Condos at CUH by Constance Sidles
 Yesterday the UW Botanic Gardens staff installed some new condominiums west of the greenhouses near the Center for Urban Horticulture. Oh, not for people, but for purple martins.Purple martins, you see, are our largest swallows, and they have been in decline for a long time. They nest in holes, and they like to live together in a colony. 

Since 1997, the Center for Urban Horticulture (CUH) has been the recipient of plants from one of the most prominent names in the perennial plant industry. Blooms of Bressingham (referred to simply as “BLOOMS”) has been a source of the world’s finest perennial plant introductions for many years.

Chaenomeles x superba ‘Knap Hill Scarlet’
Magnolia ‘Elizabeth’
Malus x purpurea ‘Lemoinei’
Rhododendron augustinii
Viburnum carlesii (Koreanspice viburnum)

Complete details. 

Thanks to a grant from the Jiji Foundation the Garden-based Restoration and Outreach Workgroups (G.R.O.W.) Program was launched in January, 2011 and is actively engaged with three high school classes and one after school teen center program.

Marilyn Smith Layton has created a book of images called Seasons of Life in the Union Bay Natural Area, and she is donating the profits from the sale of the book to projects in UBNA. The cost of the book is $60, and $20 of that will go to help the natural area.
You may purchase a copy in the Miller Library (cash or check only). 

If any of you have visited the north end of our holly collection in Washington Park Arboretum recently, you probably observed what appears to be a developing wetland. As you may well imagine, standing water where we’re trying to grow healthy hollies just don’t mix very well. See Chris Watson’s post on “Spring Pruning in the Arboretum“.   Why all the standing water? 

Berberis buxifolia (Magellan Barberry or Calafate)
Magnolia x loebneri ‘Leonard Messel’/li>
Magnolia x soulagiana ‘Rustica Rubra’
Prunus x yedoensis (Tokyo cherry)
Prunus x yedoensis ‘Akebono’

Complete details. 

With the goal of enhancing pollination efforts, several mason bee houses have been placed throughout the Arboretum.  What are mason bees?  Well, according to the provider of the pollinators, Dave Richards of JohnnyAppleBeez, LLC:
“The charming Mason Bee is a gentle, shiny blue-black metallic bee, and slightly smaller than a honey bee. They are a superior pollinator, but do not produce honey. 

A turkish pine (Pinus brutia) and a Chinese white pine (Pinus armandii) were recently removed from the Canal Reserve area near the Museum of History and Industry.  Both trees declined suddenly over the past year and died over the winter.  Blue staining was evident in the wood of both trees.  We’re not sure exactly how these trees are infected with the fungus, but one theory is that a bark boring insect (red turpentine beetle) carries the pathogen into the tree.  

One of the most useful and attractive evergreen shrubs for the Pacific Northwest, this fragrant, spring blooming gem is hardy, easy to grow and highly adaptable to our climate.