Finding the Fruits of Winter in the Witt Winter Garden

Witch hazel

“But the winter was not given to us for no purpose.  We must thaw its cold with our genialness.  We are tasked to find out and appropriate all the nutriment it yields.  If it is a cold and hard season, its fruit, no doubt, is the more concentrated and nutty. . . ”
— Henry David Thoreau, Journal

The sun was shining — a rare occurrence this winter season — and I was moved to go outside for a walk.  In the spirit of adventure, I made my first visit to the Joseph A. Witt Winter Garden at Seattle’s Washington Park Arboretum.  What a delight to see things blooming in this seasonal garden, proving that even winter yields its fruits.

Washington Park Arboretum

Orange beauty witch hazel

Ruby glow witch hazel

Cyclamen patch

Hellebores

Snowdrops, Washington Park Arboretum

Snowdrops

Circumambulating Seattle 2: Eastern Boundary Along Lake Washington

Walking along Lake Washington Blvd, Seattle

I continued my long walk around the periphery of Seattle with another segment on the eastern border of the city.  Most of this day’s walk was along the shores of Lake Washington on good sidewalks in dappled shade.  My husband dropped me off in the Laurelhurst neighborhood at 42nd N.E. and I hiked south from there.

Blackberry blossoms

You really can’t go far in Seattle without seeing blackberry bushes growing wild.  They were in full blossom.

Center for Urban Horticulture

I soon arrived at the Center for Urban Horticulture where I wandered around the flower beds and botanic gardens.  There is always something delightful growing and blooming here.

At the Center for Urban Horticulture

The path through the cultivated gardens leads on into the wild Union Bay Natural Area, where meadows are under restoration to improve the habitat for birds and other small animals.

Path between the Center for Urban Horticulture and the Union Bay Natural Area

Union Bay Natural Area

The trail continued onto the University of Washington athletic complex, past soccer and track fields, tennis courts, the boathouse, and Husky Stadium.  I walked across the Montlake Bridge over the Ship Canal, which links Lake Washington and Lake Union, and from there headed to the Washington Park Arboretum.

Montlake Bridge over the Ship Canal

I passed an old totem pole carved by Haida Chief John Dewey Wallace from Waterfall, Alaska in 1937.  I intended to follow the Arboretum trail across Foster Island, but parts of the trail were under water.

Haida totem pole

Instead I entered the Arboretum near E Miller Street in the Montlake neighborhood.  Once in the Arboretum, I headed toward its eastern boundary and followed it south.  I was still separated from Lake Washington by the Broadmoor Golf Course and its gated community.  I hadn’t walked this part of the Arboretum before and the path took me past magnificent tree specimens and a garden showcasing plants from the Pacific Rim.

Path in Washington Park Arboretum

Tulip poplar tree

Looking up

Eucalyptus branch, Pacific Connections Garden

Calla lily at south entrance to Arboretum

Upon exiting the Arboretum, I walked to Madison Avenue and followed it all the way to the shores of Lake Washington.  The rest of my long walk followed the lakeshore through these Seattle neighborhoods:  Madison Park, Madrona, Leschi, Mount Baker, Lakewood/Seward Park and Rainier Beach. As you can imagine, the residential areas were lined with beautiful homes with lovely landscaping.  Lake Washington Boulevard attracts bikers and joggers, and the lake itself is a recreation spot for swimmers, picnickers and boaters.

Rooftop garden on home in Madison Park

I was amazed by all the different colors on this hydrangea bush

Window on home along Lake Washington Blvd

I walked past the I-90 floating bridge across Lake Washington

Rowers on Lake Washington

I walked as far as Rainier Beach and then headed to the Light Rail Station to catch a ride back home.

Estimated walking distance:  about 14 miles

Life as a Time of Approaching

National Poetry Month. 26

Path through Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle

Rhododendron

“I call ‘poet’ any writing being who sets out on this path, in quest of what I call the second innocence, the one that comes after knowing, the one that no longer knows, the one that knows how not to know.

I call ‘poet’ any writer, philosopher, author of plays, dreamer, producer of dreams, who uses life as a time of ‘approaching.'”
— Helene Cixous, “Coming to Writing” and Other Essays

 

It’s Little I Care

 

Path through Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle

Azalea bush along Azalea Way, Washington Park Arboretum

The siren call of spring . . .

“It’s little I care what path I take
And where it leads it’s little I care,
But out of this house, lest my heart break,
I must go, and off somewhere.”
—  Edna St. Vincent Millay

 

 

 

Tree-Watching and Listening Project: The Music of Trees

Strolling along tall cedar trees, Washington Park Arboretum

I made a special visit to the Washington Park Arboretum yesterday to experience Paths II: The Music of Trees, a series of seven sound installations by composer Abby Aresty.  She is a doctoral candidate at the University of Washington, and this outdoor music project is her dissertation.  She recorded natural sounds at these sites in different seasons, and then used them in compositions, which are broadcast in three-hour “concerts” on Wednesdays and Saturdays in October. You can read more about this remarkable project in this Seattle Times article.

I didn’t want the month to pass without checking out this unusual art project.  Armed with a map from the Visitor’s Center, I strolled the paths looking for the seven listening sites.  As always, I enjoyed wandering among the many tall trees of the arboretum.  And the unique soundscapes made this visit especially memorable.

