I’d like to thank you personally for an absolutely wonderful first year at Heronswood! I can’t imagine a garden that is a better fit to my interests and passions. With your help, we will finish the open season with record …

1938-2021

The Heronswood family lost a cherished friend on September 21st 2021 in the passing of passionate gardener, gifted photographer, friend and garden supporter, Lynne Harrison. Many of you knew her and nearly all of you would …

The signs are all there. Fall is on its way and our autumnal ensemble is beginning to bloom. No fall color on the trees yet, but the cyclamen are starting to flowers and as these tiny treasures appear around the …

At a time of the year in the gardens of Heronswood when all eyes are focused on, and noses trained to, the astounding, skyrocketing, flowering stems of the magnificent, if not narcissistic, Himalayan Lilies, Cardiocrinum giganteum, the immense remainder of …

A Cascade Adventure with Heronswood

One of the most important steps in continuing to grow and thrive as a botanical garden is providing a stimulating and intellectually challenging workplace. Heronswood is growing in new and exciting ways and this isn’t …

It was early on in my formative years that I became infatuated with what was then referred to as ‘woodland lilies’. Under the umbrella of the lily family, a rather good assemblage of numerous genera began to take shape in …

I am who I am because of the nurturing guidance and enthusiasm of my mother and grandmother. My love of plants began at a very early age. My mom would say I came out of the womb with Latin names …

Adventure and exploration is the reason I went into the field of plant taxonomy and ecology. I wanted to discover the wonders of this world and I wanted to understand how they were connected to all facets of their environment. …

The Genus Epilobium

Over the past weekend, I had the immense pleasure 0f returning to the remarkable mountain ranges that encompass the southwestern corner of Oregon and northwestern California. It is hard to encapsulate the unique qualities of the flora …

Two weeks ago, while entering Heronswood, I noted to myself how early the autumn color had arrived, particularly so in our big-leaf maples, Acer macrophyllum, along 288th St. This is a tree species whose autumn color intensity can vary …

What a year this has been!

Events in the world outside rarely penetrate the tranquility of this garden, but 2020 hasn’t played by the usual rule book. While this year’s plague of slugs and snails has been devastating in the …

Is summer over?

The birds seem to think so. Robin numbers have sky-rocketed in the garden as birds that bred farther north start to move south. Some of the plants, too, are moving into their Fall fruiting or flowering seasons. …

Almost all the plants at Heronswood are perennials

Not herbaceous perennials, but perennials nevertheless. Woody trees, shrubs and vines are perennial, because they live for multiple years but when we hear the word “perennial”, we tend to think herbaceous. Herbaceous …

The Genus Eucryphia

I have related the story so many times to so many people that I will assume you have already heard it before. But precisely when has that stopped me from telling it again? In the summer of …

Vacation season is upon us and yet the usual exodus is largely on hold this year. As much as I love Kitsap County, I’m becoming increasingly frustrated by my inability to drop everything and fly to some faraway place. Of …