October Visit to the Miller Botanical Garden

 It is my moral responsibility to share every visit to the Miller Botanical Garden. It is such a challenging garden to be able to see for its limited ticket distribution (not the garden's fault; it's in a gated community so there are rules). One can't simply stop by for a visit. Tickets are coveted and sell out quickly for the year within hours of becoming available. I was able to see it last week due to it being the meeting place for the Great Plant Picks selection committee, of which I am a part. Therefore, I invite you to sit back, relax and enjoy one of Seattle's horticulture gems, the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden in early October.

As I have done several posts about this magic place, I will not do a deep dive into its history except to say that it is a five-acre, sloped piece of property with the Puget Sound at its feet. It began in 1948 with Elisabeth's vision; now its trees have matured, the moss is abundant, and it has both large areas of shade as well as sunny spots. There are hundreds of containers, fern tables, succulent tables, rare specimens and colorful annuals. Its plant collection is vast and the aim is education. Shown here is the former home of Elisabeth and her husband Pendleton. It is now the offices for Richie Steffen, executive director and his team of very talented gardeners.

Hydrangea quercifolia beginning to take on wine tones. This autumn visit on a bright, warm sunny day, the color was not as vibrant as I have seen in years past, however still a joy to be here. Here is a post about my visit last autumn when the color was unreal.

Foundation plantings near the house with many conifers in the mix.

A rather large patch of Hakonechloa macra with fading colors.

Just outside of the dining room (meeting room) doors onto a terrace with many containers including tufa-style plantings in concrete containers.

Leading down from the back door to the lawn, a cascade of containers along the steps change seasonally.

Always something new and interesting in the changing containers as is the case with this Solanum pyracanthum.

Every visit to the Miller I see something new, and this visit I was particularly drawn to groundcovers and combinations thereof. This combination tumbling down the side of the hill has many differing shapes and colors of leaves that I really think it works well.

Looking back up towards the house.

More groundcovers, this time Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, which has gorgeous late season blue blooms but also pretty foliage color. Yucca and eryngium poking through - great combination.

Ophiophogon, ferns and more in the shady understory of trees on the slope down towards a sunnier part of the garden.

On the edge of the driveway is a fabulous collection of fern tables, pots and more. Del, head gardener at the Miller, tells me moving in pots to shelter for the winter months is a Herculean task and takes several days. I can't recall exactly how many he said they have, but it was in the hundreds and I believe it. This is high maintenance stuff.

Also a semi-circular seating area that doubles as a warm retaining wall, going down many feet on the other side.

Adiantum aleuticum var. subpumilum, dwarf western maidenhair fern looking gorgeous. I have added one of these to my garden this year and apparently it's pretty slow-growing, so I will be waiting for it to hopefully do this someday.

On the trail out towards the water I spied one of a couple (at least) Dicksonia antarctica, tree ferns as well as towering Cardiocrinum giganteum stalks with seed pods atop.

Around the perimeter of the deck, there is a choice selection of pots with incredible foliage.

And in the center, there is a large pot with Impatiens omeiana and a yucca, I believe.

The view from the deck: Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains in the background. 

A nice patch of Carex flacca, an evergreen grass with a blue tint to its foliage. Add a bit of wood, some stone and moss and this composition is exactly what I aim for, naturalistic plantings using (often) found material on site.

Wollemi pine, Wollemia nobilis with some browning, likely winter damage although effects of heat dome a few years ago could also be a contributing factor.

Moving up top to the woodland area, which is much looser, informal and very Pacific Northwest.

Ophioopogon planiscapus mixed with ferns.

Vaccinium ovatum, evergreen huckleberry with a lot of fruit. I'm surprised the birds, of which there were many, haven't dine on these yet.

Just a tree trunk slice in a spotlight. Seriously though, this gave me intense Twin Peaks vibes so I took this photo for my friend and fellow Twin Peaks fan, Kris.

Lovely way to decorate a snag.

A little less formal, a bit more wild and lots of woodland magic.

More shady groundcovers close to the front of the house.

At the edge of the upper parking lot, amazing ferns, rocks, Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola' and conifers speak my language about foliage and the use of natural materials. 

Some days the air just feels green.

Otherworldly unfurling frond of Parablechnum novae-zelandiae. I'm thrilled that I have a specimen in my own garden, though it has not done this yet.

At the front of the house, a more subdued color palette with mossy paths (yay!), Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens', Acorus gramineus, rhododendrons and ferns, all appreciators of dappled shade and cool, wet conditions.

Closing this post out with a shot of a few containers along the back steps.

What a privilege to see this garden regularly. Richie, Rick, Del, Maggie and the team are dedicated and generous, continuing the legacy of its namesake, Elisabeth. I so enjoy seeing it change from year to year, sometimes subtly but always something exciting to observe. It reminds me of my years at Joy Creek Nursery where I took photos of the garden every week, rain or shine, 52 weeks a year for several years until they closed in 2021. One gets to know a garden intimately, looking for photo worthy moments when there seemingly are none in the middle of a February deluge. The lesson is, for me, to slow down, look carefully and it will reveal itself to me if I am quiet enough. Often when I'm at the Miller I'm so excited (and on limited time) that I run around like a tourist every single visit for the first half an hour at least. I am now getting to the point of Joy Creek Nursery saturation and can see subtle nuance that escaped me in my early visits. 

On a final note, we are thrilled to be included in a beautiful new book by Kendra Wilson, photography by Caitlin Atkinson, Gardenista: The Low-Impact Garden published by Artisan. It is literally just out in bookstores and we only received our copy this week. It is, in their words, "A comprehensive and lushly illustrated guide to earth-friendly gardening from the experts at Gardenista."

Ours is one humble garden among many gorgeous locales from around the world and we are honored to have been included. The visit and photography happened two years ago and so it was not on our radar lately, we were pleasantly surprised to have received our copy and I look forward to reading the entire book.

We had fun with Kendra and Caitlin, both incredibly talented people. Caitlin's photography is dreamy and drool worthy, you will have recognized her style in Under Western Skies and Kendra's from other wonderful titles such as Garden for the Senses.

So, wrapping up, I hope this post will satisfy some garden lust for people who can't visit the Miller Botanical Garden in person. Also, ironically, my friend Loree of Danger Garden also did a post this week about her recent visit via the Hardy Fern Foundation. See that here. You can revisit some of my other posts about this amazing place, some in spring, here, here, here here and here.

That's a wrap for this time at Chickadee Gardens. As always thank you so much for reading and commenting, we do love hearing from you! Keep on gardening. It's an act of rebellion.