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Think  first.  We’re 
the  agreeable  ones. 


Agreeable  services,  agreeable  people 
...and  something  else.  An  agreeable 
attitude.  An  attitude  that’s  willing  to  go  a step  further  for 
you ...  to  try  to  give  you  the  help  you  need,  even  if  it  isn’t 
covered  in  the  Banker’s  “rule  book.” 

This  is  agreeability.  This  is  looking  at  things  from  the 
customer’s  side  of  the  counter.  This  is  Seattle-First  National 
Bank.  So,  think  first.  First  Bank.  We’re  the  agreeable  ones. 


A JOURNAL  OF  GENERAL  HORTICULTURAL  INFORMATION 
PUBLISHED  QUARTERLY  BY  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  WASHINGTON 
ARBORETUM  FOUNDATION  • SEATTLE,  WASHINGTON  98105 


No  part  of  this  BULLETIN  may  be  reprinted  with- 
out the  authority  of  the  Arboretum  Foundation. 


VOLUME  XXXII  NUMBER  1 


^jixuiq,  ig6g 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


A Guide  to  Late-Flowering  Rhododendron  Species 

in  the  University  of  Washington  Arboretum Marjorie  Baird 


Botanical  Keys Reinhard  F.  Stettler 

The  Guide  Program Marjorie  Clausing 

Highway  Landscape  Developments R.  M.  Blanchard 


Special  Spring  Plant  Sale 

Some  of  Our  Favorites— Vacc/n/um  o vatum 

Book  Reviews 

Arboretum  Weather  Report— 1968  J.  A.  Witt 


2 

8 

12 

14 

17 

20 

21 

24 


Cover  photo: 

R h od odendron  nip pon icu m 

Photo  by:  Whitie  Marten 


A Guide  to  Late-Flowering  Rhododendron  Species 
in  the  University  of  Washington  Arboretum 

Marjorie  Baird* 


As  this  was  being  written,  ice  and  snow 
were  everywhere,  as  were  browned 
leaves  and  “blasted”  buds.  But,  undaunted, 
the  rhododendron  fancier  goes  on,  ever- 
hopeful  of  what  spring  and  summer  may 
bring.  I will,  therefore,  describe  the  late- 
flowering  species  which  flowered  in  the 
Arboretum  in  1967  and  hope  they  will  be 
on  display  for  you  this  year.  The  staff  re- 
iterates my  statement  in  the  Early-Flower- 
ing Species  article:  many  of  these  plants 
are  seedlings  and  may  not  be  true  to  type. 

As  there  are  several  deciduous  azaleas 
flowering  during  the  summer,  I should, 
perhaps,  explain  that  azaleas  are  a large 
group  of  evergreen  and  deciduous  plants 
lumped  together  in  the  Azalea  Series  of  the 
genus  Rhododendron.  The  Series,  as  with 
most  others,  is  further  divided  into  sub- 
series in  order  to  keep  together  plants 
which  have  much  in  common.  I found  it 
interesting  to  learn  in  Frederic  P.  Lee’s 
“Azalea  Book”  that  in  the  distribution  of 
the  Azalea  Series,  most  species  are  grouped 
on  the  east  coast  of  our  hemisphere  and 
the  east  coast  of  Asia.  One  lone  species, 
R.  occidentale,  inhabits  our  west  coast, 
while  another  “loner,”  R.  lutein,  is  indige- 
nous to  Asia  Minor. 

Let  us  start  down  Rhododendron  Glen. 
Among  the  members  of  the  Ponticum  Ser- 
ies are  R.  maximum,  R.  caucasicum  and 
R.  smirnowii.  R.  maximum  is  our  east 
coast  Rosebay  Rhododendron.  It  flowers 
about  the  end  of  June  and  on  until  almost 
the  end  of  July.  It  is  a large,  vigorous 
shrub  with  pink-to-white  flowers  which 
become  partially  hidden  by  the  new  shoots, 
an  undesirable  trait.  A noticeable  feature 
is  the  encircling  growth  of  bracts  at  the  tips 

*This  was  a “must”  from  Mrs.  (Hugh)  Baird 
following  her  excellent  article  “A  Guide  to 
Early  Blooming  Rhododendron  Species  in  the 
Universitv  of  Washington  Arboretum”  Spring 
1968. 


of  branchlets,  both  on  flower  and  leaf  buds. 

R.  caucasicum  and  R.  smirnowii  are  both 
native  to  the  Caucasus  Mts.  in  central 
Europe.  The  former  is  a fairly  low,  com- 
pact, hardy  plant  with  white,  pink  or  yel- 
lowish trusses  in  early  June.  (In  the  Ar- 
boretum they  are  pink-ish).  This  species 
sometimes  has  a thin  indumentum  beneath 
the  leaves. 

The  lavendar-rose,  frilly  flowers  of  R. 
smirnowii  may  be  “over”  by  June.  Dark 
green,  handsome  foliage,  undercoated  with 
white  or  fawn  indumentum  and  silvery- 
grey,  tomentose  new  shoots  make  it  not 
only  an  attractive  plant  but  also  valuable 
because  of  its  hardiness  and  tolerance  of 
most  situations. 

Not  far  beyond,  and  flowering  from  the 
end  of  May  to  mid-June,  is  R.  brachycar- 
pum,  another  hardy  species  from  Korea  and 
Japan.  The  bright  green  leaves,  with  a 
noticeable  yellow  mid-rib  and  yellow  buds, 
sometimes  have  a thin,  white  or  tan  indu- 
mentum. Small  but  firm,  round  trusses  are 
a combination  of  creamy-white,  flushed 
pink,  with  green  or  yellow-brown  speckles 
in  the  throats  of  the  florets.  It  is  shy  to 
flower  until  mature  and  by  then  may  be 
touchy  to  transplant. 

On  your  left,  beyond  the  large  maple, 
(Acer  macrophyllum),  is  a group  of  small- 
leaved rhododendrons  which  includes  R. 
hirsutum  (meaning  “hairy”).  This  inhabi- 
tant of  the  southern  European  Alps  is  deco- 
rated with  pretty  little  two-inch  trusses  of 
rose-pink  flowers  in  June.  With  its  close 
relative,  R.  ferrugineum,  it  is  often  called 
the  Alpine  Rose. 

Just  beyond  the  group  of  huge  R.  sutchu- 
enense,  var.  Geraldii,  (fig.  1)  look  up  the 
bank  behind  a large  R.  decorum  and  you 
may  see  the  large,  white  or  pink,  fragrant 
flowers  of  R.  diaprepcs  during  June.  This  a 
young  plant  of  a lesser-known  species  of 
the  Fortunei  Series  and  the  name  appro- 


o 


priately  enough,  means  “distinguished.'’  It 
has  the  beautiful  large  leaves  seen  so  often 
in  the  subseries  Fortunei,  so  should  be 
protected  from  the  wind. 

Even  less  well  known  is  R.  hemsleyanum, 
a close  relative,  which  is  situated  on  the 
same  slope,  but  around  the  next  curve. 
Half-hidden  by  a R.  rubiginosums  small 
foliage,  but  surely  visible,  will  be  its  large 
white  florets,  perhaps  ten  in  a truss.  You 
will  get  a closer  look  at  its  interesting  fo- 
liage farther  along  on  our  walk. 

In  the  immediate  foreground  of  this  bed 
and  the  one  just  ahead,  are  forms  of  R.  tri- 
chostomum,  an  attractive  small  plant  with 
tiny  spheres  of  daphne-like  flowers,  pink 
and  white,  during  late  May  and  early  June. 
This  species  may  grow  from  two  to  four 
feet  and  is  quite  suitable  for  a well-pre- 
pared rock  garden,  (fig.  2) 

Now,  proceed  to  the  “look-out,”  descend 
the  steps  and  as  you  are  going  (carefully) 
along  the  stepped  path,  you  will  see  R. 
minus  on  your  left.  Its  name  belies  the  fact 
that,  though  its  leaves  are  not  large,  its 


stature  may  reach  twelve  feet  in  height  and 
breadth.  Through  most  of  June  this  south- 
eastern U.S.  native  displays  its  bright  lav- 
endar-pink  flowers.  It  is  both  heat  and 
cold  resistant.  (Eastern  Washington  gard- 
eners, please  take  note. ) 

If  you  look  down  the  steep  rock  steps, 
you  will  see,  at  the  foot,  several  large 
plants  of  R.  auriculatum.  In  July,  its  long, 
pointed  buds  burst  open  into  a truss  of 
three  to  five-inch,  white,  very  fragrant  flor- 
ets. It  is  a handsome  plant  in  foliage  and 
form;  even  the  new  leaf  shoots  are  attrac- 
tive with  their  narrow,  bright-red  bracts. 
It  prefers  partial  shade.  Its  name,  mean- 
ing “eared,”  refers  to  the  lobes  of  the  leaf 
bases.  Another  specimen  of  the  species 
hides  behind  the  clump  of  maples  across 
the  foot  of  the  path  from  these. 

Just  along  the  path,  on  the  left,  may  be 
seen  at  close  hand,  another  plant  of  R. 
hemsleyanum  with  its  interesting  oblong 


Rhododendron  sutchuenense  var.  Geraldii 
Fig.  1— Photo  by:  Whitie  Marten 


ovate  leaves,  deeply  and  “squarely”  auricled 
at  the  base. 

At  your  right  is  one  of  the  best-known, 
yet  most  maligned,  species  of  rhododen- 
drons, though  the  true  species  is  extremely 
rare.  R.  ponticum  was  the  parent  of  many 
hardy  hybrids  and,  of  more  importance  still, 
was  the  understock  for  grafted  plants 
which,  until  recently,  were  not  propagate- 
able  any  other  way.  This  native  of  Asia 
Minor  is  good  for  planting  in  drifts,  as  a 
wind-break,  or  as  a woods  “filler.”  It  is 
quite  tolerant  of  soil  and  exposure  in  our 
area.  Poor  color  forms  should  be  discarded 
as  there  are  many  good  ones  in  the  pale 
magenta,  lavendar  and  violet-blue  hues, 
some  with  white  or  green  flares  in  the 
throat.  A white  form  is  supposed  to  exist. 

If  there  is  some  bloom  in  the  R.  carolin- 
icinum  group  just  beyond,  it  probably  is  a 
second  flowering.  This  is  a sister-species 
of  R.  minus  and  is  very  like  it  in  hardiness 
and  habitat  as  well  as  characteristics. 

As  you  come  out  into  an  open  grassy 
space,  there  are  three  plants  of  R.  cinnabar- 
inum  on  your  left.  They  may  be  in  the 
last  stages  of  flowering  but  because  of  the 
interesting  flower  form  and  color,  it  will 
be  mentioned.  Perhaps  its  lovely  blue  new 
leaf  growth  will  be  visible.  This  slender 
native  of  the  Himalayas  is  one  of  the  scalv- 
leafed  rhododendrons  (lepidotes)  and,  al- 
though slow  to  bloom,  its  pendant  clusters 
of  tubular,  luminous  cinnabar-red  flowers 
are  a pleasure  to  behold.  It  is  variable  in 
color,  however,  and  some  forms  have  apri- 
cot or  yellow  trusses.  Its  rather  small, 
rounded,  waxy,  blue-green  leaves  are  also 
attractive. 

