Category Field Notes

Blog of Garden Director Dan Hinkley

Perfect Weather for Frogs

Will it ever stop raining? Having spent the morning weeding the rock wall, I’ve discovered that my waterproofs are not as waterproof as they should be. While this deluge may forestall summer drought (we hope!), and is helpfully irrigating the…

Plants, People & Place

Staff working on the new S'Klallam Connections Garden at Heronswood

A decade of progress Ten years ago, the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe purchased Heronswood and just last week, the first plants were added to the S’Klallam Connections Garden, our most recent garden addition. Thanks to the tribe, Heronswood was saved…

Winter Wonderland

Heronswood potege

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…

In Memoriam

Lynne Widdis Harrison

Lynne Widdis Harrison 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…

Girls & Boys Come Out to Play

Begonia aborensis

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…

The Genus of Beautiful Flowers

Calycanthus x raulstonii

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…

Wenatchee Classroom

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…

Many Knees at Heronswood

Autumn-blooming Solomon's seal

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…

In Honor of Mothers

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…

Oregon Irises Inspire

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.…

Smoke and the Art of Phototropism

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 from…

Novel Plants for Novel Times

Hedychium

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…

Heronswood Biodiversity Audit

(09.02.20) Spiders, Part III A GLOW UPON THE GROUND As many variable forms that spiders possess, there exist several different strategies to employ when catching prey. The passive hunters who wait combine elements of webbing, tunnels, and camouflage. Those less…

Brilliant biennial blooms but briefly

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…