Image of Gordon Collier
by Dan Hinkley

Sept 16: Free Miller Lecture presents Gordon Collier and "A Land Apart"
Gordon Collier, creator of the famous Titoki Point garden, presents a compelling account of New Zealand’s remote offshore Chatham Islands and the unique flora and fauna that have resulted from millions of years of evolution in isolation. Forty endemic plants include the spectacular Astelia chathamica and the giant forget-me-not Myosotidium hortensia. The black robin, diminished to five birds, was rescued from extinction. This free Miller Lecture is a gift of the Pendleton and Elisabeth Carey Miller Charitable Foundation, Thursday, Sept. 16, at 7:30 PM in UW's Meany Hall for the Performing Arts. RSVP by calling the Miller Library at 206-543-0415, or email (subject line "Miller Lecture").

Image courtesy of Jenn Leach

Brugmansia versicolor,
Copyright Kathleen McKeehen,
All Rights Reserved

One of Marty Wingate's books:
Big Ideas for Northwest Small Gardens

Linda Chalker-Scott's The Informed Gardener Blooms Again

Early Birds get the discounts in this fall's exciting crop of classes
Sign up for these great fall classes in time to receive our new Early Bird Discounts! Register online, call 206-685-8033 with a credit card, or mail this registration form. All of these classes are at the Center for Urban Horticulture except the Madison Park Garden Design Walk.

Garden Design Walk in Madison Park with Keith Geller
Saturday, Sept. 18, 9:30 AM-12:00 PM
Early Bird Discount price $40; after Sept. 15, pay $45
Landscape architect Keith Geller will give you a whole new appreciation of gardens and front entries in relation to basic principles of good landscape design. He'll also talk about plant species suited for small gardens and front entrances. Wear comfortable footwear for walking around the Madison Park neighborhood. You'll receive a map upon registration. More.

Photography Workshop with Jenn Leach
Saturday, Sept. 25, 9:00 AM-4:00 PM
Early Bird Discount price $115; after Sept. 15, pay $130
With today’s cameras, photography has never been easier. But do you consistently get the pictures you want?  Learn field and computer techniques professionals use to produce dramatic photographs of an entire garden or an insect on a leaf. Practice working with your digital camera’s manual and automatic settings to achieve the results you want. Through lectures, field practice and reviews, Jenn Leach will give you in-depth instruction on making the best use of all that your digital camera has to offer. More.

Botanical Drawing I: Introduction to Drawing Botanical Forms with Kathleen McKeehen
5 Thursdays beginning Sept. 30, 7:00–9:30 PM
Early Bird Discount price $155; after Sept. 15, pay $170
You may have seen Kathleen McKeehen’s botanical art in Organic Gardening, The Herb Companion or Gardener’s Companion. In her 5-part class, you'll improve the accuracy of your line drawing, the foundation of botanical art. You’ll learn about drawing tools, papers and basic plant forms. This class serves as a self-contained unit or as preparation for Botanical Drawing II. More.

Small Garden Design with Marty Wingate
Tuesday, October 19, 7:00-8:30 PM
Early Bird Discount price $40; after Oct. 12, pay $45
Small spaces can hold impressive gardens, but fitting the pieces together and making every inch count can be a challenge. Find out how to include everything from water features to tomatoes in your small garden and still have a place to sit down! Marty Wingate is a Seattle-based garden writer and speaker whose articles appear in Landscape Architecture, American Gardener and Country Gardens. Her fourth book, tentatively titled Buffers and Barriers, Hedges and Screens, is due out in June 2011. More.

Meet your Garden Soil with Linda Chalker-Scott
Tuesday, October 26, 7:00-8:30 PM
Early Bird Discount price $30; after Oct. 19 pay $35
Nursery and garden centers offer oodles of soil amendments and fertilizers. How do you know which one your soil craves? WSU Extension Urban Horticulturist Linda Chalker-Scott unlocks the characteristics of ideal landscape soils and then shows you how typical urban garden soils stack up. Want to get your hands dirty? Bring a baggie of your own soil to test. The key to determining what you need is knowing what you've got. More.

