Scientific name: Trochodendron aralioides
Synonyms: Trochodendron longifolium
Common name: Wheel tree, parasol tree, birdlime tree, yamaguruma, nagaba-no-yamguruma, kun lan shu, ka-tang-lai
Family: Trochodendraceae
Native Range: Japan (south of Yamagata), Kyushu, Shikoku, Ryuku Islands, Taiwan
Height and Spread: May grow from 60-75 tall feet in the wild with trunks as large as 16 feet in diameter, typically 20-25 feet tall by 10-15 feet wide in cultivation. 

After our last volunteer shift of the Fall season on December 9th, the UW Farm has officially ended its 2023 growing season! One way that the farm team celebrated the end of the year was by coming together to construct a gingerbread farm for the annual School of Environmental and Forest Sciences (SEFS) gingerbread competition. Some of the features of our gingerbread house included: different flavors of cake to represent stratified soil layers, gummy worms to represent soil organisms and microbial life beneath the surface, gingerbread versions of our interns, and even a bursting CSA box with veggies molded by students. 

Family: Myrtaceae
Genus: Leptospermum
Species: Over 80
Origin: Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia
Height and Spread: From groundcovers to trees
Bloom time: Varies by species, mostly spring and early summer
Location: Several species can be seen in the Pacific Connections Australia Entry Garden, Leptospermum scoparium is also prevalent in the New Zealand Forest.
You may be familiar with tea trees from the myriad of products containing oils from these plants. 

Scientific name: Ailanthus altissima
Common name: Tree of Heaven, Stinking Sumac, Paradise Tree
Family: Simaroubaceae
Native Range: Taiwan and China, hardy to USDA Zone 4
Habit: Grows between 60-90 feet tall and can grow to around 25 feet in a single year. The bark is smooth and tan to gray in early growth. With age, bark will become rugged with heart-shaped leaf scars. 

Rare Care staff, volunteers and agency partners convened in June in the southeastern corner of the state for Rare Care’s annual monitoring weekend. Our goal was to help US Forest Service assess the impact of the 2021 Lick Creek wildfire on sensitive plant species. Located on the northeastern flank of the Blue Mountains, the Lick Creek area has some of the highest concentration of rare plants on the Washington side of the mountains. 

Rare Care’s team expands each spring when we are joined by seasonal staff who assist with field work to support the recovery of endangered plants and restoration of their habitats. This year we were thrilled to be able to hire five talented biologists, and their experience, enthusiasm and hard work were a tremendous asset to our team.
Teddy Pierson joined us for the entire field season and assisted with the Wenatchee Mountains checker-mallow introductions (Sidalcea oregana var. 

Join us for a FREE public opening of art installation, UNION, a stunning largescale outdoor sculpture created by one of the world’s leading contemporary artists, Seattle-based John Grade. 

Hi everyone! My name is Alex and I’m the UW Farm Campus Food Systems intern for summer and fall quarters here at the UW Farm. I’m also going into my second year at UW, planning to major in Food Systems, Nutrition, and Health.
This is my first time writing for the UW Farm newsletter, and I would like to talk about an unanticipated memorable experience: harvesting fruit from our asian plum trees. 

The horticulture staff at the Washington Park Arboretum are constantly planting new trees. These new plantings increase species diversity within the collection, succeed dead or declining trees, contribute to future increased canopy coverage and much, much more. All of the trees mentioned in this article were planted over the last year and are located within the Pinetum on the west side of Lake Washington Boulevard. 

Hardy Fuchsia love sun and do fine in part shade.  Once established they tend to be drought hardy plants – I have one in my yard that I never water in summer and it has thrived over the past 15 years.  They are the hardiest species of the Fuchsia genus and are rated for USDA Zones 6 & 7.