If  you  turn  down  the  slope  beyond  the 
R.  cinnabarinums,  you  may  continue  up 
past  the  Prentice  Memorial,  and  up  to  the 
wooden  steps,  but  I urge  you  to  take  a short 
detour.  Take  the  service  road,  head  north, 
but  turn  off  it,  “right  oblique,”  onto  the 
grass  path  which  leads  to  the  Kalmias.  Just 
past  these,  on  your  right,  is  a specimen  of 
R.  catawbiense,  the  Catawba  Rhododen- 
dron of  our  southeastern  mountains.  In  its 
habitat,  its  symetrical  rounded  trusses  are 


a lilac-magenta,  but  better  color  forms  have 
been  found  and  propagated,  including  a 
good  white.  Extremely  hardy,  its  hybrids 
form  the  legions  of  “iron-clads”  which  are 
used  so  extensively  in  the  colder  area  here 
and  abroad.  Even  an  inclement  exposure 
does  not  daunt  this  neat,  medium-sized 
member  of  the  Ponticum  Series. 

Farther  along,  on  your  left,  planted  with 
some  large  plants  of  R.  discolor,  is  another 
R.  hemsleyanum.  Now,  these  R.  discolors 
may  not  be  true  to  type,  but  they  are  cer- 
tain impressive.  They  are  not  what  one 
would  call  “straggly,”  but  are  tree-like.  The 
foliage  is  a lighter  shade  of  green  below, 
than  above,  and  the  numerous  trusses  of 
large  florets,  white  to  pale-pink,  suffused 
yellow  in  the  throat,  have  a gardenia-like 
fragrance. 

Now,  let  us  retrace  our  steps  to  the 
Prentice  Memorial  path  and  walk  toward 
the  flight  of  wooden  steps.  Just  beyond 
the  cedar,  (Thuja  plicata)  which  has  a 
holly  growing  beneath  it,  is  a group  of  R. 
micranthum.  This  is  a hardy  small-leaved 
shrub  attaining  approximately  five  feet,  or 
a bit  more,  and  usually  flowers  from  mid- 
June,  through  July,  and  tapers  off  in  early 
August.  The  arrangements  of  its  tiny, 
white  flowers  cause  it  to  resemble  a small 
spirea  or  Labrador  Tea  ( Ledum  groen- 
landicum).  It  is  the  only  species  in  the 
Micrathum  Series. 

On  the  right  side  of  the  foot  of  the  steps, 
you  may  see  the  black-red,  waxy  bells 
which  form  the  loose  trusses  of  R.  didy- 
mum . This  species  is  a low-growing  mem- 
ber of  the  Neriiflorum  Series  and  has  me- 
dium-small leaves  whose  undersides  are 
covered  with  a greyish  indumentum. 

Ascend  the  steps  and  take  the  path  to 
your  left  and  past  the  Griersonianum  bed. 
The  north  end  of  it  ends  with  a group  of 
smaller  species  and  hybrids  and  a fore- 
ground of  Epimedium.  Among  the  rhodo- 
dendrons are  R.  Venator,  about  three  feet 
in  height,  with  narrow  leaves  of  a bright 
green  which  makes  a good  foil  for  its  scar- 
let, bell-shaped  flowers  which  begin  to  ap- 
pear in  late  May  in  a single-tiered,  flat- 


4 


topped  truss.  In  its  best  forms,  it  is  a good 
well-branched  garden  plant  which  may 
reach  eight  feet. 

There  is  also  a plant  of  R.  sanguineoides 
here  but  it  has  no  flower  buds  so  will  not 
show  its  bright  red  bells  this  year. 

Down  the  grass  slope  below  the  group 

of  R.  riparium,  are  some  plants  of  R.  keleti- 

cum  which  may  still  be  flowering  in  June. 

Its  bright  magenta  blooms,  large  for  the 

size  of  the  shrub,  are  held  proudly  above 

the  tiny  aromatic  leaves.  In  a more  sunny 

location,  this  species  will  be  a compact 

mound  usuallv  not  more  than  twelve  inches 
¥ 

high. 

Let  us  return  now  to  the  Arboretum 
Drive  and  turn  left  (north).  In  a bed  just 
across  the  Drive  from  the  Leguminosae 
sign  is  a group  of  R.  serrulcitum,  the  Ham- 
mocksweet  Azalea.  Beginning  in  mid-July, 
thev  bear  clove-scented,  white  flowers 
which,  though  small,  are  long-tubed  and 
sometimes  have  a pink  or  reddish  flush  and 
yellow  blotch.  It  is  a fairly  hardy  species, 
indigenous  to  the  swampy  woods  of  our 


southeastern  coastal  plains. 

Beyond  this  bed  is  a beautiful  Western 
Hemlock  ( Tsuga  heterophylla)  and  just 
north  of  it  is  a bed  of  azaleas  “background- 
ed” by  rhododendrons.  Among  these  are 
four  plants  of  R.  serotinum  and  a R.  dia- 
prepes,  which  are  in  the  same  Series  and 
subseries  as  R.  discolor  and  have  many 
characteristics  in  common.  R.  serotinum, 
however,  is  supposedly,  the  lastest  to  flow- 
er (its  name  means  “late,”  i.e.  ’autumnal”). 
It  is  a large-leaved,  rangy  plant  with  white 
trusses  flushed  rose  on  the  outer  corolla 
and  spotted  red  on  the  inside. 

Another  tour  to  discover  late-blooming 
species  takes  us  down  Loderi  Valley.  Take 
the  more  northerly  of  the  two  roads  (vou 
will  see  the  sign),  and  just  below  the  stone 
bench,  on  your  right,  during  the  latter  part 
of  July  and  early  August,  R.  ungernii  may 
be  in  flower.  This  is  a handsome  foliage 
shrub  with  its  long  leaves  coated  on  the 


Rhododendron  trichostomum 
Fig.  2— Photo  by:  Whitie  Marten 


underside  with  a thick,  woolly,  white  indu- 
mentum and  tomentose  new  shoots.  The 
flowers,  sometimes  twenty  to  a truss,  are 
white  or  pale  pink.  Unfortunately,  this  na- 
tive of  the  Caucasus  Mts.  is  not  as  well 
known  here  as  some  of  its  fellows  in  the 
Ponticum  Series,  but  it  is  a desirable  gar- 
den plant  and  very  hardy,  though  should 
not  be  placed  where  its  leaves  can  be  tat- 
tered by  strong  winds. 

R.  brachycarpum  is  also  planted  in  this 
bed  and  on  beyond  the  large  Douglas  Firs 
( Pseudotsuga  menziesii ) is  one  plant  of 
R.  bakeri.  If  this  one  is  not  flowering,  look 
on  the  north  side  of  this  bed,  along  the 
ridge  road  between  Loderi  Valley  and 
Woodland  Garden.  There  are  several  plants 
of  it  there.  This  is  the  Cumberland  Azalea, 
native  to  the  plateau  of  that  name  in  Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee,  north  Georgia  and  Ala- 
bama. In  June,  and  perhaps  early  July,  the 
tubular  orange-to-vermillion-red  flowers  ap- 
pear. Some  forms  may  be  salmon,  apricot 
or  straw  yellow.  It  varies  in  height  from 
two  to  nine  feet  and  the  deep  green  leaves 
are  glaucous  on  the  undersides. 

Turn  right  and  up  the  slope  beyond  the 
lone  R.  bakeri,  brush  by  the  drooping  hem- 
lock branches  and  walk  down  the  service 
road.  On  your  way  toward  the  columnar 
Lawson  Cypresses,  look  down  into  the  bed 
on  your  left.  In  it  are  R.  arborescens,  its 
variety  R.  a.  ‘ Richardsonii and  R.  visco- 
sum.  The  first  of  these,  the  Sweet  Azalea, 
flowers  in  June  with  long-tubed  white  flor- 
ets similar  to  R.  serrulatum,  but  larger,  and 
heliotrope-scented.  It  is  a hardy  species 
and  quite  variable.  The  variety  ‘ Richard - 
sonii  is  lower-growing  and  has  larger  flow- 
ers. Select  your  R.  arborescens  while  it  is 
in  bloom  so  you  can  see  the  difference  in 
size  of  flowers  and  glossiness  of  leaves. 

R.  viscosum  is  the  Swamp  Azalea  of 
Maine  and  points  south  to  Tennessee  and 
South  Carolina.  It  is  hardy,  upright,  and 
tall,  perhaps  to  fifteen  feet  and  its  white 
flowers,  in  June  and  July,  have  a spicy  fra- 
grance. Lower  and  dwarf  forms  exist,  one 
of  which,  R.  v.  var.  montanum,  is  stoloni- 
ferous.  This  is  another  azalea  whose  super- 


ior forms  should  be  selected  and  it  is  sur- 
prising that  it  is  not  more  widely  used  in 
our  “damp"  northwest. 

Turn  right  at  the  columnar  cypresses 
( Chamaecyparis  lawsoniana  ‘Kilmacurragh’), 
and  on  your  left,  under  a spreading  Yo- 
shino  Cherry,  is  a group  of  R.  amagianum. 
This  is  a Japanese  native,  the  Mt.  Amagi 
Azalea,  with  very  beautiful  foliage  similar 
to  R.  schlippenbachii.  It  grows  in  an  up- 
right fashion  to  about  fifteen  feet  and  its 
orange-red  flowers  appear  in  June.  It  is 
hard  to  understand  why  this  species  is  so 
little  used  in  the  Seattle  area. 

To  see  R.  prunifolium,  we  will  retrace 
our  steps,  pass  the  cypresses  and  go  down 
the  Valley  to  Azalea  Way.  Here,  turn  to 
your  right,  (north),  and  in  a large  bed 
“guarded"  by  a Golden  Cypress  (Chamae- 
cyparis lawsoniana  * Stewartii ) you  will  find 
examples  of  R.  bakeri,  R.  prunifolium,  and 
R.  serrulatum.  The  Plum  Leaf  Azalea  is 
native  to  a small  area  in  Georgia  and  Ala- 
bama. It  is  the  lastest-flowering  of  the  Ar- 
boretum’s azaleas.  The  orange-red  florets 
open  in  August  on  plants  which  may  reach 
fifteen  feet  in  height. 

If  you  will  continue  north  along  the 
Way  you  will  come  upon  R.  alabamense. 
Or  you  may  stint  a separate  little  tour  from 
the  north  entrance  of  the  Way.  Before  you 
reach  the  gravel  path  there  is  a large 
“clump"  of  cedar  and  a flowering  cherry 
and  between  them  is  a group  of  the  Ala- 
bama Azalea.  If  the  season  is  late  enough 
you  will  be  able  to  see  the  small,  white, 
narrow-tubed  flowers,  yellow-blotched,  and 
smell  their  distinctive  lemon  or  jasmine-like 
fragrance.  This  is  a fairly  low  plant,  per- 
haps to  three  feet,  stoloniferous,  its  leaves 
glaucous  on  the  under  sides.  In  its  native 
habitat,  it  has  so  interbred  with  its  neigh- 
bor, R.  canescens,  that  one  rarely  finds  the 
true  species  these  days. 

At  the  gravel  path,  walk  up  the  slope 
toward  the  picnic  tables  and,  if  you  go  as 
far  as  the  trail  to  Woodland  Garden,  there 
will  be,  on  your  right,  a large  azalea  bed 
containing  more  plants  of  R.  arborescens, 
R.  a.  ‘ Richardsonii  ’ and  R.  viscosum. 


