Meet our Summer Camp Staff

May 29th, 2012 by Community Programs Coordinator

We are very excited about the Garden Guides we hired to run our summer camps. All three come with a love for and knowledge of the natural world, experience and educational background in teaching and being outside with kids, and a diverse set of qualities that will make for a dynamic and fun-filled summer!

Kathie Bradford

Born and raised in beautiful Northern California, I grew up exploring the creek behind my house and playing with the horses and goats that lived next door.  After graduating from Brigham Young University with a degree in Biology, I worked at a small education consulting company in the Bay Area.  Wanting to combine my love of the natural world and my new-found interest in education, I fortuitously found and was accepted to IslandWood’s graduate residency program.  After spending a year on Bainbridge Island teaching environmental education to elementary school students, I recently moved to Seattle to finish a Master’s Degree in Science Education at the University of Washington.   I’ve completely fallen in love with the Pacific Northwest and I love encouraging students from all over the city to explore the beautiful ecosystems that can be found right outside their back door! This will be my second summer as a Garden Guide.

 

Rachel McCaffrey

Originally from Portland, Oregon and having lived in Seattle for school, my Pacific Northwest roots run deep. I just graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in both Community, Environment & Planning (CEP) and Environmental Studies. I’m interested in outreach projects that educate and engage people in urban environmental, education, and social justice issues. I am a runner, writer, climber, cook, aspiring adventurer, and – most importantly – a learner. I believe that education should be fun and am excited to share my enthusiasm for environmental education with students this summer.

 

Dana Radcliffe

I recently moved to Seattle from Virginia and completed my Master’s of Science in Education.  Since my move, I have been able to teach in the classroom, in small groups, and in one-on-one settings covering a range of content areas and topics – everything from the environment to music!  I am always excited and inspired by the vast possibilities working with kids and the opportunity to be a part of the dynamic and interactive process of learning and development.  This summer I look forward to sharing my love of nature with the kids through our hikes and activities.  I am an avid hiker and backpacker and it will be a lot of fun to share the joys of being outdoors and explore the many wonders of nature available throughout the Arboretum.

 

Sarah Heller

I have worked for the Arboretum for about a year and half and could not possibly love my job any more than I do right now. I was brought on in 2010 to design and develop a summer camp program. We piloted a 3 week program last summer and through positive parent, camper and staff feedback we deemed it a huge success. I am excited this program is growing and that we will spend this summer teaching about, playing in and connecting over 140 kids with the natural world at the Arboretum. Like many in the field of environmental education my love for the outdoors started as a kid building forts, going on forest expeditions with my sister on Orcas Island, using mud for mosquito repellent and experiences with the Wilderness Awareness School. Now, I am grateful I get to share my passion for nature through teaching and program development (check out our new Family Ecology Tour Program). My current naturalist pursuits are expanding my ethnobotanical knowledge, learning some bird ID and song skills, and stretching my plant knowledge to include the higher altitudes as I explore the mountains through backpacking and alpine scrambling.

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Service Learning at the ARB

May 17th, 2012 by Arboretum Education Supervisor, Patrick Mulligan

Posted on behalf of Alyce Flanagan, UW student intern

our first planting


This spring one of my classes gave me the option of doing a service-learning project instead of writing a research paper. I jumped at the opportunity to gain some sort of real world experience instead of sitting in the library.  I ended up volunteering in the vegetable garden at the UWBG Arboretum, and it has been an enjoyable experience.  It is great to have an excuse to spend a few hours outside, get dirt on my hands and learn about growing food.  The class that my arboretum service learning is connected to is Global Food Policy.  Modern cultures have become extremely disconnected from our sources of food.  Technology allows for the mass production of cheap food, and working in a garden has given me perspective on how what it takes to grow vegetables.

Food is a vital resource that is frequently taken for granted.  Growing and gathering food is something that was an integral part of our ancestors’ lifestyles.  In recent years, we have grown away from this routine.  Food is bought from the grocery store, and we have only a vague idea of where it was before that. My Global Food Policy class looked at where food was before it got to the store.  Our severe disconnection from the production of the food we eat is unfortunate, but it is a system that we are totally reliant on. Learning about food; where is comes from and how its grown, is the first step to not taking food and this its large scale production for granted.

