1)  Arctostaphylus uva-ursi                                                   ‘Vancouver Jade’            Kinnikinnick or Bearberry

Broadleaf evergreen and creeping groundcover with circumpolar distribution in northern hemisphere often found growing in association with Pitch Pine
If there were still bears on Cape Cod, it would be a favorite food source for them.
This cultivar, ‘Vancouver Jade’ is growing in containers outside the Graham Visitor Center.

2)  Juniperus virginiana  ‘Blue Coast’                               Eastern Red Cedar

A low growing, blue form of the Eastern Red Cedar
Pioneer species found in mixed stands with Pitch Pine, reclaiming abandoned farms and grasslands
Found growing under Pines in grid 36-4E, along nursery road

3)  Morella pensylvanica                Bayberry

Berries boiled to extract sweet-smelling wax used to make clean-burning candles
Found growing in dry open sites along with Bearberry, Eastern Red Cedar and Pitch Pine
Mass growing in Oaks Collection in grid 43-B

4)  Pinus rigida                Pitch Pine

Rigid cone scales and stiff needles, hence its Latin specific epithet
Used during days of wooden ships due to its resistance to decay
Several young specimens in our Pinetum, grid 37-4W

5)  Viburnum dentatum var. 

The Community Gardening Leadership Training is seeking four new farm/garden apprentices to join them on Whidbey Island for the 2016 growing season!
The Community Gardening Leadership Training gives motivated individuals the skills and experience needed to lead community farms and gardens. The training nourishes a vital local food system by providing fresh produce, volunteer opportunities, and education to the community through our food bank, school district, and non-profit growing programs. 

I care deeply about how individuals and communities interact with, use, and have relationships with the natural world. As our society becomes more and more disconnected with our roots in the earth, it is so imperative that we rekindle the sense of connectedness that once permeated human society. I believe that the two most tangible and accessible ways for that to happen are through our interactions with animals and food. 

1)  Berberis fortunei             Fortune’s Mahonia

Native to China, this shrub sports deep-red new growth when grown in sunnier locations.
The mature size is 6-12 feet tall and just as wide.
This specimen is located in the Sino-Himalayan Collection (Grid 25-1W).

2)  Buxus wallichiana             Himalayan Boxwood

A large shrub or small tree native to the northwestern Himalaya and known for very dense, hard wood. 

Rare Care, along with faculty and graduate students at the University of Washington’s School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, wrapped up a multi-year study on the federally-endangered showy stickseed (Hackelia venusta). The study was funded by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to support recovery efforts for the species by developing a better understanding of its habitat requirements and by improving propagation techniques. 

Each year, Rare Care is delighted by a few unexpected discoveries. This year these finds include a single pygmy saxifrage high up near a rocky mountain summit.

by John A. Wott, Director Emeritus
On August 19, 2015, one of the original staff members of UW Botanic Gardens (Washington Park Arboretum) left this earth to tend to her new garden “in the sky.” Joan Pirzio-Biroli, known to everyone as “Jan” or “JPB” was officially employed as a research/extension program assistant at the University of Washington from November 10, 1980, until her retirement on November 1, 1991. 

1)  Cupressus (Hesperocyparis) bakeri                               Modoc Cedar

A moderately-sized coniferous tree with greyish-green scale-like foliage that is dotted with white resin. It is native to the Siskiyou and Sierra Nevada Mountain ranges. A slow growing tree, usually under 90 feet over many decades.
Considered vulnerable to extinction in the wild in the medium term.
Located in the Pacific Connections Garden Cascadia Focal Forest above the Chilean Gateway. 

-Cyrena Thibodeau
The growing season is coming to a close and fall has officially set in on the farm. The tomatoes are done and have been cleared as well as most other high season crops. We are seeding our winter cover crop everywhere, a mix of rye and vetch seeds. Service learners have started for the quarter and it is great to have so much help and new faces on the farm! 

-Rae Russell
Thanks to the early start of the dry season and warmer temperatures, more Seattle gardeners were able to successfully grow tomatoes this year without having to resort to the usual hacks to make the most of our typically short and cool summers. Everywhere I turn, I see these heat loving fruits in every shade from bright red to black bursting out of small garden plots, and there is nary a Wall-o-water or black plastic soil warmer to be seen.