6 


Continue  to  Woodland  Garden.  Across 
the  path  from  the  Hammamelis , under  a 
Douglas  Fir,  are  some  plants  of  R.  nipponi- 
cum,  (our  cover  photograph).  This  is  the 
only  species  in  its  subseries  and  its  home 
is  on  northern  Honshu,  Japan.  Upright  and 
of  medium  height,  perhaps  six  feet,  the 
Nippon  Azalea  hides  its  creamy-white  bells 
amongst  its  foliage  in  summer,  but  in  the 
fall  it  shows  off  proudly  its  flaming  foliage 
and  cinnamon-brown  bark  which  peels  off, 
leaving  handsomely  polished  brown  stems. 
It  is  thought  by  some  to  have  a resemblance 
to  Menziesia. 

So  far,  I have  made  no  reference  to  R. 
occidentale , the  “Oregon,”  “Western”  or 
“Pacific”  Azalea,  one  of  the  “loners”  I men- 
tioned at  the  outset.  But  it  is  planted  in 
many  locations  in  the  Arboretum,  and  I am 
sure  you  will  be  able  to  identify  it,  although 
it  will  be  in  the  last  stages  of  flowering  by 
June.  It  becomes  a tall  plant  with  sweetly 
scented  trusses  varying  from  creamy-white 
to  bronze  pink  with  yellow  or  orange 
blotch.  Often  the  outer  corolla  is  flushed 


with  pink  or  rosy  red.  It  is  indigenous  to 
California,  from  San  Diego,  north,  and 
into  southern  Oregon.  In  the  hotter  areas 
it  may  be  found  beside  streams.  It  does 
well  here  but,  strangely  enough,  is  not 
happy  on  the  east  coast. 

You  may  still  be  able  to  see  examples  of 
our  native  R.  macrophyllum  (fig.  3)  flower- 
ing along  Lake  Washington  Boulevard  in 
June.  It  is  variable  in  color  (usually  a blu- 
ish or  mauve-pink)  and  size  of  bloom,  and 
in  leaf  color  and  is  happiest  in  a woodland 
location  where  its  roots  can  grow  in  a 
thin  layer  of  humus  over  gravel.  It  is  found 
in  many  small  disconnected  areas  in  west- 
ern Washington,  Oregon,  northern  Califor- 
nia, British  Columbia,  including  Vancou- 
ver Island,  sometimes  in  the  higher  alti- 
tudes. It  is  safer  to  take  cuttings  of  good 
forms  than  to  buy  them  in  mid-summer 
from  the  streets  and  highways.  I have  seen 
them  in  their  natural  state,  sometimes  fif- 
(Continued  on  page  22) 


Rhododendron  macrophyllum 
Fig.  3— Photo  by:  William  Eng 


Botanical  Keys 

Reinhard  F.  Stettler* 


Last  time  that  you  went  to  see  a doctor 
because  of  an  acute  backache  he  asked 
you  a series  of  questions  pertaining  to  your 
problem.  He  probably  began  with  a ques- 
tion on  how  the  pain  came  about,  con- 
tinued with  several  questions  on  the  locali- 
zation of  the  pain  and  then  questioned  you 
further  while  examining  you  for  particular 
symptoms  associated  with  the  pain.  These 
verbal  and  physical  questions  were  in  no 
way  a random  chat.  Without  bestowing 
undue  glory  on  your  doctor,  it  is  safe  to 
say  that  he  asked  you  a finite  number  of 
quite  precise  questions  in  quite  a precise 
sequence  which  culminated  in  a satisfied 
nod,  a Latin  name  (and  a bill).  He  fol- 
lowed a diagnostic  key  in  much  the  same 
manner  as  you  would  key  out  an  unknown 
plant,  with  the  only  exception  that  he  had 
to  have  his  key  memorized  or  he  would  lose 
your  confidence. 

Since  botanical  keys  are  widely  used  by 
both  amateur  and  professional  botanists, 
and  in  both  camps  with  varied  success, 
a few  reflections  on  their  purpose,  contents, 
and  use,  may  be  in  order.  Being  a geneti- 
cist, I can  approach  this  topic  with  that 
degree  of  nonchalance  characteristic  of 
specialists  discussing  a subject  outside  their 
field  of  competence. 

What  is  the  purpose  of  a key? 

Botanical  keys  are  supposed  to  help  us 
in  the  grouping  and  identification  of  plants. 
Synoptic  keys  (from  the  Greek  syn-,  to- 
gether, and  opsis,  a view ) usually  are  tabu- 
lations of  single,  or  grouped,  characters 
that  segregate  a category  of  plants  (e.g., 
a family)  into  different  groups  (e.g.,  gen- 


° Associate  Professor  of  Forestry  and  Genetics, 
University  of  Washington 


era).  Their  purpose  is  to  give  the  reader, 
in  one  single  glance,  an  overview  of  the 
major  characters  that  distinguish  the  vari- 
ous groups  within  a category.  Since  they 
are  very  simple  constructs  and  generally 
entirely  self-explanatory,  we  may  dismiss 
them  from  further  consideration  in  our 
discussion. 

It  is  the  diagnostic  keys  (from  the  Greek 
dia-,  between,  and  gignoskein,  to  know), 
also  called  analytic  keys,  that  occasionally 
cause  a problem.  The  problem  is  that  you 
have  a dismantled  plant  in  your  left  hand, 
and  a plant  key  in  your  right  hand,  and 
you  still  don’t  know  what  it  is  that  you  took 
apart.  This  problem  reflects  the  purpose  of 
a diagnostic  key,  namely  to  provide  a set  of 
references  that  serve  in  associating  an  un- 
known plant  with  a recognized  group  to 
which  it  actually  belongs.  To  facilitate  this 
task,  diagnostic  keys  typically  present  a 
series  of  contrasting  statements  culminat- 
ing in  the  name  of  the  particular  group. 

It  may  be  well  to  remember  that  in  plant 
identification,  as  in  any  other  grouping  of 
objects,  there  are  two  different  principles 
at  work;  i.e.,  an  inclusion  principle,  and  an 
exclusion  principle.  By  including  a plant  in 
a particular  group  we  exclude  it  from 
others.  Accordingly,  we  can  commit  two 
distinct  errors:  we  may  include  a plant  in 
a group  although  it  does  not  belong  to  it, 
or  we  may  exclude  a plant  from  a group 
although  it  belongs  to  it.  Usually,  by  com- 
mitting one  error  we  get  the  other  one  free. 
You  may  think  that  it  is  an  unnecessary  ex- 
ercise in  logic  to  distinguish  those  two  er- 
rors. Yet,  in  hunting  mushrooms  you  have 
subconsciously  followed  the  same  distinc- 
tion, knowing  well  that  it  would  be  less 
problematical  to  erroneously  exclude  from 


8 


your  bag  an  edible  mushroom  than  to  er- 
roneously include  a poisonous  one.  In  other 
words,  not  only  did  you  distinguish  the  two 
errors  but  you  made  a deliberate  effort  to 
minimize  one  at  the  expense  of  the  other. 

What  material  goes  into  a key? 

A botanist  confronted  with  the  task  of 
devising  a key  has  to  make  three  major  de- 
cisions. First  of  all,  he  has  to  decide  which 
specific  taxa  (e.g.,  genera,  species)  he 
wants  to  have  included.  This  decision  de- 
fines the  range  of  application  as  well  as  the 
resolution  of  the  key.  Each  key  resolves  a 
category  of  plants  into  a finite  number  of 
groups.  In  one  case  this  may  involve  all  the 
grass  genera  of  the  United  States;  in  an- 
other it  may  be  restricted  to  the  conifer 
species  of  the  Olympic  Peninsula.  Clearly, 
the  first  key  would  be  more  voluminous 
than  the  second,  and  there  would  be  no 
communality  between  the  two. 

The  second  decision  relates  to  what  de- 
scriptive items  should  be  used  to  resolve 
the  original  category  into  the  desirable 
groups.  Since  keys  are  devised  to  permit  a 
quick,  but  reliable,  identification,  the  two 
guiding  principles  in  this  decision  are:  ef- 
ficencey  and  accuracy.  The  fewer  charact- 
ers, and  the  more  discriminating  they  are, 
the  better  is  the  key.  Thus,  it  is  not  surpris- 
ing that  many  keys  rely  on  floral  charact- 
ers, because  these  are  relatively  constant 
within  groups,  but  distinct  between  groups. 
Yet,  there  is  a limit  to  the  usefulness  of  keys 
that  are  based  on  flowering  material.  It 
may  take  an  oak  40  years  before  it  qualifies 
for  such  a key— a long  period  to  remain 
nameless.  Today,  many  floras  have  at  least 
two  parallel  keys,  one  for  flowering  ma- 
terial, and  another  for  vegetative  material; 
there  may  be  even  additional  ones  for  fruits, 
or  for  winter  twigs. 

Traditionally,  the  choice  of  characters  to 
be  used  in  a key  was  left  to  a botanist’s 
intuition.  Thus,  it  reflected  his  degree  of 
familiarity  with  the  material  at  hand,  his 
perception— and  his  bias.  In  our  more  quan- 
titatively oriented  world  of  today,  however, 
some  of  these  qualitative  judgments  are 


viewed  with  suspicion.  Computers  are  just 
as  accessible  to  taxonomists  as  they  are  to 
engineers.  They  allow  the  handling  of  many 
more  data  from  many  more  characters  from 
many  more  plants.  Special  mathematical 
analyses  have  been  developed  to  detect 
among  many  characters  those  that  discrimi- 
nate most  reliably  between  two  or  several 
groups.  Chemical  tools  have  been  added  to 
the  instrumentarium  of  systematists;  often 
they  have  a higher  resolving  power  than 
morphological  examination.  As  in  human 
blood-typing,  they  may  reveal  distinct  dif- 
ferences among  groups  of  plants  that  ap- 
pear homogeneous  at  the  morphological 
level.  Thus,  new  keys  are  generated  to  take 
advantage  of  such  modern  tools.  They  need 
not  lead  to  a major  re-shuffling  of  previ- 
ously recognized  groups;  often,  they  merely 
make  the  old  classification  more  defensible. 
In  fact,  new  keys  may  well  turn  out  to  be  a 
testimony  for  the  insight  and  judgment  of 
an  early  botanist. 

The  third  decision  in  constructing  a key 
relates  to  the  question: 

How  is  the  material  presented? 

Most  modern  keys  are  dichotomous,  that 
is,  they  are  organized  in  a sequence  of  two, 
and  always  two,  contrasting  statements. 
At  each  dichotomy  they  provide  the  read- 
er with  a choice  of  two  contradictory  prop- 
ositions; the  acceptance  of  one  means  the 
rejection  of  the  other.  The  gradual  elimina- 
tion of  the  non-applicable  alternatives 
eventually  leads  to  the  identification  of 
the  plant. 

Two  different  formats  are  used  in  ar- 
ranging the  sequence  of  contrasting  state- 
ments: the  indented,  or  yoked,  format,  as 
opposed  to  the  bracketed,  or  parallel, 
format. 

Indented  keys,  as  the  name  suggests,  are 
characterized  by  the  indentation  of  suc- 
cessive contrasting  statements,  each  sub- 
ordinate pair  of  statements  (couplet)  be- 
ing indented  by  a fixed  distance  from  the 
previous  pair,  but  each  member  of  a pair 
having  the  same  indentation.  An  example 
is  given  in  Fig.  1. 