Food sovereignty is an issue that relates to peoples right to decide what food they eat, where it comes from, and how it is produced.  In America, most people would say that they have the right to choose their food, but in reality, much of our food is under the control of a few big agricultural businesses.  Growing at least some of our own food is an important step towards food sovereignty.

future pickles

The vegetable garden at the UWBG Arboretum is intended to teach children about the process of growing food, and hopefully inspire in them an interest in growing their own food. Volunteering at the Arb has done just that for me.  Watching plants grow over the course of a few months is somehow exciting and motivational.  Hopefully sometime in the next few years I will be able to start a garden and become at least a little less reliant on the mysterious system that produces food that feeds the world.

I am looking forward to visiting during the summer and seeing how the garden has changed.

3 sisters garden

 

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Register Now for Arboretum Summer Camps

April 29th, 2012 by Community Programs Coordinator

During the Seattle Public Schools’ Spring Break week, the Washington Park Arboretum hosted a spring-themed camp program for ten students in 1st-5th grade. Scroll through these photos and captions to see how much fun we had and how much fun YOU could have at our Summer Camps this summer!

On the first day of camp the students came up with our team name – The Buzzing Bees. We did lots of bzzzzzing during the week and there was a bee-themed mural made to honor our team name.

A pair of campers play Meet-A-Tree. The blindfolded child is getting to know his tree with all of his senses – here he is licking the tree (DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME:)! His partner is waiting until he feels like he knows his tree well enough to find it later. She will walk him (blindfolded) back to the starting spot, making sure to take a new path. There she will take off his blindfold and he will have to find his tree!

One day we made an edible salad from native plants. The campers all proclaimed that they do not like salad so we came up with two new names – Wild Greens and Garden Yum! The concoction consisted of wood sorrel, big-leaf maple flower buds, salmon berry flowers, red huckleberry flowers, and dandilion flowers and leaves. We also made teas during the week from stinging nettle, the western hemlock tree and western red cedar.

 

 

On Monday we worked as a team to do the Bird-Themed Scavenger Hunt, which took us through the wetland area in search of birds with informational tags on them. We sucessfully found all the birds and cracked the code! At the tip of foster island we took a break in the sun to make daisy chains, explore the water’s edge and do a WAM (Water Appreciation Moment – someone says something they are thankful for and we all take a big sip of water).

We also made some time to let free giggles and energy while playing tail tag! Everyone has a tail and the objective is to steal as many tails as you can without having your own tail stolen.

Wednesday was our water day – we visited the two woodland ponds to see what’s in them. We brought along some tools: small and large dipping nets, white-bottomed trays, pipettes, and field guides. It’s still early spring, but we did find a variety of egg sacs, an aquatic earthworm, a snail shell, mosquito larve and a water strider.

It’s the time of year to plant and prep gardens for a full season of growing food. We grow vegetables in garden beds behind our greenhouse to use during summer camp. Spring break campers helped us out by weeding the beds and planting kale and lettuce starts. They also painted a pot and planted seeds in it to take home, and made mosaic garden tiles to either put in our garden or take home.

Missed Spring Break Camp? Check out our Summer Camps – they’re filling quickly!

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Bird-Themed Scavenger Hunt at the Arboretum – April 14-22

April 13th, 2012 by Community Programs Coordinator

Come learn about local birds and the plants that attract them. Crack the code and receive a prize!  Two scavenger hunts are available: 8 and under; 9 and over. Pick up your scavenger sheet at the Graham Visitor Center (GVC) between 10am and 4pm or print them from these links:

Spring Scavenger Hunt – 8 and under

Spring Scavenger Hunt – 9 and over

 

If you come when the GVC is closed there is a blue folder located to the side of the front door with clue sheets inside.

Hidden throughout the Arboretum wetlands are birds and laminated cards clipped to trees, shrubs and benches waiting for you to find them. When you do, leave them where they are, but use their secret letters to fill the blanks and crack the code.

Return your sheet to the visitor center or mail them to us and we will mail you a prize! Good luck, have fun and Happy Spring!

If you have a smart phone there will be QR codes you can scan along the way for more facts on the birds and plants you will be visiting.

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Earth Day for the Whole Family!

April 3rd, 2012 by Community Programs Coordinator

Celebrate Earth Day at the Arboretum on April 22nd from 10am-12pm!

