Scientific Name:  Juniperus morrisonicola Common Name: Yushan Juniper Family: Cupressaceae Native Range: Taiwanese mountains Location in the Arboretum: There are 8 of these trees in our collection; all accessioned in 1938.  Seven are located within the Pinetum area and one is located at the north end of Crabapple meadow.      The Yushan Juniper is an elegant conifer native to a small area of the Taiwanese mountain ranges, which are the tallest mountains in Southeast Asia.      ..read more

Read all about this gentle giant of a tree, Cupressus giganteum, and the work we do at the Arboretum to preserve this endangered species' genetic diversity ..read more

Learn all about Disanthus cercidifolius, the redbud hazel - a show-stopping shrub for shady gardens that we have many examples of at the Washington Park Arboretum and the Center for Urban Horticulture ..read more

Meet Roy Farrow, the Washington Park Arboretum Grounds Supervisor ..read more

Scientific Name: Taxus brevifolia Common Name: Pacific yew, western yew Family: Taxaceae Native Range: Western coast of the United States, from southern Alaska to northern California; western Rocky Mountains, from northern British Columbia to Idaho and Montana Location in the Arboretum: South end of the Arboretum above Azalea Way (Grid 17-1E) The Pacific yew, Taxus brevifolia, is a native tree or large shrub that is often overlooked below the overstory of large iconic Pacific Northwest trees such as Western Red Cedars, Douglas Firs, and Western Hemlocks.  ..read more

Sienna Wessel is the first-ever second botanist at the Washington Natural Heritage Program (WNHP), bringing with her experience working for multiple land management agencies across the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. Hailing from the Midwest, Sienna’s botanical journey began in the tallgrass prairie, where she developed a deep desire to protect plant biodiversity within the tiny remaining refugia of this once vast ecosystem.  ..read more

The weekend of July 12th – 14th found 15 Rare Care volunteers and assorted partners on Table Mountain in the Cle Elum Ranger District for the annual Monitoring Weekend. We conducted 21 surveys and successfully located the target plant on 16 of them, with all of the teams participating in at least one success and one new discovery. Thank you to all of our fabulous volunteers!  ..read more

It is nearing the end of my summer internship with Rare Care, stationed at Mount Rainier National Park, and I am excited to share what we found! The internship opportunity sprung from a collaboration between Rare Care and the National Park Service to confirm and improve the accuracy of rare plant records within Mount Rainier National Park’s boundaries. For the Park Service, this work will provide vital spatial information about rare plants to inform management decisions.  ..read more

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Out among the undulating biscuit and swale topography of the sagebrush-steppe in east-central Washington lives Spalding’s catchfly (Silene spaldingii). The basalt studded landscape feels vast and open under the blue skies of summer. For three weeks in August of 2023, you could find Allie Howell and I hiking between hundreds of patches of Spalding’s catchfly scattered over 50 square miles. Our task was to gather an updated population count after the devastating Whitney fire in 2020 that swept through a large section of the plant’s range in east-central Washington.  ..read more