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.

In Japan, the seeds of the nutmeg yew are desirable to be roasted and eaten or used to produce a cooking oil with a subtle nutty flavor highly prized in some circles for tempura. The ‘nuts’ are rich in vitamin E as well as sciadonic acid, known to reduce cholesterol.

As Spring arrives, we here in the Pacific Northwest are gifted the opportunity to observe a wide variety of plant species we may not have noticed before. This month, we are focusing in on a beautiful, rare, San Francisco Bay-area endemic shrub. Dirca occidentalis can be found in the Washington Park Arboretum, but wait… what is it doing here?

The Baker cypress, the most northern and hardiest cypress in North America is a tree with a challenging future ahead of it. Within its native range of southern Oregon and northern California there are several populations, many a long distance separate from others.

I’ve been touting crape myrtle as Seattle’s “tree of the future” for years now. And, because of climate change, I daresay, the future is now! Lagerstroemia indica is a beautiful tree for all seasons; outstanding in flower, fall color and winter bark interest.

With September’s arrival, so begins our thoughts of fall on the farm: swiftly flipping beds from one crop to the next to capture the last warm days and kick start our fall crops, transplanting others for over wintering, choosing garlic varieties for planting in October, and gearing up for the cover crop season.

The next time you treat yourself to a walk through the inviting grounds of UW Botanic Gardens, take a moment to appreciate that the flowers and trees play an important role in scientific research–with implications for plants and research institutions all over the world.
“We get requests for plant materials from researchers and institutions about 10 times a year,” reports Raymond J. 

Though we appreciate native plants every day, Washington State designates April as Native Plant Appreciation Month. This year’s theme, “Native Pollinators Need Native Plants,” is a mantra to live and garden by. Pollination is just one of many ecosystem services provided by native insects, and while there are many resources published about gardening for pollinators and building pollinator pathways, we should also take a moment to look holistically at supporting all beneficial insects in our garden, for pollination and beyond. 

Whether you’re aiming to beautify your yard or hoping to decrease your soil erosion rate, planting a tree would offer benefits beyond your intention. Trees are the foundation of maintaining a sustainable wellbeing. When you plant a tree, you are providing a new source of oxygen, introducing an efficient way to rid the air and soil of pollutants, and contributing to habitat in tree canopies for wildlife. 

My name is Adam, and I’m an Americorps member serving as the Assistant Farm Manager at the University of Washington Farm. The UW Farm is a two acre student-powered farm located across three sites with varying scales, challenges, and opportunities. At our largest site at the Center for Urban Horticulture, we demonstrate productive market gardening, while at the Mercer Court dormitory complex we model how farming can fit into urban environments.