Washington Park Arboretum and Wilderness Awareness School have teamed up to offer a family-friendly Earth Day event. Bring your family, bring your friends and come celebrate the earth, play games, do a small service project and eat yummy earth snacks.


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Nature’s Calendar Tours

March 29th, 2012 by Arboretum Education Supervisor, Patrick Mulligan

Fawn Lily (Erythronium oregonum) on Foster Island

As of February, we’ve started offering our Weekend Walks every Sunday at 1pm. These guided tours are free and open to the public, are 90 minutes in length, and leave from the Graham Visitors Center. Each month we choose a different theme to talk about. The following is a description of April’s theme written by Catherine Nelson, the newest addition to the UWBG Education & Outreach team.

Have you ever dissected a flower to see what they are made of and how pollination really works? Have you ever visited our Pollination Garden to learn about and observe our most over-worked and under-appreciated staff members (from a safe distance of course)? Are you curious about what’s going on in the soil this time of year? Or do you just want to see some amazing spring bloomers on display here in the Washington Park Arboretum and perhaps learn a bit on the way?

Our theme for April’s Weekend Walks is “Nature’s Calendar”. During these tours, we will be focusing on phenology, the study of recurring plant and animal life cycle events (or phenophases). Phenophases include budburst, leafing & flowering, maturation of seeds, emergence of insects & pollinators, and migration of birds. The term phenology comes from the Greek word phaino meaning “to show” or  “appear”.

Spring is the perfect time to be in the WPA looking for various phenophases, and during our “Nature’s Calendar” tours guides will take visitors on a leisurely walk in search of the early flowering trees and shrubs in our collection and discuss what is happening during this phenologically active time of year.

We hope you join us!

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For the Younger Set: Spring Break Camp at the Arboretum

March 27th, 2012 by Heidi Unruh, UWBG Communications Volunteer

photo of kids outdoorsFULL FOR 2012

Come join us for a week of spring time explorations, investigations and adventures. We will become nature detectives looking for signs of spring. What are the birds telling us? What are the plants doing? Where are the animals hanging out? We will look for clues while playing games, doing spring-themed crafts, reading and telling stories, and adventuring through the Arboretum. The camp runs April 16-20, 9am-3pm (before and after care available if 6 or more campers sign up). The cost is $225 ($200 for Arboretum Foundation members). Visit the Spring Break Camp page for more information or call (206) 221-6427.

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Where in the Arboretum is this?

February 22nd, 2012 by Community Programs Coordinator

The Washington Park Arboretum is full of quiet nooks, unusual plants, and hidden groves where our imagination can run free and our curiosity is hooked.  Bring your family and come find this special spot!

Sequoia trees in the Pinetum collection

Who are they? This is a grove of sequoia trees, also known as:

 Giant sequoia – Sierra redwood – Sequoiadendron giganteum – big-tree – mammoth-tree

 

Did you know?

These giant trees are all more than 70 years old and the tallest is 139 feet tall and 13 feet and 11 inches round.

The word “sequoia” contains all five vowels.

This quiet grove of sequoia trees is a favorite destination of our school groups and summer camps. We might play meet-a-tree or hide-and-seek, or eat our lunch in their shade or discover how trees grow and reproduce, and act out a tree’s life cycle.

 

To find this place you have to cross this:

Photo of the wilcox bridge

 

And walk to the left of this:

 Photo of the play structure

 

Why don’t you come and visit these friendly giants? You could:

  • Play hide and seek
  • Feel their bark and find a cone
  • Have a picnic underneath these mysterious mammoths
  • Find out how many humans it takes to wrap around one
  • Read a story sitting against one of their trunks (all available at CUH’s Miller Library)
    • The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
    • A Grand Old Tree by Mary Newell DePalma
    • Ancient Ones: The World of the Old-Growth Douglas Fir by Barbara Bash
    • A Tree is Growing by Arthur Dorros

 

  • Act out the life cycle of a tree!

