In the Arboretum: Along Azalea Way
Issues: brown rot, cherry bark tortrix larvae, crown gall, root rot, low tolerance of compacted or wet soils

During spring’s first blossoms, I brag to anyone who will listen that the Japanese ornamental cherries at the Washington Park Arboretum are the most amazing display in the city and that they MUST go for a walk along Azalea Way to view this splendor.