The Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden, have you visited?

If you're a frequent ~~flyer~~ reader you've no doubt read a few posts where I gush over the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden in Federal Way, Washington.

My first visit to this garden was in 2016. I knew of it for years, mainly because there's a sign on I-5 and I lived in Seattle from late 1988 until early 1998. Back then I was a frustrated apartment dweller who lacked gardening space, so I never managed to stop—heck I didn't even manage to visit Heronswood in it's heyday even though I was just a short ferry ride away.

Daphne x houtteana, next to the RSBG crevice garden.

Here's the crevice garden itself. I always assumed the rather underwhelming state of this small garden was an oversight. Something they intended to "fix". Now I realize that's probably not going to happen. It is what it is.

"Lightly" planted.

Overlooking my Seattle years and fast forwarding to when I moved from Spokane, WA, to Portland, OR, started gardening (2005) and regularly driving up I-5 to the Seattle area, it still took me over ten years to visit the Rhododendron Species Botanica Garden, why? Well, I would have told you it's because I was not a fan of rhododendrons. There's a lot of baggage in that statement. The average PNW person who only knows rhododendrons as those pink (typical) flowering foundations shrubs has no idea what they're missing! This for example...

Rhododendron pseudochrysanthum, a purchase when I visited the garden last summer.

Starting this post I got curious as to just when the garden opened. Turns out the collection was housed in a couple of private gardens in Oregon before finding a permanent home on the Weyerhaeuser property in Federal Way, WA: In 1974 the Weyerhaeuser Company generously leased at no cost a permanent site of 24 acres for the collection. The following year the collection was relocated from Salem to the Federal Way site and planted in accordance with the geographic origin of each species. (source)

Rhododendron 'Ever Red'

Rhododendron bureavii

My visits to the garden have been in late winter, high summer, and autumn—thus I've never seen the garden in full bloom.

That's fine with me though, as the reason I love these plants is because of their foliage.

Rhododendron forrestii ssp. forrestii

After I finished Monday's blog post on the Elk Rock Garden, it seemed fitting to move onto these images I've had simmering since last summer. The theme? Pacific Northwest Gardens that I once wouldn't have felt much for, but I've grown to love.