Taking a Stroll Through the Witt Winter Garden

For me, one of the highlights of the winter season in Seattle is visiting the Joseph A. Witt Winter Garden at the Washington Park Arboretum. We had an unusual stretch of mild weather this past week, so I was able to make my annual visit without dodging raindrops. Here are some photos:

This is the entrance to the garden, lined with red and yellow witch hazels (Hamamelis sp.) in full bloom. I wish I could somehow send you the fragrance of this garden. The air is perfumed with the scents of witch hazels and vanilla plant (Sarcococca sp.)

Here is a close up of the tiny, white, intensely fragrant flowers of Sarcococca confusa.

It might still be winter, but this garden has lots of color and contrast this time of year. Here is a yellow twig dogwood (Cornus stolonifera 'Flaviramea') with a mass planting of black mondo grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens') at its feet.

If it's flower color you are craving, here's a winter blooming Rhododendron hybrid. You will also find several Camellia sasanquas in this garden, some with pink flowers, some with white.

There are several varieties of hellebores in this garden, this one is Helleborus foetidus. It is called "stinking" hellebore because the plant leaves and flowers give off an unpleasant smell when crushed. I also saw some pale yellow Helleborus orientalis, or Lenten rose, in full bloom, and others with deep purple blooms about to open.

And here, like strings of pearls, are the elegant catkins of the native silktassel (Garrya elliptica 'Issaquahensis')

Pink cyclamen bloom at the base of a Japanese stewartia (Stewartia monadelpha), a tree noted for its beautiful bark. There are many more wonderful plants to see in this garden. If you live in the Seattle area and never visited it before, treat yourself to a stroll through this garden from late January through February. It will open your eyes and your senses to the pleasures of gardens in winter.