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Creating community through, people, parks and programs. Timothy A. Gallagher, Superintendent.
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Seattle Parks and Recreation

SUMMER GUIDE
Glorious, Gorgeous Gardens

 
General Parks Information: (206)684-4075 · Contact Us

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In Seattle there's no better time than summer to slow down, take a stroll, and enjoy our colorful and fragrant gardens. They're the best places in town to stop and smell the flowers. For directions, please visit our Gardens page.

Woodland Park Rose Garden
5000 Fremont Avenue N
Open daily 7 a.m. to dusk
Free admission
The Woodland Park Rose Garden, managed by the Woodland Park Zoo, is one of only two dozen certified American Rose Test Gardens in the United States. The garden, open since 1924, features more than 5,000 rose bushes representing 280 varieties. At its picturesque and fragrant best from May through August, the garden displays new rose hybrids before they become available to amateur rose enthusiasts.


Kubota Garden
9600 Renton Avenue S
Open daily from sunup to sunset
Free admission
Hidden in South Seattle, Kubota Garden is a stunning 20-acre landscape that blends Japanese garden concepts with native Northwest plants. The city acquired the property, now an historic landmark, in 1987 from the estate of master landscaper Fujitaro Kubota. Kubota was a horticultural pioneer when he began merging Japanese design techniques with North American materials in his display garden in 1927. The Garden is a spectacular setting of hills and valleys interlaced with streams, waterfalls, ponds, bridges, and rock outcroppings and a rich array of plant material. Recent work funded by the Pro Parks Levy has resulted in improved paths, an upgraded entry, new restrooms, new irrigation, and better access for people with disabilities. Be sure to stop and see the beautiful gate designed by artist Gerard Tsutakawa.


Parsons Garden
7th Avenue W and W Highland Dr.
Open daily 4 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.
Free admission
Formerly the family garden of Reginald H. Parsons, the park was given to the city in 1956 by the family's children. This small but lovely garden is a hidden gem on Queen Anne Hill's south slope.


Japanese Garden
1502 Lake Washington Boulevard (in the Washington Park Arboretum)
Open daily through August 28, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; starting August 29,
closing is at 6 p.m.
Admission: $5 per adult, $3 per youth or senior, free for kids 5 and younger.
This 3½-acre formal garden was designed and built under the supervision of world-renowned Japanese garden designer Juki Iida in 1960. Chado (The Way of Tea) demonstrations are offered regularly in the traditional teahouse (for more information, please call 206-324-1483). It has been named one of the top ten Japanese gardens in the world outside Japan.

> Special Events in the Japanese Garden


Volunteer Park Conservatory
1400 E Galer Street
Open daily 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Call 206-684-4743 for information about Conservatory "Second Sunday" programs.
This jewel in Volunteer Park was built in 1912 and modeled after the Crystal Palace in London. It features an outstanding display of flowering plants from all over the world, and its notable 600-variety orchid collection began as a gift from Anna H. Clise in 1919. The Conservatory features five houses - bromeliad, fern, palm, cactus, and a special seasonal house that displays the floral glory of each period of the year.

Mark your calendar! The Conservatory Annual Fall Plant Sale takes place September 15, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Shop for indoor tropical plants and ferns at this sale sponsored by the Friends of the Conservatory. For more information, please call 206-322-4112 or visit www.volunteerparkconservatory.org.


Washington Park ArboretumThis link will take you off the City of Seattle web site
2300 Arboretum Drive
Open daily 7 a.m. to dusk
For more information, please call 206-543-8800

The Washington Park Arboretum is a spectacular urban green space on the shores of Lake Washington. Its 230 acres display a dynamic, living museum with collections of oaks, conifers, camellias, Japanese maples, and hollies. Parks owns and manages the Arboretum grounds, and the University of Washington manages its plant collections through the Center for Urban Horticulture. The nonprofit Arboretum Foundation manages fund raising, membership, and volunteer services.


 
Updated June 5, 2007
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