In early summer 2017, Connor Walden, a Master of Fine Arts candidate at the University of Washington in 3D4M (3-dimensional Forum), jumped from concrete into the refreshing water of the Gulf of Mexico, cutting his foot on a sharp oyster shell. When Walden talked with his doctor about the cut, he learned that it was possible that he could contract a fatal infection from it. 

1)  Illicium henryi                    Henry Anise Tree

This attractive evergreen shrub is native to China.
It has star-shaped flowers in pink to deep crimson, anise-scented leaves when bruised and is tolerant of shade.
This specimen is located adjacent to the Lookout Loop Trail in the Asiatic Maple collection. Grid 25-1E, if using our mobile interactive plant map.

2)  Leptospermum scoparium                    Manuka

A broad-leafed evergreen shrub native to New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, New Zealand. 

If you’ve spent any time looking through our interactive map of the Washington Park Arboretum, you’ve probably noticed those purple plant dots. While most of the dots denoting different plants in the collection are bright Kelly green, some of them are a festive light purple color. But why?
I stumbled on this question while trying to identify a tree that I had taken a picture of when I was wandering through the arboretum a couple weeks ago. 

Summer is a great time to visit the UW Botanic Gardens and offers the best weather of the year to enjoy blooms and botanically interesting walks.

Joe Neumann is completing a Master of Environmental Horticulture degree program at the University of Washington. He’s been working to restore different sites in the Union Bay Natural Area along the western shore of Lake Washington at the Center for Urban Horticulture. The restoration project includes clearing invasive plants and establishing native plants on three main sites to create healthy habitats for plant and animal life. 

1)  Kalmia latifolia                     Mountain Laurel

This attractive evergreen shrub is native to the eastern United States.
Has five-sided cup-shaped clusters of pink flowers.
The name honors Pehr Kalm (1715-1779) and latifoliia means “Broad Leafed”.

2)  Rhododendron occidentale                     Western Azalea

This deciduous shrub is native to the coasts of central and southern Oregon and California.
Fragrant, funnel-shaped flowers are borne in trusses and vary from white to pale rose, with or without a yellow blotch and sometimes streaked with darker rose markings. 

The Washington Park Arboretum has two large Ulmus americana in the collection: one of which, the “George Washington” elm, is a historic American tree.

The John A. Wott Botanic Gardens Endowed Student Award was awarded this spring to Sarah Shank, a first-year Master of Environmental Horticulture student at the University of Washington School of Environmental and Forest Sciences.
A native of Pennsylvania, Sarah recently moved to Seattle for graduate school and is enjoying the opportunity to learn about the diverse flora of the Pacific Northwest. 

1)  Enkianthus campanulatus                    Redvein Enkianthus

This attractive deciduous shrub is native to open woodlands in Japan.
Tiny bell-shaped, creamy-yellow to reddish flowers held together in clusters.
Small elliptic leaves turning bright red, orange and yellow in the fall.

2)  Davidia involucrata                     Handkerchief Tree

This deciduous tree is native to woodlands in central China.
Its small, reddish purple flower heads are surrounded by a pair of large, white bracts up to 30 cm. 

Stacy Kinsell is the Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator for the Rare Plant Care and Conservation Program (Rare Care), but it hasn’t been a straightforward path to get there. Kinsell’s undergraduate work was in social work and urban studies. After school, she packed up for an adventure in a new city far away from her native Georgia and moved to Seattle. She quickly fell in love with the city, but not the career and after a few years of working in her new field, Kinsell was feeling burnt out.