The US Forest Service recognized Rare Care – including hundreds of trained volunteers from all parts of the state – with its Regional Volunteer Award for Citizen Stewardship and Partnerships.

You can always find something wonderful and delicious on the UW Farm! This time of year marks the tomato growing season. At an earlier May work party a great mix of tomato varieties were planted at the Center for Urban Horticulture location. Come see what is growing!
What Varieties Did We Plant?

Cherokee Purple
Indigo Rose

A very beautifully purple tomato

Striped German

A lovely heirloom tomato with ribbed shoulders

Jaune Flamee
Kellogg’s Breakfast

Named one of the best heirlooms by Sunset Magazine

Japanese Trifele

Small, pear-shaped tomato

Black Prince
Green Zebra
Black Krim
Hungarian Heart
Ananas Noire

Green, purple, yellow, orange colors all in one tomato! 

1)  Cornus controversa           Giant Dogwood

A rounded deciduous tree bearing spreading, tiered branches and alternate, elliptic leaves, C. controversa can potentially reach 40 feet in height.  White flowers are borne in large, flattened cymes in early summer.  Following the flowers, masses of deep red fruit develop, changing to blue-black.
Native to China, the Himalayas and Japan, C. controversa is less cold tolerant than our native dogwoods.  

Jennie Li, a graduate student in Landscape Architecture and Urban Design and Planning, wrote a synopsis of the UW Farm Charrette. Learn about what a charrette is all about and how we came together to generate ideas for the future of the farm!
On the morning of Friday, June 5, fourteen people consisting of members of the Farm Operations Committee, UW Botanical Gardens, and UW Farm staff and volunteers came together to envision what the future might hold for the UW Farm’s Center for Urban Horticulture site. 

This past year (2014) we are started the process of making some of our very own varieties of tomatoes and winter squash!
The process begins with crossing two different varieties of a vegetable. Most vegetables have been bred to be homozygous (like AA or  aa instead of Aa… remember Mendel’s Punnett squares from Bio?) so that when you save seed from the plant after self pollination, all the seeds make the same kind of plant with same kind of fruit (same shape, size, color, and taste). 

Hoping to lure opreys from nesting on the ball field lights, new platforms were installed.

Stewartia monadelpha is a stunning tree throughout the year. Don’t miss its lovely blossoms this month.

Urban horticulture has come a long way from the days of the pink flamingos, but they still hold a special place in our hearts!

We hope summer brings you sun, fresh air, and time to read. On display this month in the Miller Library you’ll find a few off-the-beaten-path selections to engage your intellect this summer.

1)  Cytisus x praecox ’Luteus’           Warminster Broom

This broom is a hybrid of C. multiflorus and C. purgans and is located on Arboretum Drive in the Legume Collection.
Many of the brooms are blooming now or soon to bloom, including the pineapple broom, Argyrocytisus battandieri, whose fragrance earned it its common name.

2)  Erica arborea var. alpina           Tree Heath

While non-alpine tree heath can reach heights in excess of 20 feet, the alpine variety is the “short” one, reaching only 10 to 15 feet.