9 


Key  to  the  fruits  displayed  in  Grocery  XY  on  June  28,  1968. 

la  Fruit  undergoing  drastic  change  when  dropped  to  the  floor 

2a  Fruits  in  clusters,  attached  to  branched  stem  GRAPES 

2b  Fruits  single 
3a  Fruit  red 

4a  Fruit  surface  rough  with  many  small  seeds  STRAWBERRY 

4b  Fruit  surface  smooth,  shiny 

5a  Fruit  more  than  25  mm  in  diam  BEEFSTEAK  TOMATO 

5b  Fruit  less  than  25  mm  in  diam  CHERRY  TOMATO 

3b  Fruit  not  red 

6a  Fruit  skin  pubescent  PEACH 

6b  Fruit  skin  smooth  NECTARINE 

lb  Fruit  not  undergoing  drastic  change  when  dropped  to  the  floor 

7a  Fruit  damaging  the  floor  COCONUT 

7b  Fruit  not  damaging  the  floor 

8a  Fruit  yellow,  with  large  brown  spots 

9a  Fruit  more  or  less  isodiametric APPLE  ( Golden  Delicious) 

9b  Fruit  elongate  BANANA 

8b  Fruit  not  yellow,  no  brown  spots 

10  a Fruit  brown,  woody  shell  __  H WALNUT 

10b  “Fruit”  red,  without  woody  shell,  in  bunches  RADISHES  (misplaced) 

Fig.  1 Example  of  an  indented  key. 


Trying  to  identify  a banana,  you  would 
start  with  the  first  statement  (la),  per- 
form the  critical  test,  choose  the  second 
alternative  ( lb ) , inspect  the  floor  and 
settle  for  7b,  proceed  to  8a  and  be  satisfied 
with  it  ( never  mind  the  brown  spots ) , then 
reject  9a,  and  finally  end  up  with  the  cor- 
rect diagnosis  ( 9b ) . In  so  doing  you  would 

A 

B 

BB 

C 

CC 

AA 

The  major  advantage  of  indented  keys 
is  that  their  heirarchical  arrangement  gives 
a peculiar  visual  pattern  that  imprints  it- 
self quickly  on  the  user.  After  a few  identi- 
fication runs  he  will  have  memorized  the 
early  distinctions  and  will  make  shortcuts 
to  the  critical  contrasts.  The  major  dis- 
advantages are  the  waste  of  space  caused 
by  the  shortening  of  lines  in  consecutive 
couplets;  and  the  fact  that  in  long  keys  the 
two  members  of  a couplet  may  be  on  dif- 


notice  that  the  two  contrasting  statements 
in  each  couplet  have  the  same  number,  but 
different  letters  (la,  lb)  and  are  worded 
in  the  same  manner.  There  is  some  varia- 
tion on  the  numbering  theme:  some  keys 
have  letters  instead  of  numbers,  others 
have  numbers  without  letters,  as  shown 
below: 

1 

2 

2 

3 

3 

1 

ferent  pages,  thus  making  it  difficult  for 
the  user  to  find  the  contrasting  statement. 

Bracketed  keys,  on  the  other  band,  pre- 
sent the  two  statements  of  a couplet  on 
two  consecutive  lines  so  that  they  are  easily 
compared.  At  the  end  of  each  line  there 
is  either  a name,  in  which  case  the  search 
has  come  to  a halt,  or  a number,  which 
refers  to  another  number  at  the  beginning 
of  a lower  line,  where  the  search  continues. 
Our  fruit  key  in  bracketed  format  would 
appear  as  in  Fig.  2. 


10 


3. 

3. 


o. 

o. 


1.  Fruit  undergoing  drastic  change  when  dropped  to  the  floor  2 

n.]  Fruit  not  undergoing  drastic  change  when  dropped  to  the  floor  [7] 

2.  Fruits  in  clusters,  attached  to  a branched  stem  ....  GRAPES 

2.  Fruits  single  .. 3 

Fruit  red 4 

Fruit  not  red , 6 

4.  Fruit  surface  rough  with  many  small  seeds  STRAWBERRY 

4.  Fruit  surface  smooth,  shiny  5 

Fruit  more  than  25  mm  in  diam.  BEEFSTEAK  TOMATO 

Fruit  less  than  25  mm  in  diam.  CHERRY  TOMATO 

6.  Fruit  skin  pubescent  PEACH 

6.  Fruit  skin  smooth  NECTARINE 

7.  Fruit  damaging  the  floor COCONUT 

[7.]  Fruit  not  damaging  the  floor  [8] 

[8.]  Fruit  yellow,  with  large  brown  spots  [9] 

8.  Fruit  not  yellow,  no  brown  spots  10 

9.  Fruit  more  or  less  isodiametric  APPLE  ( Golden  Delicious) 

[9.]  Fruit  elongate BANANA 

10.  Fruit  brown,  woody  shell WALNUT 

10.  “Fruit”  red,  without  woody  shell,  in  bunches  RADISHES  (misplaced) 

Fig.  2 Example  of  a bracketed  key. 


For  easier  reference  to  our  earlier  ex- 
ample, the  appropriate  numbers  on  the 
pathway  to  the  banana  have  been  bracket- 
ed. You  will  notice  that  they  are  actually 

j * 

the  same  numbers,  in  the  same  sequence,  as 
the  ones  used  in  the  indented  key.  Bracket- 
ed keys  are  less  wasteful  of  space,  and 
they  make  it  easy  for  the  user  to  contrast 
the  two  alternatives  at  any  forking  point. 
However,  their  arrangement  is  somewhat 
cryptic,  and  the  user  has  to  be  thorougly 
familiar  with  the  key  before  he  can  make 

anv  shortcuts. 

✓ 

A few  hints  on  how  to  use  a key 

As  everyone  else,  I like  to  give  advice. 
However,  before  I give  it  I may  point  out 
that  it  is  based  on  a narrow  range  of  ex- 
perience, resulting  from  numerous  attempts 
at  getting  dendrology  students,  stuck  in  a 
key,  unstuck.  Since  most  forestry  students 
are  poor  botanists,  their  problems  are  prob- 
ably typical.  At  the  risk  of  flogging  a dead 
horse  I offer  the  following  suggestions: 

1)  Be  familiar  with  the  application  range 
of  a key.  A key  to  the  local  flora  will 
be  of  limited  use  in  an  arboretum,  and 
vice  versa. 

2 ) Get  acquainted  with  the  technical  terms 
used  in  a key.  Many  keys  have  a glos- 
sary, some  even  have  detailed  illustra- 


tions to  pinpoint  the  contrasting  char- 
acters referred  to. 

3)  Always  read  both  statements  in  a pair 
of  contrasts  before  you  make  a decision. 
Be  alert  to  the  possibility  that  there 
may  be  more  than  two  alternatives  list- 
ed for  a given  character;  many  older 
keys  are  not  truly  dichotomous  but  have 
triplets  or  quadruplets  instead  of  coup- 
lets. 

4)  After  haveing  keyed  out  a specimen 
always  test  it  against  the  species  des- 
cription. You  will  find  characters  des- 
cribed that  were  not  used. 

5 ) If  your  specimen  lacks  one  or  two 
characters  called  for  in  the  key,  test  it 
against  the  remaining  alternatives  both 
in  the  key  and  in  the  species  description. 

6 ) Be  assured  that,  except  for  the  key 
presented  in  Figs.  1 and  2,  no  key  is 
perfect. 

Finally,  I may  point  to  three  keys  that 
have  impressed  me  because  of  their  practi- 
cality and,  in  the  first  two  cases,  because 
of  their  excellent  illustrations. 

Winter  Twigs:  A Wintertime  Key  to 
Deciduous  Trees  and  Shrubs  of  North- 
western Oregon  and  Western  Washington, 

(Continued  on  page  19) 


11 


The  Guide  Program 

Marjorie  Clausing 


Have  you  ever  had  a nasturium  cocktail, 
tasted  boiled  ehickweed  or  been  serv- 
ed a piece  of  sorrell  pie?  Well,  these  would 
have  been  among  the  delicacies  offered  you 
last  fall  if  you  had  been  a guide-in-training 
at  the  University  of  Washington  Arbore- 
tum. Women  who  are  to  serve  as  guides 
on  Nature  Walks  study  native  plant  ma- 
terial and  at  one  training  session  last  No- 
vember devoted  to  “Natives:  Poisonous  or 
Edible?”  they  were  served  an  entire  lunch- 
eon from  “God’s  super-market.”  Wild  and 
native  materials  were  prepared  and  served 
by  Mrs.  Tom  Ciarlo  who  is  a member  of 
the  Arboretum  Foundation  Unit  #7,  the 
Micological  Society,  and  to  whom  collect- 
ing and  preparing  these  specialties  is  a 
hobby. 

The  guide  program  is  one  of  the  newer 
programs  at  the  arboretum,  and  it  is  spon- 
sored by  the  Arboretum  Foundation  and 
the  Unit  Council.  It  was  started  when  re- 
quests for  guided  tours  were  becoming  so 
numerous  that  it  was  difficult  for  Mr.  Witt 
and  Mr.  Mulligan  to  personally  conduct 
them  all  with  all  their  other  educational 
and  administrative  duties.  In  November, 
1961,  a volunteer  guide  service  was  initiat- 
ed and  organized  under  the  supervision  of 
Mr.  Joe  Witt  with  Mrs.  Rex  Palmer  as  its 
first  chairman.  Twenty-six  women  partici- 
pated in  the  first  series  of  “Nature  Walk” 
training  classes  held  in  the  spring  and  fall 
of  1962  in  the  Arboretum  club  house  and 
on  the  grounds.  Most  of  these  students 
were  women  who  were  already  well 
versed  in  plant  material  and  who  had 
taken  the  classes  “Botanically  Speaking” 
given  earlier  at  the  Arboretum. 

o 

Early  that  year,  the  guide  program  ex- 


Mrs.  (H.  P.)  Clausing,  present  General  Chair- 
man of  the  Guide  Program,  has  been  inde- 
fatigable in  her  endeavors  to  promote  this  very 
popular  program. 


panded  to  include  guides  whose  particular 
interest  was  the  new  Japanese  Garden 
which  had  opened  to  the  public  in  June, 
1960.  In  January,  1962,  Mrs.  Kenneth  Sor- 
rells was  appointed  chairman  of  the  Jap- 
anese Garden  Guides  and  training  classes 
were  held  that  same  spring  for  thirty  vol- 
unteers. Those  guides  were  kept  very  busy 
that  first  summer  giving  out-of-town  visit- 
ors (here  for  the  Seattle’s  World  Fair)  a 
wonderful,  informative  “side  trip”  to  one 
of  the  most  authentic  Japanese  Gardens 
outside  Japan  itself! 

