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Frequently
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About UW Botanic GardensAbout academic programsAbout urban horticultureWhat are the goals of UW Botanic Gardens?MISSION VISION Is UW Botanic Gardens open to the public?Yes! You can enjoy our public education programs, library, and facility rentals year-round, and tour the gardens at each site during daylight hours. Please consider exploring all we have to offer by visiting the Elisabeth C. Miller Library and the Otis Hyde Herbarium at the Center for Urban Horticulture, or the Graham Visitor’s Center at the Arboretum. How is UW Botanic Gardens structured?UW Botanic Gardens is part of the College of Forest Resources and has two sites: the Center for Urban Horticulture and the Washington Park Arboretum. Who manages the Washington Park Arboretum?UW Botanic Gardens and the City of Seattle jointly manage the Arboretum. The university owns the plant collections and manages the functions of the Arboretum and its public programs and activities. The City is responsible for all infrastructure support, turf, security, the Waterfront Trail, Japanese Garden, and native plant areas. The Arboretum Foundation, a non-profit organization with 3,000 members, has provided critical support to the Arboretum, giving nearly $5 million in donations since 1935. I have a question about my garden. Can UW Botanic Gardens help?Yes! You'll find many experts who can assist you with gardening questions here:
Can I tour the greenhouses?The greenhouses are used by staff, students and faculty for teaching and research purposes and are not open to the public. Fortunately, the Conservatory at Volunteer Park is a wonderful place to visit! What types of classes do you offer?UW Botanic Gardens offers classes for horticultural professionals and public enthusiasts on topics ranging from botanical art and urban horticulture to native plant landscaping and nature journaling. Our quarterly schedule can include lectures, workshops, and specialized tours at UW Botanic Gardens sites and beyond. Families will find many programs at the Arboretum, including school group programs, self-lead explorer packs, and special events. Learn more about upcoming events on our Public Education pages. How can I stay up to date on classes and events?Sign up for E-Flora, our monthly electronic newsletter! Contact Jean Robins at 206-685-8033 or e-mail jrobins@u.washington.edu I'd like to learn about volunteer opportunitiesUW Botanic Gardens would not succeed without the involvement of dedicated volunteers like you. Our volunteers lead tours or teach school Sapling classes at the Arboretum, collect and process herbarium specimens, maintain gardens and natural areas, assist with plant production, and much more. In fact, volunteer receptionists often are the first faces our visitors see. Public Education, Rare Care and other programs, and the Miller Library all depend on these dedicated individuals. Click here for more information on how to get involved with UW Botanic Gardens, and thanks for your interest! My neighbors and I are trying to improve our neighborhood park/greenspace. Can you help?Possibly. The Restoration Ecology Network works with community clients to perform landscape restoration and/or rehabilitation. Their website offers program information, including the type of help they provide and the type of projects they conduct. Does UWBG have an undergraduate/graduate program?The Environmental Horticulture and Urban Forestry curriculum supports both undergraduate and graduate students and provides course material and experiences to students in other Forest Resource curricula, Landscape Architecture and general University of Washington students. Both the undergraduate and graduate curricula prepare graduates for careers in (1) environmental horticulture, (2) public horticulture and (3) urban forestry. Students with an undergraduate degree will have immediate job opportunities in a number of horticultural, landscape and restoration professions. These professions concern the selection, management, and role of plants and ecosystems in urban and other strongly human-impacted landscapes. The three options within the curriculum have the following thrusts: 1) The environmental horticulture program focuses on applying horticultural knowledge in an ecological context. Students choosing this option focus on plant sciences from an eco-physiological viewpoint, applying the information to specific environments such as wetlands or disturbed urban landscapes. Included in this are restoration ecology, stress physiology, and management of rare and endangered plant species. 2) The public horticulture program prepares students to enter careers that involve both plants and people, including management and curation of botanic gardens and arboreta, governmental positions, and education. Students may emphasize various aspects such as plant materials, plant care and maintenance, or education. 3) The Urban Forestry option provides students with fundamental knowledge of tree science, forest ecosystems and forest management practices. In acknowledging the emerging field of urban and community forestry, students learn about the socio-cultural dimensions of managing forest resources in the midst of human settlement - including economics, political science, sociology and policy. These studies enable students to effectively manage forest systems for multiple purposes (e.g. environmental benefits, conservation, amenity and recreation) in cities and towns. What kind of career opportunties does a degree in environmental horticulture create?Graduates can find jobs in government, with private foundations, consulting firms, and tribes. The common thread is that our graduates can measure, describe, manage and improve the environment in which we live. What is urban horticulture?The early and initial focus of urban horticulture was on the new science of growing and using plants in cities. Its focus is on the problems and opportunities unique to city gardening: pollution, restricted root systems, anomalies of wind, light and water in urban canyons, the use of plants as climate or noise controls, and so on. Urban horticulture is different from traditional horticulture in that the focus is on hundreds of species, including both native and introduced, rather than on the production of a few economically important species. Today, this foundation built on horticultural principles and practices continues; however, it is being applied to a wider array of problems arising in human-impacted environments spanning from urban-industrialized areas to distant wilderness areas. How is environmental horticulture different from horticulture?Environmental horticulture combines ecology, horticulture, restoration and conservation in a way that allows the use of horticultural practices to improve natural systems. What is a sustainable landscape?A sustainable landscape is one where proper plant care is provided, resources are not wasted, and plants, animals, and humans are nourished. Plants are correctly selected, installed, and maintained, eliminating preventable losses due to improper management techniques. A sustainable landscape works with environmental conditions, correcting past mistakes and not creating new problems. What is an urban forest?Generally, urban forests are collective masses of trees found within the boundaries of cities, towns or neighborhoods. Such forests contain publicly and privately owned trees growing in parks, near schools, within residential yards, on the grounds of institutions and along streets. These tree collections may look very different from each other. They may be remnant forests or small tracts of trees preserved during development that become a naturalistic looking greenbelt. Some sites have a designed landscape, made up of carefully placed trees and shrubs surrounded by turf, as in many urban or community parks. Some forests are on "leftover" land, an untended collection of plant volunteers and scruffy vegetation. Each of these forest settings not only looks different but the ecological function of each varies. Nonetheless, scientists have proven that trees, in all settings, provide extensive environmental benefits such as carbon dioxide exchange, reduced energy use, air pollution reduction, and water quality improvements.
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