“Twisted things continue to make creaking contortions.” (Gaston Bachelard). At Site 1, twisted plastic tubing becomes “mutant” branches.

The path near Site 1: The Music of Trees

Staircase under Japanese maple, Washington Park Arboretum

Walking beneath the rhododendrons at Site 4, where the sounds featured raindrops on leaves

Rhododendron bud

Site 6 used hanging sculptures like wind chimes, and the music incorporated the sounds of falling leaves.

Looking up into the maple tree at Site 7. I couldn’t hear the sound concert because a maintenance crew was blowing leaves down the way.

Washington Park Arboretum

Light-dappled curtain of leaves

Magnolia

Colorful Japanese maple against evergreen

Cluster of oak leaves

Bench, Washington Park Arboretum

Street light, Washington Park Arboretum

Fuchsia, or Tears of God

Fuchsias at the Washington Park Arboretum

I like the images describing fuchsia in this poem, which I read in “The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor.”  The dangling blooms have always reminded me of Oriental lanterns, but I had never heard them called “tears of God” until this poem.

Fuchsia
by Katrina Vandenberg

That summer in the west I walked sunrise
to dusk, narrow twisted highways without shoulders,
low stone walls on both sides. Hedgerows
of fuchsia hemmed me in, the tropical plant
now wild, centuries after nobles imported it
for their gardens. I was unafraid,
did not cross to the outsides of curves, did not
look behind me for what might be coming.
For weeks in counties Kerry and Cork, I walked
through the red blooms the Irish call
the Tears of God, blazing from the brush
like lanterns. Who would have thought
a warm current touching the shore
of that stone-cold country could make
lemon trees, bananas, and palms not just take,
but thrive? Wild as the jungles they came from,
where boas flexed around their trunks —
like my other brushes with miracles,
the men who love you back, how they come
to you, gorgeous and invasive, improbable,
hemming you in. And you walk that road
blazing, some days not even afraid to die.

Painting from a photo

Watercolor sketch of fuchsia

 

 

A Late Summer Walk in Seattle’s Washington Park Arboretum

Giant tree in the morning light

Sometimes I crave a walk amidst tall trees, and I’m fortunate that Seattle’s Washington Park Arboretum is not too far from my home.  The giant trees give long shadows, and it’s cool there even on warm sunny days.  Here are some photos from my latest visit:

Giant tree along the path of the Arboretum

Mottled leaves of English oak

Spiderweb stretched between trees

Sunlight edges the vines growing up this tree.

Nature’s lace — insect-eaten leaves

Watercolor sketch of English oak leaves and acorns

It Was the Morning of the Sixth of May

“It was the morning of the sixth of May,
And May had painted with her soft showers
A garden full of leaves and flowers.
And man’s hand had arranged it with such sweet craft
There never was a garden of such price
But if it were the very Paradise.”
— Geoffrey Chaucer, from The Canterbury Tales

A man’s hand crafted the lovely grounds of the Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle, and it has become one of our city’s paradises.  The city of Seattle hired the Olmstead Brothers (successors to Frederick Olmstead, who designed New York City’s Central Park among other famous commissions) to develop the landscaping plans for the Arboretum.  The Olmsteads were proponents of connecting urban dwellers to wild and natural spaces.

Here are some photos of my Spring visit to the park:

Signpost for Seattle's Washington Park Arboretum

The paths are perfect for strolling, jogging, and walking the dog.

Magnificent trees and wild spaces

Mushroom along the path

Bottle-brush plants in a low spot

A bed of ferns

Ferns

Ferns

Bench along the path, Washington Park Arboretum

Bluebells

Green foliage

 

 

 

 

Rhododendron Splendor

View from under a rhododendron, Washington Park Arboretum

“The world looks quite different if you view it, calmly and objectively, from the shelter of a large rhododendron blossom, with a sort of scarlet tent over your head, and a speckled rug under your feet — though it is rather alarming when bumble-bees, the size of bullocks, peer in at the entrance, and buzz like sirens.”
— Beverley Nichols, Sunlight on the Lawn

Rhododendron

Rhododendron, Washington Park Arboretum

Rhododendron, Washington Park Arboretum

Rhododendron, Washington Park Arboretum

Rhododendron "Decorum" bud, Washington Park Arboretum

Some rhododendron petals are huge!

My neighbor's rhododendron bush

Rhododendron in the morning light

A Seattle Spring Destination: Washington Park Arboretum’s Azalea Way

Azalea Way, Washington Park Arboretum

The azaleas at the Washington Park Arboretum are just now starting to bloom and will likely be in full splendor by Mother’s Day.  Azalea Way is the main walking thoroughfare in the park, a grassy expanse dotted with park benches and lined with trees and flowers.  It’s a relaxing place for a stroll or a picnic.

Bench tucked in by azalea bush, Washington Park Arboretum

One of several viewpoints, Washington Park Arboretum

Azaleas in the morning sunlight

Azalea buds and blooms

These azalea buds will be opening in the next couple of weeks.

Azalea buds

Azalea bud, unopened

Azalea in bloom

Azalea Way in late April

Purple azaleas

More buds

Another view of Azalea Way

Southern end of Azalea Way

Azaleas, Washington Park Arboretum