The  guide  service  contiuued  to  grow 
with  Mrs.  Leon  Phillips,  Mrs.  Carl  Crumb, 
Mrs.  Cliffird  Barnes,  and  Mrs.  Walter  Wil- 
liams as  some  of  the  able  “gardeners” 
(chairmen)  who  nurtured  it  along  its  way. 
It  grew  until  last  year  from  May  15,  1967, 
to  May  15,  1968,  one  hundred  twenty-four 
different  groups  totaling  approximately 
1700  persons  were  taken  on  tours  by  these 
volunteer  guides.  (These,  of  course,  do  not 
include  any  of  the  many  hours  conducted 
by  Mr.  Witt  and  other  members  of  the  pro- 
fessional staff. ) 

Additional  training  sessions  have  been 
held  in  both  areas  until  now  there  are  fifty 
trained  volunteer  guides  ready  to  assist 
when  needed  with  tours  at  the  arboretum. 
Thirty-one  guides  are  especially  interested 
in  taking  people  on  “nature  walks”— on  the 
native  plant  walk,  the  waterfront  trail,  and 
into  other  arboretum  areas.  These  girls  are 
our  Native  Walk  Guides  under  the  present 
able  chairmanship  of  Mrs.  John  Allen.  Most 
of  the  tours  conducted  by  this  group  are  on 
the  native  plant  walk  which  is  a short  tour 
mapped  out  at  the  north  end  of  the  arbore- 
etum  where  twenty-four  examples  of  trees 
and  shrubs  native  to  the  lower  elevations  of 
the  Pacific  North  West  have  been  tagged 
just  where  they  grew.  The  guides  point  out 
identifying  characteristics,  tell  the  uses  and 
other  pertinent  facts,  and  often  include 


12 


stories  and  Indian  lore  about  the  plants. 
The  tour  usually  takes  about  forty  minutes 
to  an  hour,  depending  upon  the  interest  of 
the  group  and  the  loquacity  of  the  guide. 

Mrs.  Tom  McKenna  now  heads  the 
group  of  23  women  trained  as  Japanese 
Garden  guides  and  who  take  people  for 
tours  there  during  the  season  it  is  open 
to  the  public,  usually  from  late  March 
through  October.  The  garden  is  located  on 
the  west  side  of  Lake  Washington  Boule- 
vard East  of  the  lower  end  of  Azalea  Way 
in  the  Arboretum.  It  is  a “stroll”  garden, 
the  type  developed  in  Japan  in  the  16th  and 
early  17th  Centuries  in  Japan.  It  comprises 
here  three  acres,  but  it  represents  a whole 
countryside.  Guides  may  point  out  the  “ka- 
resansul”  or  dry  garden,  the  turtle  island, 
the  grove  of  “sakura”  or  flowering  cherry 
trees;  they  may  explain  the  meaning  and 
significance  of  some  of  the  eleven  hand- 
hewn  stone  lanterns  or  tell  the  story  of  the 
moon -viewing  stand  and  the  golden  Jap- 
anese carp;  they  can  identify  some  of  the 
plant  material  even  to  the  Japanese  names 
of  some  such  as  “kaede”  for  maple  or 
“matsu”  for  pine.  Some  of  our  newest 
guides  are  charming  maidens  of  Japanese 
heritage  who  will  come  attired  in  their  col- 
orful kimonas  upon  request  and  add  color 
and  atmosphere  as  well  as  information  to 
the  tour. 

At  present,  a new  group  is  being  added 
to  the  guide  family.  Last  fall,  twenty-five 
high  school  girls  began  training  and  will 
continue  classes  next  spring  to  complete  the 
course  so  they  can  act  as  guides  for  young- 
er groups  such  as  Camp  Fire,  Blue  Birds, 
and  Girl  Scouts. 

The  guide  program  operates  on  a re- 
quest-appointment  basis.  Tours  are  set  up 
at  the  day  and  time  a group  requests  and  a 
guide  who  also  finds  that  day  and  time  con- 
venient is  assigned  by  the  chairman  to  ac- 
company them.  Some  guides  prefer  adult 
tours,  some  prefer  school  classes,  and  others 
enjoy  youth  groups.  Some  of  the  guides 
have  given  wheel-chair  tours,  have  taken 
handicapped,  blind,  and  children  from  spe- 


cial schools.  Preferences  are  considered 
when  a guide  is  asked  to  go. 

Guide  training  usually  consists  of  twelve 
hours  of  instruction  in  class  room  and  field 
activity  and  ornamental  plant  material, 
pond  life,  conservation,  and  ecology.  For 
Japanese  Garden  guides,  it  includes  study 
of  the  plant  material,  symbolism  and  arti- 
facts of  Japanese  Gardens,  as  well  as  the 
history  and  construction  of  the  garden  it- 
self. Both  groups  are  informed  about  the 
arboretum  in  general,  its  operation,  aims, 
and  policies. 

Usually  the  guides  have  fall  and  spring 
“round-up”  meetings  each  year  which  in- 
clude some  training  in  new  areas.  This  is  a 
time  too  when  the  guides  exchange  stories 
and  interesting  anecdotes.  One  guide  told 
a second  grade  class  that  she  was  going  to 
take  them  on  “the  native  walk.”  One  little 
boy  said,  waving  his  hand  wildly  for  atten- 
tion, “Oh,  I know  what  a native  is.  That’s  a 
black  man  with  a long  spear!”  The  guide 
made  haste  to  explain  of  course  that  these 
were  plants  and  why  they  were  referred  to 
as  “native.“ 

Guides  have  observed  that  children  ( and 
sometimes  adults  as  well)  call  all  cones— 
“pine  cones.”  The  three  large  conifers; 
namely,  Douglas  Fir  ( Pseudotsuga  Menzi- 
essii),  Western  Red  Cedar  ( Thuja  plicata), 
and  Western  Hemlock  ( Tsuga  lietero- 
phylla)  growing  side  by  side  across  from 
the  arboretum  offices  make  an  excellent 
place  to  show  the  difference  in  cones  and 
get  across  the  idea  that  only  pine  trees  pro- 
duce pine  cones!  After  all,  as  one  guide 
tells  the  children,  “Dogs  don’t  have  kittens!” 

Guides  attempt  to  instill  in  the  children 
the  need  for  conservation  and  a sense  of 
responsibility  for  keeping  our  arboretum 
and  other  public  lands  clean  and  usable. 
Japanese  Garden  guides  feel  that  the  Jap- 
anese Garden  is  an  especially  important 
cultural  asset  to  our  city.  One  citizen  who 
made  arrangements  for  her  young  group  to 
have  a tour  explained  that  her  group  was  a 
regular  mini-league  of  nations— it  was  com- 

(Continued  on  page  19) 


13 


Highway  Landscape  Developments 

B.  M.  Blanchabd* 


West  of  the  Cascades,  to  date,  we  have 
completed  48.11  miles  of  highway 
landscaping.  In  the  Seattle  area  we  have 
completed  18.60  miles  of  highway  land- 
scaping. Between  the  south  city  limits  and 
north  city  limits  of  the  City  of  Seattle,  on 
Interstate  5,  we  have  expended  nearly  two 
million  dollars  in  highway  landscaping 
funds.  This  includes  contracts  completed 
and  presently  in  force. 

The  types  of  plant  materials  which  we 
have  used  on  the  highways  in  Washington 
have  varied  considerably  when  we  look  at 
the  first  landscaping  projects  on  the  Se- 
attle Freeway  which  we  accomplished  in 
the  early  1960  s,  and  compare  that  to  some 
of  the  work  we  presently  have  under  con- 
tract in  the  south  end.  In  the  early  land- 
scaping projects  we  used  many  more  vari- 
eties of  plant  material  than  we  do  now  in 
relatively  the  same  amount  of  area.  This 
has  been  brought  about  by  a revision  to  our 
approach  to  highway  landscape  design. 
Originally  the  landscape  plans  prepared 
were  considered  for  the  softening  effect  and 
screening  of  the  properties  adjacent  to  the 
freeway  facility,  and  because  of  the  rela- 
tively static  nature  of  the  traffic  other  than 
freeway  traffic,  interest  was  developed  by 
varying  the  plant  material  varieties.  We 
have  since  changed  this  concept  to  that  of 
a simpler  arrangement  of  greater  masses  of 
a lesser  number  of  plant  materials  which 
will  complement  the  rate  of  travel  on  the 
mainline  as  well  as  provide  masses  of  trees, 
shrubs  and  ground  covers  which  are  in 
scale  with  the  facility  to  which  they  are 
adjacent. 

As  far  as  the  types  of  plant  materials 
which  we  have  utilized  on  our  freeway 
landscaping  projects,  English  Ivy  has  been 
one  of  our  most  widely  used  ground  cover 
plants.  South  of  the  central  business  dis- 


“Landscape  Engineer  for  Washington  State 
Highway  Department 


trict,  we  have  used  primarily  different  va- 
rities  of  Cotoneaster  for  ground  covers 
which  we  have  planted  six  feet  on  center, 
which  should  give  us  a relatively  complete 
evergreen  ground  cover  in  three  to  five 
years.  We  have  used  several  pines  but  due 
to  the  recent  concern  over  infestations  of 
European  pine  shoot  moth  we  have  cur- 
tailed, and  in  some  areas  stopped  using 
pines  of  any  type.  We  are  aware  of  the  fact 
that  the  infestation  of  the  European  pine 
shoot  moth  is  not  going  to  be  corrected  by 
our  elimination  of  the  use  of  pines.  But, 
due  to  the  fact  that  we,  the  Highway  De- 
partment, have  probably  more  neighbors 
than  any  single  land  owner  in  the  Seattle 
area,  it  is  important  that  we  eliminate  any 
possible  source  of  contamination  of  adja- 
cent pines  located  on  private  property.  The 
pines  which  we  presently  have  on  the  free- 
way are  being  sprayed  for  control  of  the 
moth.  Due  to  the  cost  of  this  spray  con- 
trol program  and  the  need  for  eliminating 
this  potential  contaminant  from  our  right 
of  way  we  have  elected  to  curtail  the  plant- 
ings of  pines.  The  dominant  evergreen 
tree  used  south  of  the  central  business  dis- 
trict on  the  Seattle  freeway  has  been  the 
Cedrus  Deodara.  To  the  north  we  have 
used  plantings  of  Douglas  fir  and  the  native 
hemlock,  all  these  being  beyond  the  North- 
gate  area. 

For  large  deciduous  trees  which  will  re- 
flect the  scale  of  the  freeway,  we  have  re- 
lied primarily  on  the  Platanus,  Zelkova , 
Acer  platanoides  and  A.  saccharum,  Quer- 
cus,  Liriodendron  tulipifera,  and  Liquidam- 
bar.  We  have  also  incorporated  in  our  de- 
sign many  intermediate  or  small  trees 
which  will  provide  accent  within  the  proj- 
ect. Examples  of  this  would  be  the  use  of 
Acer  circinatum,  Cornus  florida  and  C. 
Nuttallii,  Malus , and  Cercis  canadensis . 

Shrubs  which  we  have  used  on  the  free- 
way include  several  of  the  evergreen  vari- 
eties as  well  as  some  deciduous  types. 


14 


Pmnus  Laurocerasus  ‘Zabeliana  has  been 
used  extensively  as  an  intermediate  shrub 
for  planting  in  and  near  bed  areas  contain- 
ing the  large  trees.  Also  extensive  plant- 
ings of  the  Prunus  have  been  placed  in  the 
Pedestrian-Parks  which  are  for  use  by  city 
residents,  on  highway  right-of-way  outside 
the  protective  chain  link  fencing.  Other 
shrubs  used  on  the  freeway  landscapes 
have  been  hybrid  varieties  of  rhododen- 
drons, Cytisus  praecox,  Viburnum  tornen- 
tosum , and  some  limited  plantings  of  Aza- 
lea, Juniperus,  Erica,  Calluna,  Ceanothus, 
and  Arctostaphylos  Uva-ursi. 

