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.

Historically the Azalea Way lawn path experiences 8-9 months a year that are very wet making access difficult. In 2009 a crushed rock path was added to the middle of Azalea Way from Boyer Parking lot to the Woodland Garden. The proposed improvement will add 700 feet of 6 foot wide crushed rock path from the Woodland Garden to the Lynn Street Bridge Trail. 

But before our schtick, we were to take a tour of the garden that Uragus had planted with the help of kids and community members. Our tour guide was a little girl with a bright pink shirt and a long red stick for pointing at things (or snapping our attention).