Celebrate Earth Day at the Arboretum on April 22nd from 10am-12pm!
Washington Park Arboretum and Wilderness Awareness School have teamed up to offer a family-friendly Earth Day event. Bring your family, bring your friends and come celebrate the earth, play games, do a small service project and eat yummy earth snacks. 

Spring is definitely in the air when the clouds of pink burst forth into bloom and our native red-flowering currants put on a show.

1)   Berberis darwinii

Darwin’s barberry is one of the showiest of the genus with striking orange flowers opening from red buds.
Unlike most other Berberis (including our native species), Berberis darwinii produce sweet fruit in the fall.
A large mass can be found in the Chilean entry garden in Pacific Connections, as well as the Chilean hillside along Lake Washington Boulevard. 

(click photos to see full size image)
We were privileged to go to an “ecologically protected area” known as Mil Cumbres (Thousand Peaks). Our bus wound its way up a very rough dirt road (though our expert driver, Miquel, did a fantastic job of missing the giant potholes) to the field station. The area of Mil Cumbres is geologically varied, including large patches of serpentine soil. 

We headed out of Havana early on a Sunday morning. This was really our first look at the countryside, and at the transportation system. The stories about huge numbers of old American cars from the 1950s? All true! Under Cuban law, cars registered after the 1959 revolution could not be bought or sold, though that is changing. The result is that those who had a car hung onto it and tried to keep it running, passing it down as an inheritance. 

The winners of the botanical art exhibit held in conjunction with the conference Conserving Plant Biodiversity in a Changing World: A View from NW North America were announced Wednesaday afternoon at the close of the conference.

1)  Coriaria napalensis

This is one of three species of Coriaria in the Arboretum.
It is growing near Azalea Way, north of the Pine Collection (grid 23-1W).
Our other two species are C. japonica in Rhododendron Glen and C. sarmentosa (a New Zealand native) on Arboretum Drive in grid 11-7E.

2)  Lindera obtusiloba

Native to China, Japan, and Korea
L. obtusiloba is most noted for its early spring flowers, but also has rare fall color (pure yellow) on its openly-spreading form. 

Sarah Reichard, professor and Director of UW Botanic Gardens, recounts her recent experience leading a tour group to Cuba. This post describes shabby but elegant old Havana and a meeting with agroeconomist Miquel Salcines.

Thymelaeaceae it a family known for woody shrubs producing very fragrant winter blossoms. They also have smooth bark and fibers that make them valuable in quality paper making. two fine examples growing at CUH are Daphne odora and Edgeworthia chrysantha

The earliest Rhododendrons are featured cuttings on display in the Graham Visitors Center at the Arboretum.