DAdson Park is a living museum of trees. It will be a wonderful day for any gardener to walk the streets, to put his nose on a garden fence or fence. When strange plants began to enter the upper left corner of the United States, they often rested here for a long time.
1889 was a big year for the park. It began to take shape in the form of a new Madison Park dock and a steam locomotive and a cable car connecting the lake to the city center. Summer cottages have sprouted.
The idea of a recreation area was captured, and with it, the front yard was planted by importers who were considered to be the most prestigious gardens in the mountains and in the west. Among them are monkey puzzle trees, Hollywood pine, windmill palms, a few still here, 130 years later.
At the dawn of the 20th century, the growing Japanese population in the city provided us with Japanese gardeners who filled the corners with their choice of plants and the ceremonial and unobtrusive Japanese maps and rock-cut walls.
Even higher conifers fell under their influence. These trees often shed their feet by 30 percent, open the beds below for more sunlight, produce more sculptures, and allow less wind to pass through the trees, making them less likely to fall into strong, erratic winds. .
With the advent of the 1920s and automobiles, summer cottages were provided throughout the year on the streets lined with family homes. By this time the nursery industry was booming, heavy ornamental gardens were emerging, and our corridors were covered with shade trees.
Now, a century later, these plants not only provide us with beautiful and mature specimens of any kind, they are a living record of gardening trends.
In the late 1970’s, a “garden boom” swept across the United States. He was met with a sense of physical fitness and a desire to cook and eat well. All three cultural explosions have become part of our culture. None of the three was better than Seattle.
Seedling stands, large and small, opened throughout the city. The Seattle Times, Post Intelligence, and even Seattle weekly gardening columns. TV shows made regular venues; Garden clubs arose. The Madison Park Garden Club burned its tracks during its annual garden visits to neighboring gardens. The backyards are enclosed by garden walls and fences to create outdoor rooms.
Everywhere you look today, the tide of protectionist sentiment is flowing. Pandimonium? Well, of course Dimonnium.
Take a quiet summer day to walk our streets and see the colors, shapes, and beauty of our trees and gardens. Think about all this. Promise to be a part of it to move forward.
A good place to start your search is on the east side of Gallery and on the northeast corner of 39th Street. Look at the long blue confetti (pictured above) to the south and east. It boasts about a quarter of the yard.
This is the magnificent Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Boulevard’. In the 1920’s, these trees were introduced to the Japanese by means of a soft, metallic blue cloud. Gardeners love them and they are planted in amazing colors, especially on our dark greens or paired with red and burgundy leaves. Keep them in place like shrubs and often peeled into balls and cones;
But if you make the trip to see this tree, you will see the magnificent plant of the Japanese temples for centuries…