UW Botanic Gardens is partnering with botanic gardens across the country in the installation of a network of Climate Change Gardens that will create a nationwide “ecological antenna” to monitor the effects of a changing climate on plant growth and survival. Each Climate Change Garden features genetically identical plant species selected for their biological responsiveness to temperature. Garden monitors will record climate data and a set of standard phenological events, from first leaf to flower to fruit set. 

A Selection of DAPHNE from the Center for Urban Horticulture

Daphne odora ‘Alba’ – White Winter Daphne
Daphne odora ‘Aureo-Marginata’ – Winter Daphne
Daphne x transatlantica ‘Eternal Fragrance’ – Everblooming Fragrant Daphne
Daphne x transatlantica ‘Summer Ice’ – Summer Ice Fragrant Daphne
Daphne tangutica

Complete details. 

Selected Cuttings from the Washington Park Arboretum

Camellia japonica ‘Ecstacy’
Kerria japonica ‘Pleniflora’ – Japanese Rose
Magnolia x loebneri ‘Ballerina’
Magnolia x ‘Royal Crown’
Prunus x yedoensis – Yoshino Cherry

Complete details. 

Very VERY early this season, but the weather has been outstanding for this little gem. Having lasted a decade in these beds, ‘Anclla’ still keeps coming strong each spring with these outstanding blooms.
They are reliably perennial and stunningly beautiful as a mass or group planting.
Common Name: Ancilla Tulip
Location: Soest Garden Bed 6
Family: Liliacea
Origin: Garden Origin
Height: 6-8″
Spread: Can form tight clumps after several years
Bloom Time: Usually mid-late March onto April
Bloom Type/Color: Cream colored tepals with bright orange red centers. 

“It’s crazy!”, a visitor commented as I carefully weeded around emerging tulips and blooming lungworts busting out blooms and color we didn’t come to expect until later this month. It kind of has been crazy, but I told her to just enjoy and soak it all in.

I’m a bit irritated that I’m in the office writing this update when it’s bright and remarkably warm outside. 

Arboretum staff will be assisting mason bee hobbyist Dave Richards (JohnnyAppleBeez, LLC) install several mason bee boxes in trees throughout the Arboretum grounds.

Corylus maxima ‘Atropurpurea Superba’ (Purple Leaf Filbert)
Elaeagnus pungens ‘Maculata’ (Variegated Russian Olive)
Garrya x issaquahensis ‘Pat Ballard’
Lonicera fragrantissima (Winter Honeysuckle)
Rhododendron mucronulatum (Korean Rhododendron)
Complete details. 

The UWBG horticultural crew will be making renovations to the southeast bed, which will include removing, relocating, or protecting other UW plant collections in the project area, followed by regrading of the bed and soil remediation.

The charmingly dainty Sweet Violet seems to have disappeared off the list of garden perennial favorites over the years. Having garnered the reputation of seeding themselves aggressively and being difficult to eradicate from lawns, many gardeners have come to despise violets. But modern gardeners are missing out by overlooking violets long history, their early spring show, and of course, their richly scented blooms that are best admired by taking gentle whiffs like Victorian young ladies were taught to smell their nosegays. 

Discovered in the garden of Pat Ballard in Issaquah as a cross between G. fremontii and the more common G. elliptica, this is one of the most spectacular broadleaf evergreen shrubs to have in the winter landscape. It is truly exquisite in January-February with its semi-glossy medium green leaves adorned with elegant 12-inch “silk tassels”. It is a very tough shrub that is relatively pest and disease free and it is remarkably drought tolerant once it has established.