Lessons from a Botanical Garden: Fragrance, Giants, Birds, and Seasonal Interest

Planting fragrance is easy. Visitors stop at the kobus magnolia's big white blooms to breathe in the scent—but it's actually from the Viburnum x burkwoodii behind it. This plant is widely available in the Northwest and easy to grow.

Tiny seeds grow into mighty trees. One dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) stands 86 feet tall with a 5-foot-diameter trunk. Carl English likely started it in 1948 from the first seeds brought to America after the species was rediscovered in China. (A deciduous cousin of the coast redwood, it was considered extinct.) Sawara false cypress trees are so large that great blue herons nested in them last year.

Trees attract birds. Fifty years ago, hummingbirds didn't overwinter in Seattle. Now Anna's hummingbirds do, thanks to winter-flowering plants like strawberry tree and Grevillea victoriae, both easy for home gardeners.

Some species grow far from home. A canyon live oak—the largest in Washington state—arches over a path near the locks, reflecting Carl English's love of evergreen oaks and showing how well this California oak grows 1,000 miles north of its native range.

A well-planted garden weathers the seasons. The Carl S. English Jr. Botanical Garden looks good into fall and winter because perennials, annuals, and grasses are left standing instead of being cut back. They provide interesting shapes, colors, and rustling grasses in winter.