Magic at the Miller Botanical Garden
Winter’s finale had me at the Elisabeth Miller Botanical Garden once more. This Seattle gem is the home of Great Plant Picks; lucky me to be a committee member with this volunteer organization. As our meetings are held there, we make sure to arrive a little early to explore the garden.
To celebrate the first day of spring, here then is the Miller Botanical Garden as it awakens for the year with some lovely mossy woodland magic and a plethora of elegance.
Years in the making, mossy paths and mature trees and shrubs are the result of Elisabeth Miller’s vision, now safely in the hands of the Miller Botanical Garden and its leadership with Richie Steffen at its helm as the Executive Director.
Ophiopogon ‘Nigrescens’ and Acorus gramineus are repeated throughout the Miller. Once you find plants that do well for you, repeating them makes sense. Also in the first photo, Ophiopogon ‘Nigrescens’ is a striking contrast to soft mossy greens.
Corylopsis blooming.
Mossy-path envy was strong this trip. So much of the upper woodland is riddled with inviting soft green sponge. Most of the paths are covered in it. A result of decades of care, no doubt.
The front entryway to the home, now home to administrative offices for the Miller Botanical Garden and Great Plant Picks. What an inviting office!
Beautiful planters flank the front door adding winter interest to a shady area.
An entirely foliage-driven composition illustrates that color and beauty can be had year-round.
Vaccinium ovatum growing out of a stump in the upper woodland garden.
Cardamine quinquefolia in the fern lawn.
The back lawn and dining room terrace.
The terrace with a spectacular collection of troughs and planters, including many ferns. Richie, current vice president and past president of the Hardy Fern Foundation, is certainly a fern collector and lover.
One of many fern tables, this one with Pyrrosia lingua, saxifrages and pinecones.
That amazing Cordyline indivisa with its tropical-esque foliage takes center stage in any photo it’s in.
Taxus baccata in a handsome grouping on the dry bank.
Mossy steps around the side of the home.
Maple leaves emerging.
Camellia, a variegated form not unlike Camellia ‘Debutante’ I’ve seen at work (Cistus) but this with darker pink flowers. I saw not only bumble bees visiting this shrub but hummingbirds as well which was surprising to me.
Cardamine quinquefolia detail. Colonies of these are throughout the garden and are rather charming. A woodland ephemeral plant, it goes dormant in dry and heat of summer.
Saxifraga primuloides edging a concrete path. These are great evergreen groundcovers for shade and are represented well in the gardens here. I have many small colonies in my own garden as it’s an easy-care favorite.
Looking into the dining area where our meeting will be held with a sparkling chandelier luring us in with its warm glow. Full disclosure, I’d rather be outside playing any day. In fact, I think I was late to the start of the meeting because of this tendency.
Color echoes of hellebore with the reds of Trillium kurabayashii.
An impressive trough with Austroblechnum penna-marina.
Emerging trilliums.
Blechnum chilense, now known as Parablechnum cordatum in a rather robust colony. I’ve tried this in my own garden – alas, mine is too dry. Gorgeous plant if your soil is wet enough.
Steps heading down to the greenhouse, just visible at the top of this photo.
Towards the bottom of the garden it flattens out a little. It’s nice to see it in winter mode, the structure of it all.
Even without the carpet-forming perennials that have yet to emerge, this scene is pretty fabulous. Mature trees give a sense of place to a garden, teasing the explorer to venture onward to see what’s on the other side.
Schefflera delavayi in a container catching the light with a rhodocoma behind.
Pyrrosia in containers on the deck which overlooks Puget Sound. Look at those fuzzy copper undersides! If that doesn’t get your heart beating I’m not sure what will. Wow.
Arctostaphylos ‘Monica’ on the edge of a staircase heading up to the dry bank.
Closing out this post with the man himself, Richie Steffen, one of the hardest working and nicest horticulture professionals I know. And that’s saying something.
Well, fellow garden enthusiasts, I hope this little tour of a special garden has been an inspiration to get out in our own gardens and to celebrate spring with abandon. We’re officially here, we made it through another winter. We did it. And with ideas from places like the Miller and what Richie and his team continue to grow and curate, I for one am ready to jump all into this new and fresh season that is upon us. Also, you can visit my other posts about this garden here for my visit last autumn (wow for autumn color!), here for spring 2023, here and here for my visit May of 2022 pre-Great Plant Picks.
That’s a wrap for this week at Chickadee Gardens. As always, thank you so much for reading and commenting, we do love hearing from you! Happy gardening, keep on doin’ it.
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