Become a seed (curl up in a tight ball) – Now sprout! (Uncurl and kneel) – Grow a branch by sticking out one of your arms – Grow another branch, stick out the other arm – Grow leaves (wiggle your fingers) = Grow tall (stand up, feet together) – Grow roots (spread your feet apart) – Grow rootlets (wiggle your toes) – Oh no! You are being attacked by insects and fungi (start scratching all over – Lose a limb to lighting (make a loud noise and put your arm by your side) – Become a home for wildlife (smile!) – Woodpeckers looking for insects start exploring your dead wood (make a knocking noise) – You are blown down (make a creaking noise and fall down) – Become a nurse log, a new seed sprouts from rotting wood (stick one arm up).

 

  • Play a game!

I Like Trees

One person stands in the middle and everyone else finds a tree to stand in front of. Have each person mark their tree by putting a bandana, backpack or other visible item in front of it. The person standing in the middle (not next to a tree) says “I like___” and fills in the blank with something they like (could be about trees, or anything!). If other people like that thing too then they leave their tree and have to find another tree to touch (one with a marking in front of it). The person who called out “I like ____” also tries to find a tree to stand in front of. One person will be left without a tree and then it is their turn to stand in the middle and say “I like___” about something. Keep playing until everyone has had a turn in the middle.

 

Tree Tag

This is a great game for younger kids. Have each kid pick a tree. Maybe encourage them to get to know their tree a bit before the game starts. When you say “tree” or “sequoia” (or whatever word you decide to be the “go” word) the kids run and touch another tree. Do this over and over and the kids will love running from tree to tree and waiting for you to call out the word. Mix it up a little and say other words to help build the anticipation before you say your “go” word.

 

Resources:

Jacobson, A. L. (2006). Trees of seattle. (2nd ed., pp. 362-363). Seattle: Arthur Lee Jacobson.

 

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Student Capstone Experience in Habitat Restoration at Union Bay Natural Area

February 17th, 2012 by Caitlin Guthrie

Yesler Swamp Student Restoration Team

Yesler Swamp student restoration team at a habitat restoration work party. Photo by Lewis E. Johnson.

One of the many engaging courses offered to the undergraduate and graduate students at the Center for Urban Horticulture is the Restoration Capstone Sequence. In this course, students of different academic backgrounds work together to complete a local ecological restoration project. Students plan, design, install, and monitor a restoration project while working in teams over the course of eight months, beginning in fall of each year.

Clients in the community, including local governments, utilities, non-profits and private firms, submit RFP’s (requests for proposals) to the UW Restoration Ecology Network concerning restoration opportunities. This year, students are working on projects at Pierce College Lakewood Campus, Cotton Hill Park, North Creek Forest, Richmond Beach Saltwater Park, Ravenna Park, Yesler Creek (near Burke Gilman Trail) and Union Bay Natural Area.

Yesler Swamp Map

Map of the restoration site from students’ Work Plan. Pie charts show the initial relative cover of invasive plant species. The upper left hand portion of the map is the SE corner of the Center for Urban Horticulture’s parking lot.

A seven-student, multidisciplinary team is partnering with Friends of Yesler Swamp to restore a portion of the Union Bay Natural Area to native Puget Sound forest. The site was highly disturbed and much of it was dominated by invasive plant species, specifically Himalayan blackberry.

For the past few weekends, the team has been hard at work, coordinating and executing habitat restoration volunteer events to remove the invasive plants. Many of their volunteers to date have been undergraduate students with little to no previous exposure to natural systems and the field of restoration ecology.

After completing site preparation, the student team will cover much of the site with organic wood chip mulch and plant a structurally and biologically diverse suite of native forested wetland and upland plant species.

To keep up to date on the Yesler Swamp student restoration project and to join in future volunteer habitat restoration events, check out the Restore Yesler Swamp Facebook page.

For more information on the innovative and award-winning UW Restoration Ecology Network:

UW Restoration Ecology Network Website

Article in Science Magazine on the Restoration Ecology Network capstone program

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Resolve to Learn Gardening Skills in 2012

January 4th, 2012 by UWBG Communication Staff

photo by S. Jeter
Landscape design, tree identification, pruning and creating mosiac stepping stones are just a few of the many continuing education classes offered this winter and spring at the UW Botanic Gardens.

Take a look at the complete list of classes for home gardeners and professionals and register online.

Willing to trade your time and sweat for plant care knowledge? Work side-by-side with skilled UWBG gardeners at one of the many volunteer drop-in work parties.

volunteer photo

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