Our  two  most  widely  used  vines  have 
been  Hedera  Helix  as  a ground  cover  and 
P arthenocissus  tricuspidata  as  a climbing 
vine  for  softening  the  tremendous  retaining 
walls  constructed  adjacent  to  the  freeway. 
Nearly  one-half  million  Hedera  Helix  plants 
were  planted  in  the  downtown  area  of  the 
Seattle  Freewav.  The  P arthenocissus  was 
planted  in  “ Planting  Pockets ” at  the  base  of 
the  retaining  walls  and  then  mechanically 
attached  to  the  wall  until  such  time  that 
the  plant  develops  enough  natural  attach- 
ment for  self  support.  The  reason  this 
mechanical  attachment  is  necessarv  is  that 
the  retaining  walls  are  so  near  the  traveled 
roadway  that  they  are  constantly  buffeted 
by  winds  created  by  the  movement  of  the 
vehicles  on  the  roadway. 

On  the  Seattle  freeway  we  have  planted 
approximately  15,000  trees,  600,000  Hedera 
Helix  plants,  33,000  hybrid  brooms  and 
over  2,000  rhododendrons. 

One  of  our  major  problems  has  been 
that  of  supply  of  plant  material  within  the 
prescribed  time  limits  of  the  project.  We 
have  extended  the  duration  of  projects  now 
for  a period  of  two  years  in  which  to  allow 
the  contractor  adequate  time  for  securing 
the  plant  material  and/or  growing  it  on 
to  the  size  specified  prior  to  placement  on 
the  project.  Because  of  the  fact  that  plant 
material  is  alive  we  have  had  several 
problems  when  “growing"  and/or  “horti- 
cultural practices”  were  not  such  that  the 
plant  attained  the  anticipated  and  specified 
size  when  time  came  for  placement  on  the 


project.  This  of  course  we  have  no  control 
over  and  must  deal  with  on  an  individual 
project  by  project  basis  in  allowing  addi- 
tional time  or  assessing  penalties  for  failure 
to  comply  with  the  provisions  of  the  con- 
tract. We  have  attempted  to  make  known 
to  the  nursery  industry  the  type  of  plant 
material  which  we  will  be  using  on  the 
highway  projects,  but  due  to  the  somewhat 
erratic  Federal  Aid  funding  of  highway 
beautification  projects  we  have  not  felt  that 
it  would  be  desirable  to  release  anticipated 
quantities  of  material  required.  Many 
nurserymen  would  grow,  on  speculation, 
material  which  they  anticipate  would  be 
used  on  freeway  projects,  but  due  to  the 
uncertainty  of  funding,  the  projects  could 
be  delayed  or  deleted  thereby  leaving  the 
nurserymen  with  tremendous  surpluses  of 
materials  not  normally  grown  for  the  gen- 
eral nurserv  market.  We  have  been  in 

j 

discussion  with  the  Washington  State  Nur- 
serymen’s Association  and  we  are  hoping 
to  resolve  some  of  the  problems  we  have 
encountered  on  the  supply  of  nursery 
grown  plant  material. 

A constant  problem  with  our  large  land- 
scape contracts  has  been  the  inexperienced 
labor  utilized  by  contractors  to  plant  the 
projects.  In  most  cases  the  contractors 
have  been  unable  to  attract  experienced 
plantsmen  to  accomplish  the  contract 
planting.  Under  such  conditions  the  in- 
spector is  often  required  to  supervise  the 
planting  of  nearly  every  shrub  which  in- 
creases the  administrative  cost  for  land- 
scape planting  contracts.  It  would  appear 
that  the  labor  market  in  the  Puget  Sound 
area,  and  the  lack  of  horticultural  instruc- 
tion has  contributed  to  and  compounded 
this  problem. 

Because  of  the  present  economic  situa- 
tion here  in  the  Puget  Sound  area,  few  are 
attracted  to  die  business  end  of  a shovel 
so  that  this  problem  will  no  doubt  be 
with  us  in  the  future. 

Along  with  the  problem  of  pine  shoot 
moth  we  have  lost  some  material  and  ex- 
perienced damage  on  other  material  from 
the  urban  air  pollution.  This  has  been 


15 


most  significant  in  the  downtown  area 
where  many  plants  are  sheltered  from  the 
driving  winter  rains  which  wash  down  the 
foliage  and  in  areas  where  air  drainage  is 
very  poor.  It  is  our  opinion  that  in  such 
areas  where  plant  material  is  needed  we 
should  attempt  to  rely  primarily  on  decid- 
uous plant  materials  which  will  not  ex- 
perience a build-up  of  pollutants  on  their 
leaves  year  after  year. 

The  problem  of  subsoil  as  a growing 
medium  has  been  encountered  on  every 
project  to  date.  Although  we  used  a top- 
soil backfill  we  primarily  “pocket  plant” 
our  trees,  shrubs,  and  ground  covers.  Be- 
cause of  the  nature  of  glacial  till  we  have 
found  it  necessary  to  provide  drains  or 
mounding  for  a large  percentage  of  the 
plants. 

A problem  recently  encountered  with 
which  vou  are  undoubtedly  familiar  is 
that  of  nomenclature.  We  have  used  as  a 
reference  Standardized  Plant  Names.  The 
nursery  industry  does  not  conform  to  this 
reference.  As  a result  on  a recent  project 
we  specified  Cotoneaster  glaucophylla  and 
the  contractor  supplied  or  is  intending  to 
supply  what  the  nursery  industry  grows 
as  Cotoneaster  glaucophylla,  which  is  actu- 
ally Cotoneaster  huxifolia  forma  vellaea 
Although  the  nursery  industry  is  obviously 
in  error,  the  problem  has  still  arisen  and 
in  the  future  it  is  likely  that  it  may  crop 
up  again.  We  would  certainly  welcome  an 
investigation  into  this  problem  to  see  if 
other  agencies  are  experiencing  a similar 
difficulty  and  whether  or  not  the  problem 
would  warrant  some  attention  by  a quali- 
fied person  or  group  who  would  develop  a 
reference  list  for  use  nationally  by  all 
federal  and  state  agencies.  The  nursery- 
men here  in  the  State  of  Washington  have 
acknowledged  that  this  problem  exists  and 
are  to  contact  the  American  Association  of 
Nurserymen  to  see  if  they  have  any  sug- 
gestions on  how  to  protect  against  recur- 
rence of  this  problem. 

The  maintenance  of  our  areas  which 
have  been  landscaped  have  been  of  real 
concern  to  all.  The  maintenance  budgets 


have  not,  in  the  past,  incorporated  ade- 
quate money  to  accomplish  the  necessary 
landscape  maintenance.  Our  maintenance 
people  have  now  begun  to  gear  up  and 
budget  for  this  new  responsibility.  It  is 
likely  that  considerable  time  will  be  re- 
quired to  adequately  train  personnel  who 
can  accomplish  this  landscape  maintenance 
work,  thereby  building  in  a period  of  lag 
before  all  landscape  maintenance  can  be 
brought  up  to  standards. 

All  of  our  highway  projects  including 
landscape  contracts  are  administered  by 
highway  engineers  and  technicians,  due  to 
an  established  policy  and  the  lack  of  land- 
scape personnel.  The  landscape  architects 
consult  with  and  advise  the  engineers  and 
technicians  on  landscape  projects  when- 
ever possible  but  we  still  have  experienced 
difficulty  because  of  the  change  in  per- 
sonnel and  the  lack  of  training  in  this  work. 
The  biggest  problem  encountered  has  been 
when  judgment  is  required  on  intent  of 
specifications  or  when  a variation  from  the 
specifications  is  necessary  due  to  variable 
conditions  such  as  soil  and  weather.  The 
engineers  are  excellent  in  making  decisions 
on  precise  measurements  or  materials  that 
can  be  analyzed  for  strength  and  weighed, 
but  plant  materials  do  not  always  fit  such 
precision  as  steel  beams  and  concrete  ag- 
gregate. Many  of  the  problems  experienced 
on  earlier  projects  have  been  reduced  with 
closer  liaison  and  training  sessions  with  the 
project  engineers  and  inspectors. 

Another  problem  which  we  have  encoun- 
tered is  that  of  attracting  several  bidders 
for  each  job.  In  the  past  we  have  never 
experienced  more  than  five  bidders  and 
usually  only  two  bidders  on  a project. 
Through  discussions  with  the  contractors 
and  other  allied  fields  it  has  been  deter- 
mined that  the  scope  and  dollar  value  of 
our  projects  is  generally  beyond  the  finan- 
cial and  physical  capabilities  of  the  major- 
ity of  landscape  contractors  in  the  Pacific 
Northwest.  In  an  effort  to  remedy  this 
problem  we  are  investigating  the  possibility 
of  cutting  down  the  size  of  the  projects  in 
order  to  attract  more  bidders. 


16 


Special  Spring  Plant  Sale 

at  Southcenter  7969 


Now  that  the  weather  is  giving  us  all  a break  and  you  can  see  those  bare  spots 
in  the  landscape,  1500  members  of  the  Arboretum  Foundation  Unit  Council  are 
thinking  about  YOU.  On  the  9th  of  May  from  5 to  9 P.M.  and  on  May  10th 
from  9 A.M.  to  5 P.M.  the  Unit  Council  is  having  a Special  Spring  Plant  Sale 
at  Southcenter,  to  assist  in  raising  funds  for  the  new  Floral  Hall  to  be  built  on 
the  University  of  Washington  Arboretum  grounds. 

AS  YOU  STROLL  THROUGH  YOUR  GARDEN 
TAKE  A NOTEBOOK  AND  START  YOUR  WANT  LIST. 


For  this  sale  no  plant  list  will  be  published  but  you  will  find  all  of 
the  usual  plants  plus  some  special  summer  bloomers  which  we  have 
not  been  able  to  offer  before.  New  departments  are  Fuchsias , Gera- 
niums and  Decorative  Planters.  . . . These  join  Trees  and  Shrubs , 
Rhododendrons  and  Azaleas,  Cyclamen  and  Iris,  Ferns , Groundcovers 
and  Rockery  plants , Perennials , Heathers , Herbs , Native  plants , Vines 
and  Houseplants.  . . . Landscape  Advisors  will  be  present  to  help 
you  with  their  expert  knowledge. 


The  Pre-Order  Department  is  a service  which  can  save  you  time  and  disappoint- 
ment! We  are  prepared  to  search  out  rarities  and  extra-choice  plants.  To  be 
sure  of  getting  the  plants  that  you  want,  mail  or  phone  your  order— by  SATUR- 
DAY, MAY  3rd,  with  your  NAME  and  PHONE  NUMBER  to  one  of  the  persons 
listed  below.  . . . Your  treasure  will  be  ready  to  be  picked  up  when  you  arrive 
at  the 

Special  Spring  Plant  Sale  at  Southcenter  1969 

Friday,.  May  9—5:00  to  9:00  P.M. —Sat.,  May  10—9:00  A.M.  to  5:00  P.M. 


