I had the opportunity to attend two “brown bag lunch” presentations over the past week.  The first was delivered last Friday by a visiting Russian botanist named Valentin Yakubov.  Valentin is a leading scientist at the Institute of Biology and Soil Science, part of the Russian Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Science. Valentin is a specialist when it comes to the flora of the RFE and was brought over with grant funding from a private foundation as part of a continuing partnership between Vladivostok Botanic Garden and the UW Botanic Gardens.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Each fall, the Washington Park Arboretum Education and Outreach Program provides training for new and veteran guides who lead school field trips and/or Weekend Walks. This fall, guides learned firsthand about current plant-related research at the University of Washington. Hyde Herbarium Collections Manager and School of Forest Resources (SFR) graduate student Katie Murphy spoke about fall plant physiology and offered pointers for leading groups in the field. 

And the astonishing United Way “Day of Caring”  numbers are in!

103 total volunteers working 417 hours!

Representing 4 companies/corporations: AT&T, Japan Business Association, Microsoft, Nordstrom

Completing 5 projects:

AT&T – Holly Collection

3 truckloads of blackberry and weeds hauled out, roots and all!

Native plant bed and holly berm weeded and mulched!

Japan Business Association-Pacific Connections Garden, Siskiyou Slope

Weeded over 1,100 linear feet of 8’wide pathways and hauled out 3 truckloads of weeds!

UW undergraduate Jeanine Carlson developed a draft proposal for the Campus Sustainability Fund as her Capstone project. The proposal imagines a cafe and permaculture demonstration garden at the Washington Park Arboretum.
Jeanine shares her vision for the proposal:
The Permaculture Perennial Guild Garden is a display and study of permaculture perennial plant guilds in an event hosting site. It provides visual demonstration, experiential learning, and a place for community to gather in sharing, learning and celebration. 

“C” is for Conifer
1)  Cedrus libanii ssp. atlantica ‘Aurea’ (syn. Cedrus atlantica ‘Aurea’)

Native to the Atlas Mountains of Morocco
Young leaves have a bright yellow cast, maturing to blue-green.
This specimen is located in the North Pinetum.

2)  Chamaecyparis lawsoniana x pisifera

Hybrid of the Japanese Sawara cypress and our own Port Orford cedar
We have a specimen along the Pinetum Trail, south of the Wilcox Bridge. 

Recent UW graduate, Lisa Haglund, worked with UWBG staff and faculty and teams of high school students to plant natives in rain gardens to control and clean stormwater run-off at CUH. Read Lisa’s project narrative or visit the site.

The Vitex specimen here at CUH is just coming into bloom and will peak in the next couple of weeks attracting bees, butterflies, and other wildlife.

Catalpa X erubescens (Hybrid Catalpa)
Hibiscus ‘Lohengrin’
Kalopanax pictus (Prickly castor-oil tree)
Quercus hypoleucoides (Silverleaf oak)
Sequoia sempervirens ‘Henderson Blue’

Complete details. 

The following was submitted by Angela Williams, one of five UW student interns who worked with us this past spring through the Carlson Leadership Center. Angela and co. were tasked with transforming the long neglected “Back 40” located between Plant Donations and the Greenhouse at the Arboretum into a vegetable garden…
“As a student majoring in public health nutrition, I’ve worked in many food-related service learning/volunteering positions in the past several years. 

Director Sarah Reichard invites you to come visit UWBG as often as you can – the gardens and natural areas we manage are free to all, so whether it’s respite and relaxation you seek, a quiet walk in the woods, the beauty of what’s blooming, or the splendid colors of fall, UW Botanic Gardens offers you magnificent nature experiences year-round.