October is a great time of year to come to the garden and experience the dazzling, rich hues of fall! This week long festival features classes, tours and excellent deals on our end of the season plants. Come see the HFF fern collection along with the amazing Fern Stumpery Garden. For more info contact Shara Smith at 253-838-4646.
Grand opening of new Rutherford Conservatory at the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden
September 25th, 11:30am – 1:00pm.
After years of planning and fundraising, as well as months of construction and planting, RSBG will unveil the new RutherfordConservatory, the latest addition to its multi-featured, research and education garden. The RutherfordConservatory, named in honor of the late Francis C. Rutherford – long time RSBG member and vireya enthusiast – is the first public conservatory built on the West coast in recent history. This five-thousand square-foot facility features an exquisite collection of the tropical species of rhododendrons called vireyas, as well as many companion plants. In addition, the facility includes rock sculptures, a fountain and an outdoor, paved terrace for events.
The grand opening will be attended by various city leaders, RSBG members and is open to the public. Visitors can enjoy limited, but free guided tours of the conservatory and collection, as well as some light refreshments.
Saturday, September 25th, 2010
11:30am – 1:00pm
2525 S. 336th Street
Federal Way, WA98003
Standard gate admission rates apply.
The RhododendronSpeciesBotanical Garden is a 22-acre ‘living museum’ and home to one of the largest collections of species Rhododendrons and Azaleas in the world! RSBG displays over 450 species from the wilds of North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, as well as various companion plants. The garden includes the new Rutherford Conservatory, the Hardy Fern Foundation’s main display garden, a Victorian fern stumpery, a gazebo, Alpine and Pond Gardens, a meadow, plant sale pavilion and gift shop. Memberships, group tours and event rentals are available.
For more information, please contact:Shara Smith
Email:
Phone: (253) 838-4646
Stumpery Garden Built
January 2009 brought one of the largest projects the HFF has taken on with the building of a Victorian fern stumpery. For those not familiar with the finer gardening of the Victorian era, a stumpery is a collection of logs and tree roots placed in a garden setting creating multiple micro habitats for ferns and other woodland treasures. The HFF stumpery is the largest public stumpery in the world and probably the largest built since Victorian times. Over 130 logs and stumps were placed in a sheltered generous half acre woodland with an over story of massive mature Douglas fir. The stumps were in place by the end of January, 2009 and the initial planting was complete by the end of March. Since then many more ferns have been added with plans for hundreds more. If you are interested in helping with the continuing development of this one of a kind stumpery contact us at . Come see the newest and most amazing garden since 1901.
New Hoop House
During a past winter snow storm, three of the hoop houses came down here at the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden, one of them being the HFF fern hoop. We had been planning on putting up a new hoop for some time. Mother nature stepped in and decided to expedite things. When our hoop came down we needed to move all of our ferns to the edge of the property, alongside an existing hoop and the fence. Needless to say, between the voles, rabbits and shotweed we are excited to get them back safely into the new hoop! We now have twice the growing space and plan on installing a zoned irrigation system that will allow us to better cater to the requirements of the ferns. We are extremely grateful to John van den Meerendonk, HFF member and owner of Botanica, for all of the time and energy that he and his crew donated to make this project possible!
