March 30, 2025 - Union

 

The Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle covers 230 acres of former old growth forest and includes a Japanese garden and a botanical garden.  It is divided into dozens of unique sections, much of it heavily canopied.  There is Azalea Way, Oak Family, Lindens, Winter Garden, Walnut Family, Viburnums, Magnolia Family, Rhododendron Hybrids and Witch Hazel Family just to name a few. There are over 40000 different species of plants here!

Suspended above one of the many side trails is "Union", an art installation by John Grade. Installed in 2023 it consists of 6300 individual cast resin parts framed in laminated ceiba wood suspended from nets above the trails. Each resin part looks like a magnified cell of a tree.  

November 19, 2022 - Kouyou

 

The autumn colors are still hanging on at Seattle's Japanese garden.  On a gorgeous mid-November day the leaves that haven't fallen are doing their best to show off.

October 2, 2022 - Specular Bridge

 

A Sunday morning stroll through the Washington Park Arboretum and under the Evergreen Floating Bridge provides some unique views.

 

The original 520 bridge opened in 1963.  The Evergreen Floating Bridge, generally called the 520 Bridge and never the Governor Albert Rosellini bridge, was rebuilt in 2016.  At 7710 feet it is the largest floating bridge in the world.  Just to the east of the columns in the top photo the road surface slopes down to 77 concrete pontoons that support the 6 lanes of traffic 20' above the surface of the 220' deep Lake Washington.  

While the bridge is open, construction will continue through 2030 enhancing this portion of State Route 520.  The fabric seen hanging down below the underside of the bridge and many of the temporary columns and access bridges will eventually be removed.

April 6, 2021 - Arboretum Blossoms

This was a fine day to catch the early blooms at Washington Park Arboretum.  The 230 acre arboretum is arranged around thematic gardens (Azalea Way, Winter Garden, Rhododendron Glen, etc.) as well as by taxonomic group.  The Pacific Connections Garden is one of these thematic gardens.  It has plants from Cascadia, China, New Zealand and Chile. The 2.5 acre New Zealand Forest in that garden features 10,000 plants!  

The Puget Mill Company owned and logged this land until the late 1890s.  While it became Seattle Park in 1900 it was also home to a horse speedway and a sanitary landfill.(?!?!)  It was largely undeveloped until after the Arboretum was established in 1934.  Currently the Arboretum is jointly managed by the City of Seattle and the University of Washington.