- PRE-ORDER  CHAIRMEN  - 


MRS.  PHILIP  G.  JOHNSON 

2840  40th  Ave.  West 
Seattle,  Wa.  98199 
AT  3-1765 


MRS.  JOHN  ALLEN 

4044  94th  Ave.  S.E. 
Mercer  Island,  Wa.  98040 
AD  2-3768 


17 


The  Arboretum  Bulletin 

Vol.  XXXII,  No.  1 Seattle,  Wash.  Spring  1969 


ARBORETUM  FOUNDATION 
OFFICE  HOURS 

9 a.m.  to  4:30  p.m.,  Monday  through  Friday 
Phone  EAst  5-4510 

OFFICERS 

Robert  J.  Behnke,  President 
Mrs.  Conner  E.  Gray,  Vice-President 
Philip  G.  Johnson,  Vice-President 
John  A.  Putnam,  Vice-President 
Kenneth  Sorrells,  Vice-President 
Mrs.  Joseph  P.  Butler,  Secretary 
Joshua  Green,  III,  Treasurer 
Miss  Gene  Webb,  Executive  Secretary 

BULLETIN  EDITORIAL  BOARD 

Gordon  D.  Marckworth,  Editor 

Mrs.  Hugh  Baird 

Mrs.  Robert  Berry 

Mrs.  Joseph  P.  Butler 

Mrs.  Allen  B.  Engle 

Brian  O.  Mulligan 

John  A.  Putnam 

Kenneth  Sorrells 

R.  F.  Stettler 

Life  Member 

Mrs.  O.  B.  Thorgrimson 

SPECIAL  NOTICE 

To  keep  membership  in  the  Arboretum  Foundation 
in  good  standing,  dues  should  be  paid  during  the 
month  payable.  Active  memberships  more  than 
three  months  in  arrears  will  be  dropped  and 
The  Bulletin  will  be  discontinued. 

MEMBERSHIP  BLANK 


□ Life  $500.00 

□ Sponsor  $100.00  to  500.00 

□ Supporting  50.00 

□ Contributing  25.00 

□ Sustaining  10.00 

□ Annual  5.00 

□ Group  Affiliation 

Garden  Clubs,  etc 10.00 

or  more 


The  Arboretum  Foundation, 

University  of  Washington  Arboretum 
Seattle,  Washington 

I hereby  apply  for  membership  in  the  Arbore- 
tum Foundation  and  remittance  for  same  is  en- 
closed to  cover  dues  for  the  next  succeeding  12 
months. 


Name 


Address 


All  memberships  are  non-assessable. 


Cold  Weather 
in  the  Arboretum 

DECEMBER  1968  - JANUARY  1969 

During  Nov.  1968  there  was  only  one  night 
(Nov.  5)  when  the  minimum  temperature 
went  down  to  32 °F.,  although  it  was  33  °F. 
on  the  15th.  Maximum  temperatures  reached 
60  °F.  on  the  19th  and  20th,  and  except  for 
three  days  (15th,  16th,  30th)  did  not  drop 
below  47  °F. 

The  first  half  of  December  gradually  be- 
came colder,  with  a minimum  of  32  °F. 
on  the  5th,  11th  and  12th.  On  the  18th  we 
experienced  mixed  snow  and  rain,  with  a 
maximum  temperature  of  38 °F.  More  snow  fell 
December  21-22,  particularly  the  latter  day. 
On  December  27,  however,  the  wind  changed 
about  noon  from  S.W.  to  N.  The  temperature 
that  night  fell  abruptly  to  18  °F.  having  been 
24 °F.  during  the  afternoon. 

The  following  temperature  and  wind  fig- 
ures for  the  next  three  days  tell  their  own 
story: 


Date 

Max. 

Min. 

Wind  Dir. 

Speed 

Dec.  28 

21  °F. 

13°F. 

N.W.-N. 

8-14  knots 

Dec.  29 

1 8°F. 

10  °F. 

N.-N.E. 

8-1 1 knots 

Dec.  30 

23  °F. 

7°F. 

N.E. 

6-13  knots 

Snow 

fell  on 

both 

the  30th  and 

31st;  on 

the  morning  of  the  31st  it  amounted  to  nine 
inches  in  Seattle.  The  temperature  started 
rising  again  and  reached  39  °F.  that  day.  The 
minimum  of  7°F.  on  the  30th  was  the  lowest 
recorded  here  since  the  cold  weather  of  Janu- 
ary and  early  February,  1950. 

That  was  the  first  cold  period  of  the  winter. 
The  second  came  rather  more  than  two  weeks 
later,  although  there  was  snow  on  January 
6,  7,  11  and  12,  and  mixed  snow  and  rain 
from  the  13th  through  the  16th.  On  the  15th 
the  maximum  temperature  was  41  °F.;  it  did 
not  pass  40 °F.  again  until  January  31. 


January 

Max.  temp. 

Min.  temp. 

21 

33°F. 

25°F. 

22 

30°F. 

14°F. 

23 

30  °F. 

13°F. 

24 

30  °F. 

27°  F. 

25 

31  °F. 

24  °F. 

26 

28°F. 

26°  F. 

27 

24°F. 

1 6°  F. 

28 

24°F. 

16°F. 

29 

29°F. 

23°F. 

30 

36°F. 

27°F. 

We  thus  had  eight  consecutive  days  when 
the  maximum  temperature  was  below  32 °F., 
and  another  day  at  33  °F.  The  lowest  minima 
were  not  as  cold  as  December  28-30,  but  nev- 
ertheless a succession  of  low  temperatures  such 


18 


as  these,  together  with  the  drying  power  of 
cold  winds,  are  most  damaging  to  broad-leaved 
evergreen  plants.  The  fact  that  there  was  snow 
on  the  ground  for  a large  part  of  January 
helped  to  protect  smaller  plants,  although  it  is 
evident  that  many  of  these  had  suffered 
severely  at  the  end  of  December.  On  January 
28  the  snow  was  12-14  inches  deep,  dry  and 
powdery. 

Only  preliminary  examination  of  affected 
plants  has  been  made  up  to  the  end  of  Feb- 
ruary, but  amongst  those  most  obviously  and 
severely  damaged  are  the  Eucalyptus,  of  which 
only  three  or  four  out  of  fifteen  species  may 
retain  their  main  stems,  the  Ceanothus,  Cistus, 
Hebe  species,  large  leaved  types  of  rhododen- 
drons ( Grande  and  Falconeri  series),  some 
Arctostaphplos,  most  evergreen  Viburnum 
species,  Escallonia,  Azara,  several  Berberis, 
Drimys,  Pittosporum,  a number  of  evergreen 
azaleas,  rosemary,  while  three  Acacia  species 
against  the  south  walls  of  the  office  or  green- 
houses are  probably  dead.  We  hope  to  publish 
full  details  in  the  summer  issue  of  the  Bulletin. 
In  the  meantime  it  would  be  well  only  to 
prune  off  the  dead  branches  and  leave  such 
plants  undisturbed  in  the  hope  that  new 
growths  will  start  in  the  spring.  B.O.M. 

Botanical  Keys 

(Continued  from  page  11) 

by  Helen  M.  Gilkey  and  Patricia  L.  Pack- 
ard. Oregon  State  Univ.  Press,  Corvallis. 
1962. 

Fruit  Key  and  Twig  Key  to  Trees  and 
Shrubs.  Fruit  Key  to  Northeastern  Trees; 


Twig  Key  to  the  Deciduous  Woody  Plants 
of  Eastern  North  America,  by  William  M. 
Harlow.  Dover  Publications,  Inc.,  New 
York.  1959. 

North  American  Trees,  by  Richard  J. 
Preston,  Jr.  M.I.T.  Press,  Cambridge,  Mass. 
1966. 

Authoritative,  but  highly  technical,  keys 
to  the  vascular  plants  of  the  Pacific  North- 
west can  be  found  in: 

Vascular  Plants  of  the  Pacific  Northwest, 
by  C.  L.  Hitchcock,  A.  Cronquist,  M.  Own- 
bey,  and  J.  W.  Thompson.  Parts  I-V,  Uni- 
versity of  Washington  Press,  Seattle.  1955. 

The  Guide  Program 

(Continued  from  page  13) 

prised  of  children  from  many  different  cul- 
tures. She  was  hoping  to  give  the  group 
some  experience  representative  of  each  of 
these  cultures  and  she  chose  the  Japanese 
Garden  at  the  arboretum  as  representative 
of  the  Japanese  culture. 

There  is  no  charge  for  these  conducted 
tours;  the  guides  are  unpaid  volunteers  but 
they  will  tell  you  that  their  compensation 
comes  from  the  knowledge  they  have  ac- 
quired in  the  training  classes,  a sense  of 
satisfaction  in  a service  rendered,  and  just 
in  the  sheer  joy  of  seeing  our  wonderful 
arboretum  and  helping  others  to  see  and 
enjoy  it  too. 


D&*  i±  Ljoux  czAj-xbozzhitn,  Its. fit  aiius  (jy  ljoux  mfifioxt 


We  are  pleased  to  welcome  the  following 
new  members  (November  21,  1968  through 
March  1,  1969):  Sustaining— Mrs.  John  H. 
Butler,  John  Franco’s  Hidden  Harbor.  Annual— 
Mrs.  E.  T.  Arrieta,  Mrs.  Philip  Bacon,  Mrs. 
Roger  A.  Anderson,  Mrs.  Albert  C.  Bartlett, 
Mike  Bassett,  Mrs.  R.  C.  Bell,  Mrs.  Roy  L. 
Collins,  Mrs.  Richard  A.  Crooks,  Jr.,  Mrs.  H. 
E.  Dickerman,  Mrs.  Cyril  H.  Dye,  Mrs.  James 
Foster,  Mrs.  Judy  Goldfine,  Mrs.  Roland  D. 
Hayden,  Mrs.  John  D.  Heath,  Dan  N.  Hen- 
dricks, Jr.,  Mrs.  George  H.  Hood,  Mrs.  James 
L.  Jacobs,  Linley  J.  Janzen,  Mrs.  Karl  L. 
Krause,  Mrs.  W.  R.  Leighty,  Mrs.  Philip  B. 


Lundstrom,  Joseph  W.  Marshall,  Mrs.  Edwin 
J.  Merritt,  Dr.  John  B.  R.  Parker,  Mrs.  Lee  W. 
Pearl,  Mrs.  Albert  L.  Pederson,  Mrs.  LeRoy 
Peterson,  Mrs.  Lyle  Schager,  Mrs.  Marjorie  G. 
Schmidt,  Mrs.  Rex  R.  Smith,  Mrs.  M.  Gail 
Stewart,  Mrs.  Walter  Stoll,  Mrs.  Alex  Sumeri, 
Mrs.  David  L.  Turpin,  W.  P.  Van  Stockum, 
Mrs.  Dallas  H.  Zeiger. 

We  are  also  most  grateful  to  the  follow- 
ing members  who  have  increased  their  dues 
to:  Life— Mr.  & Mrs.  W.  Walter  Williams. 
Contributing— Mr.  & Mrs.  Glen  Hunt,  Mrs. 
Rex  Palmer,  Mrs.  Florence  L.  Putney.  Sus- 
taining— Mrs.  Gene  B.  Williams. 


19 


Some  of  Our  Favorites  it 

Won’t  You  Send  Us  Yours? 

Vacciuium  Ovatum 

To  choose  a favorite  plant  I looked  for 
one  to  enjoy  spring,  summer,  fall 
and  winter.  One  of  the  sterling  native 
plants  which  meets  all  these  qualifications 
is  Vaccinium  ovatum,  our  native  evergreen 
huckleberry. 

