Washington Park Arboretum

Established in 1934, the Washington Park Arboretum is the largest public garden in the northwest and the oldest gardens west of the Mississippi. Situated just east of downtown Seattle and south of the University of Washington, the 230 acre arboretum is a spectacular urban green space. The collection of rhododendrons range from dwarfs to tree forms. Here are a few of the ones we found in bloom today.

 

 

 

One of our favorite trees to visit at the WPA is prunus serrula, also known as birchbark cherry, paperbark cherry or Tibetan cherry. It is a native of western China It does flower a bit later in the spring. But the bark is what really wows.

 

 

Hey, I smell a squirrel!