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UW Botanic Gardens Newsletter, Vol 10 Issue 2, February 2015
Gardeners: Get Ready, Get Set, Go!
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Upcoming Events
Free Weekend Walks
Winter Bloomers are this month's theme. The Witt Winter Garden collection is an amazing display of early bloomers and colorful barks. Join us every Sunday at 1pm. Learn more.
On Exhibit
in the Miller Library
Photographer and yoga instructor Jennifer Rose takes charming close-up photos of garden flowers. Her intention is that the photos may be used in meditation to focus the mind on positive natural energy. Her photos will be on exhibit January 7 through February 27.
New Books in the Library
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Get a jump start on spring at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show
Make sure to stop by the UW Botanic Gardens' booth, #2513, to explore the many opportunities we'll be offering this year to develop new gardening skills and to immerse yourself in the beauty of the Botanic Gardens. Read More.
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Donate Plant & Gardening Books
The 10th annual Garden Lovers' Book Sale is April 3rd and 4th. The success of this fund raising event depends on donations of your horticulture, garden design, urban agriculture and ecology books. Drop off books Monday through Saturday at the Miller Library.
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Alert! Serious plant lovers shouldn't miss the NHS Spring Plant Sale
Get your hands on rare and ephemeral early blooming plants at the Northwest Horticultural Society's Spring Plant Sale, March 7th 9:00 am to 3:00 pm at the Center for Urban Horticulture. UW Botanic Gardens Curator Ray Larson will be giving a lecture. Proceeds benefit the Elisabeth C. Miller Library.
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New Zealand Beckons: Join us for a Garden-Themed Tour
What do phormium and yellow-eyed penguins have in common? Travel to New Zealand with UW Botanic Gardens Director Sarah Reichard to find out! Read more.
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February 2015 Plant Profile: Sarcococca
Winter gardens in the Pacific Northwest seem incomplete
without this landscape standard. It has lush, glossy, evergreen foliage year
round, takes dry shade conditions and flowers in the wintertime with a powerful
scent that perfumes the landscape. The Sweet Box comes in two basic forms for
the home gardener: tall and short. The tall forms (S. ruscifolia
and S. confusa) get to about 3 feet in height and width. The short forms (varieties
of S. hookeriana) makes somewhat of a groundcover with underground stolons that
form a short clump no taller than 12 inches,
and can spread about 3 feet.
Read the full Plant Profile.
Family: BUXACEAE
Genus: Sarcococca
Common Name: Sweet Box
Location: Fragrance Garden
Origin: Eastern and Southeastern Asia, Himalayas
Height and Spread: Tall (2-3' height x 3' spread) - Short (1' height x 3' spread)
Bloom/Fruit Time: Late December-late February
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Glimpse of the Past - Remembering the First Northwest Flower & Garden Show
By John A. Wott, Director Emeritus
A former UW Botanic Gardens staff member, Rebecca Johnson, shared with me a copy of the First Annual Northwest Flower and Garden Show program, held on Presidents’
Day Weekend, February 17-20, 1989. On February
11, 2015, the 26th Show will open. I am proud to say that I have
attended each one, including the Preview Party, a benefit for the Washington
Park Arboretum. Read the full article.
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 According to our horticulturist Ryan Garrison, the cornerstone of Integrated Pest Management is sanitation. Winter is a great time to clean
up plants to prevent fungal disease before it has a chance to reinfect new
growth that will come in the spring. In the Arboretum that means
removing dead leaves from peonies, which can harbor Botrytis fungus spores, and removing
dead leaves and fruit from cherries, which may contain Cherry Brown Rot spores.
Congratulations to one of our founders, Professor Emeritus Harold Tukey! He was awarded the Pioneer Award at the Northwest Green Industry Conference last month.
What's eating notches in the leaves of your prized shrubs and perennials? Find solutions in the Gardening Answers Knowledgebase.
Arboretum facility rentals on sale for events booked before April 2015.
Did you know the UW Botanic Gardens publishes other email newsletters devoted to public education, family events and Miller Library news? Subscribe today to stay in the loop.
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