Sept 25: Families, discover UW Botanic Gardens by day and by night!
Expand your child's world. Visit the Center for Urban Horticulture by day and the Arboretum by night. In September, Young Gardener's Story Time will exercise your child's imagination. Listen to White is for Blueberry by George Shannon, Wanda's Roses by Pat Brisson and How Are You Peeling? by Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers, and then create your own collage garden Sept. 25, 10:30-11:15 AM in the Miller Library. It's free and requires no registration. During Park in the Dark Sept. 25, 6:45-8:15 PM, become a bat or a moth, test your sense of smell and use your "Deer Ears" to hear night sounds. Register for this program: 206-543-8801 or email, $6/adult, children are free.

Explore the depth & texture of April Richardson's art
April Richardson's art springs from observing nature and pondering life, death, repetition, adaptation, light, space, yesterday and tomorrow. She combines drawing, painting, collage and printmaking to create large mixed media monotypes. Depth and texture emerge as she applies, scrapes away and rebuilds layer upon layer of ink and paper. But try as we might, we can't begin to tell you what her artwork looks like. Get a taste of it online. Learn more about the artist. And then submerge yourself in the light and color of April Richardson's creations, on exhibit at the Miller Library through September 29. A portion of sales benefits the Library.

Oct 13: Study weed ID & management in this ProHort class
Tim Miller, WSU Extension Weed Specialist at the Mt. Vernon Research Station, teaches the basics of weed identification, management and control Wednesday, Oct. 13, from 10:00 AM-12:15 PM at the Center for Urban Horticulture. Emphasis is on common weeds of western Washington found in ornamental landscapes. Class fee is $40. WSDA and CPH credits pending. More.

August plant profile: Lilium ‘Scheherazade’
[by Soest Gardener Riz Reyes] This is a most outstanding hybrid lily known worldwide for its hardiness, vigor, and overall dependability in the garden. ‘Scheherazade’ was one of the first interspecific hybrids introduced on the market and began a trend that would revolutionize the world of lily breeding. Bred by L. Freimann using tetraploid forms (double the number of chromosomes a plant typically has) of a cultivar called ‘Thunderbolt’ and the famous ‘Black Beauty’, it presents a most unusual mahogany crimson blossom edged in gold and later fading to cream, borne in profusion over stalks that have often been referred to as “Lily Trees.” I counted over 40 buds and blossoms on one stem! They are gently scented and not overpowering in fragrance like the Orientals (‘Stargazer’ and ‘Casablanca’) or trumpet lilies (Easter Lily). These were a donation from the great lily breeder and grower Judith Freeman of The Lily Garden two years ago, and now they’ve hit their stride. For a larger photo and details about growing the plant, see the full plant profile.

Image courtesy of Dana Pleasant Photography

What will your wedding look like?
We're always delighted when we discover wedding photography online that was taken in the Washington Park Arboretum or Center for Urban Horticulture. It's intriguing to see how wedding parties and photographers make use of the buildings and grounds to create memorable events and images. Among the latest finds are this collection of images by Dana Pleasant, who took advantage of many settings at the Center for Urban Horticulture, ranging from the Soest Garden and Goodfellow Grove to Merrill Hall and the McVay Courtyard; wedding photos by Rick Takagi at the Graham Visitors Center and Arboretum grounds; and wedding reception photos by Jenn Repp featuring the Arboretum's mossy bridge, patio and grounds (scroll down to reach the Arboretum images). The Arboretum has also been a popular place recently for engagement photos, including this one by Kirk Mastin set in a rowboat. Looking for a great venue for your wedding or event?

twigs. . .
In June we mentioned grad student Dave Hays's Himalayan blackberry research. The Northwest Horticultural Society has awarded him the Elisabeth Carey Miller Scholarship in Horticulture. . . Interested in our newest volunteer opp? As Events Publicity Assistant, you'll submit event and class details to media and community web calendars. . . Thank you, Lakeside School Summer Program students for devoting 200 service hours to the removal of bindweed, nipplewort and herb Robert from the Arboretum's Rhododendron Hybrid Bed. . . September's guided tours take you through the Arboretum's Sorbus and Ash collections. . . Arboretum Shop books are 15% off through Aug. 31 to make room for new gardening, nature and hiking titles. . . Can you grow your own tea in the Pacific Northwest? We've just updated the Gardening Answers Knowledgebase with more info. . . Former grad student Lisa Ciecko is working as a forest assessment coordinator, determining the value of Seattle's urban forest.

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University of Washington Botanic Gardens' mission:
Sustaining managed to natural ecosystems and the human spirit
through plant research, display, and education.

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Phone 206.543.8616
Email: uwbg@u.washington.edu
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