We all await the arrival of the most promising time of year as the garden slowly wakes up and showcases it early season splendor. March is when bulbs burst into bloom, spring ephemerals shyly shine and the winter shrubs are putting forth yet another splendid show of unrivaled color and, in most cases, outstanding fragrance.
It’s all  such a great distraction from  the financial woes and the economic downturn we’re all facing. 

The University of Washington Botanic Gardens would like to thank Tree Solutions, Inc. for bringing the latest technology in tree risk assessment to the Washington Park Arboretum.  Tree Solutions assessed a large western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) using sonic tomography, a device which measures sound waves to detect decay and other abnormalities in wood.
Assessing the risk associated with trees is a vital component to maintaining the urban forest.  

Buxus sempervirens ‘Belleville’ (Common Box)
Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’ (Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick)
Photinia davidiana var. davidiana
Ribes sanguineum ‘Henry Henneman’
X Sycoparrotia semidecidua

Complete details. 

UW Botanic Gardens Collection Manager, Randall Hitchin, reported that the majority of new plants added in 2010 represent plants that have never grown at the Arboretum before and one-third of specimens grew from wild collected seeds. The annual Curatorial Report for 2010 gives a summary of the plant collection statistics, including the total number of specimens and number of plant families represented.

I continue to be surprised by the life that abounds in our gem located at the heart of the Emerald City. Yesterday, while walking between/through our sites (WPA -> UBNA -> CUH), I counted no less than 27 Great Blue Herons hunkered down in the cattails seeking shelter from the lion-like March weather. In addition to these easily recognized wading birds, I saw and heard a plethora of others that reminded me of my new year’s resolution to learn more birds. 

Cornus mas (Cornelian Cherry)
Daphniphyllum macropodum
Pinus kwangtungensis (Kwangtung Pine)
Prunus subhirtella ‘Rosea’
Thujopsis dolabrata (False Arborvitae)

Complete details. 

Apologies for the delay in getting an update posted. We’ve had several little projects we’re trying to complete and we are getting numerous volunteer applications, which we have been going through and contacting interested individuals who are interested in helping us out in grounds.
Late winter brings with it a lot of planting and transplanting projects and our major one so far this year has been the relocation of an established specimen of Edgeworthia crysantha from the McVay courtyard to a new location just north of the Miller Library. 

Acer rubrum (Red maple)
Magnolia stellata (Star magnolia)
Pinus contorta (Shore pine)
Quercus chrysolepis (Canyon live oak)
Viburnum rhytidophyllum (Leatherleaf viburnum)

Complete details. 

Earlier this season as we were getting ready for a new quarter of restoration work in the Union Bay Natural Area, a friend supplied me with her wonderful collection of photographs from the 2004 planting of UBNA’s “blue tube forest”.  It was a pleasure to be given a look back in time to the beginning of this project, as I have only been familiar with UBNA for a mere 2 years.  

You may recall that last spring’s BioBlitz in the Washington Park Arboretum resulted in some interesting finds, thanks to the efforts of more than 100 citizen scientists, university students and professionals. One of those discoveries may be a new Philodromus crab spider.

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