The  spring  season  offers  bright  coppery- 
bronze  new  shoots,  a foil  for  the  neighbor- 
ing rhododendrons,  salal,  and  Oregon 
grape.  In  late  spring  and  early  summer 
clusters  of  tiny  waxy  pale  pink  bells 
bunch  along  the  stems  and  near  the  ends 
of  branches,  making  it  easy  to  strip  the 
next  stage— those  sweet  tangv  black  berries. 
The  berries  swell  with  the  fall  rains  and 
are  best  in  late  September  and  October. 
However  our  friends  flock  to  our  SeaAcres 
home  on  Hood  Canal  from  August  through 
November  to  pick  the  delicious  fruit  for 
pies,  muffins,  jam  and  syrups.  We  have 
two  kinds  of  berries;  the  common  black 
one  which  Indians  called  “shot  ollalie”  or 
shot  berry;  the  other  bush  mingles  indis- 
criminately and  the  berry  tastes  the  same 
though  it  seems  to  ripen  slightly  later. 
It  is  a much  larger  blue  berry,  or  perhaps 
black  underneath  with  a whitish  blush 
covering  the  bloom  which  makes  them  ap- 
pear blue.  They  are  sometimes  called 
variety  saporosum  though  the  bushes  seem 
identical.  Through  the  dark  days  of  winter 
the  faithful  vaccinium  continues  to  give 
us  greenery  for  the  house  and  berries  for 
the  hungry  birds. 

Vaccinium  ovatum  grows  from  Santa 
Barbara  to  British  Columbia  and  varies 
from  two  to  three  feet  in  height  in  the 
sun  up  to  eight  to  ten  feet  in  the  shade. 
John  Grant  in  “Trees  and  Shrubs  for  Pa- 
ific  Northwest  Gardens”  carries  it  in  each 
of  his  “twelve  best”  lists  for  sun,  partial 
shade,  and  deep  shade,  and  also  in  his 


"twelve  best  all-round  list.  You  can  t do 
much  better  than  that! 

The  vaccinium  prefers  rocky,  gravelly 
soil  but  here  in  Seattle  it  thrives  just  as 
well  in  the  finest  humus.  It  never  gets 
watered  at  SeaAcres,  but  in  town  the  plants 
are  soaked  along  with  all  the  other  mois- 
ture-needing shrubs.  And  the  fat,  black 
shoe-button  berries  just  ooze  juice  when 
our  dog,  Andy,  and  I stroll  through  the 
garden  and  stop  to  sample  them.  The 
bushes  are  just  the  right  height  for  a little 
two  foot  dog  to  daintily  nip  off  the  berries. 

Archibald  Menzies,  on  Vancouver’s  ex- 
pedition that  lovely  spring  day  in  May 
1792,  rowed  and  explored  every  little  cove 
and  bay  along  Hood  Canal.  I love  to  pre- 
tend he  landed  by  our  tiny  stream  at  Sea- 
Acres for  water  and  there  discovered  and 
plucked  a few  sprigs  of  Vaccinium  ovatum 
for  his  plant  cases.  He  must  have  been 
impressed  with  his  find,  its  neat  habit  of 
growth,  the  dark  glossy  green  leathery 
ovate  pointed  leaves,  the  hairy  stems  and 
twiggy  branches,  and  the  dainty  pink  bells. 
His  journal  tells  of  his  pleasure  at  seeing 
it  for  the  first  time. 

The  evergreen  huckleberry  has  a good 
garden  constitution.  It  is  readilv  trans- 
planted  from  the  wild  if  you  force  yourself 
to  look  for  the  smallest  plants.  Leave  the 
large  ones.  They  take  years  to  recover 
from  transplanting  if  they  live  at  all.  We 
have  successfully  dug  many  small  plants 
six  inches  to  one  foot  tall,  and  they  are  all 
doing  well  scattered  among  the  deciduous 
azaleas  filling  that  void  in  winter. 

One  dav  nurserymen  will  carry  them 

j j j 

when  thev  become  harder  to  find  in  the 
wild  like  so  manv  others  of  our  choice 

j 

natives.  Thousands  of  pounds  are  slashed 
and  sent  east  each  year  for  florist’s  filler, 
and  collectors  and  bulldozers  cannot  con- 
tinue to  strip  the  countryside  indefinitely. 
They  are  one  of  our  best  indispensible 
native  plants. 

Spring,  summer,  fall,  winter,  Vaccinium 
ovatum  pleasures  me. 

Jeanne  Gardiner 


20 


BOOK  REVIEWS 


Wild  Flowers  of  North  Carolina  and  Surrounding 
Areas.  By  William  S.  Justice  and  C.  Ritchie  Bell; 
University  of  North  Carolina  Press,  $7.75 

Surgeon-photographer-field  botanist  Dr.  Justice 
and  professor  of  botany,  Dr.  Bell,  have  prepared  a 
delightful  small  book  with  a very  large  amount  of 
field  information.  It  has  beautiful  photographs,  in 
color,  of  400  flowering  plants  of  the  region,  a short 
but  adequate  glossary,  and  a business-like  format. 
For  those  who  require  more  technical  information, 
each  plant  is  keyed  by  number  to  the  appropriate- 
detailed  entry  in  the  Manual  of  the  Vascular  Flora 
of  the  Carolinas,  of  which  Dr.  Bell  is  a co-author. 

It  is  a great  pleasure  to  find  so  many  of  our  treas- 
ured northwest  ornamentals  are  native  to  a south- 
eastern state.  One  hopes  they,  as  well  as  the  many 
which  we  do  not  grow  here,  will  be  protected,  so 
that,  for  many  years  to  come,  they  may  be  enjoyed 
in  their  natural  habitat. 

M.W.B. 

Ornamental  Shrubs  For  Canada.  Lawrence  C.  Sherk 
and  Arthur  R.  Buckley.  Research  Branch  Can- 
ada Department  of  Agriculture,  Publication  1286, 
Ottawa,  Ontario,  1968.  187  pp.  Two  end  maps. 
Price  $3.00 

I have  always  been  a great  admirer  of  the 
various  publications  in  the  natural  sciences  put  out 
by  the  Canadian  Government.  My  own  library  in- 
cludes a fine  volume  on  mushrooms  and  another  on 
birds  of  western  Canada  that  have  no  counterparts 
in  the  United  States.  This  handbook  is  in  the 
tradition  of  its  excellent  predecessors  and  has  much 
to  recommend  it  to  U.S.  readers. 

The  format  is  very  similar  to  that  of  Dr.  Donald 
Wyman’s  Shrubs  and  Vines  for  American  Gardens. 
There  is  an  introductory  section  dealing  with  uses, 
buying,  culture  including  planting,  pruning  (which 
is  nicely  done),  diseases  and  insect  pests  and  their 
control.  I feel  that  in  this  latter  section  there  is  too 
much  emphasis  on  the  use  of  DDT  and  other  chlo- 
rinated hydrocarbons — chemicals  which  now  seem 
best  avoided  because  of  their  long-lasting  effect  on 
animal  life  beyond  the  insects  they  are  supposed  to 
kill.  There  are  a series  of  most  useful  lists  of 
shrubs  for  various  purposes;  as  colorful  fruits  and 
colored  foliage,  lists  of  plants  for  various  soils,  for 
planting  near  the  seashore  and  other  similar  compil- 
ations including  a comprehensive  series  on  shrubs 
of  various  heights. 

The  main  body  of  the  book  is  a listing  of  recom- 
mended plants  arranged  alphabetically  by  genus, 
starting  with  Abelia  and  ending  with  Zenobia. 
Most  genera  are  covered  in  a few  lines  with  some 
of  the  more  important  such  as  Rhododendron,  Rosa, 
or  Syringa.  given  more  complete  treatment.  Each 
species  has  its  height,  zone  (about  which  more 
below),  common  name  given  and  a line  briefly 
describing  it  and  often  with  a mention  of  some 
characteristic  such  as  unusual  color,  cultural  re- 
quirements, or  hardiness  note. 

A word  about  the  Plant  Hardiness  zones  men- 
tioned above.  The  two  end  maps  show  the  climatic 
zones  of  Canada,  dividing  them  in  nine  zones  from 
Zone  Oa,  the  tundra  of  the  far  north,  to  Zone  9a, 
the  mildest  parts  of  western  British  Columbia.  These 
maps  are  very  similar  to  the  plant  Hardiness  zone 
map  for  the  U.S.  published  by  the  U.S.  Dept,  of 
Agriculture,  but  are  more  accurately  detailed. 
For  instance,  in  the  U.S.  map,  the  Olympic  moun- 
tains are  indicated  as  Zone  7b  or  8b  when  they 
surely  can  be  no  more  than  Zone  2.  The  Canadian 
is,  I believe,  more  carefully  done. 


There  is  a photograph  on  nearly  every  other  page 
and  line  drawings  of  pruning  and  planting  tech- 
niques in  the  first  section.  Slightly  less  than  half  the 
photographs  are  in  color,  and  although  the  repro- 
duction of  these  is  not  first  class  it  is  good  to  see 
so  inexpensive  a book  with  this  much  color. 

Ornamental  Shrubs  for  Canada  is  a book  for  the 
average  home  owner  who  has  a vital  interest  in 
gardening,  and  is  not  designed  for  the  professional 
horticulturist  or  the  very  advanced  amateur.  I 
believe  that  it  will  be  very  well  received  in  Canada 
and  should  fine  an  equal  reception  among  gardeners 
south  of  the  border.  J.  A.  Witt 

Trees.  Andreas  Feininger;  the  Viking  Press  Inc., 
New  York,  (1968).  Price  $22.50 

In  the  words  of  the  author,  who  spent  nine  years 
on  this  project,  this  is  “a  tree-appreciation  book, — 
not  a textbook  or  manual, — nor  still  another  picture 
book”.  Yet  is  some  respects  it  has  very  definite 
features  of  both  textbook  and  picture  book;  there 
are  highly  informative  chapters  on  the  economic 
and  ecological  role  of  trees,  wood  and  wood  prod- 
ucts, the  structure  of  trees,  including  ‘‘How  a Tree 
Functions”,  on  leaves,  both  as  to  form  and  function, 
on  forests  in  North  America  and  other  pertinent 
subjects.  The  botanical  material  has  been  checked 
for  accuracy  by  Dr.  Howard  Irwin  of  the  New  York 
Botanic  Garden.  The  chapters  on  ecology  and  the 
forests  are  especially  penetrating  and  valuable  and 
deserve  thorough  reading  and  consideration. 

As  to  the  illustrations,  there  are  120  in  black-and- 
white,  40  in  color,  all  taken  by  the  author  and  of 
full  page  size  (12y2xl0  inches).  As  might  be  imag- 
ined, they  are  of  the  highest  quality,  since  they 
were  selected  from  5,000  of  both  types  and  the  black- 
and-white  finally  from  700  8x10  inch  prints.  For 
those  persons  interested,  details  of  the  camera 
used,  the  lens,  film  and  exposure  are  to  be  found 
on  pp.  111-112,  at  the  end  of  the  book.  The 
majority  was  taken  with  a Rolleiflex  and  an  80mm. 
lens. 

Generally  they  are  arranged  in  groups  following 
the  subject  to  which  they  refer,  either  four  in  color 
or  sixteen  in  black-and-white.  Short  descriptive 
notes  on  each  precede  them.  Bristlecone  pines  and 
redwoods  are  given  separate  chapters  under  the  re- 
spective headings  of  ‘‘The  Oldest  Living  Things” 
and  “The  Tallest  Living  Things.”  Both  are  illus- 
trated by  color  plates,  those  of  the  former  being 
particularly  notable  for  their  clarity  and  brilliance; 
one  is  effectively  used  on  the  dust  cover.  The 
author’s  vivid  account  of  his  trip  to  see  these  pines 
in  their  native  home  will  probably  discourage  some 
from  attempting  it  but  also  warn  others  how  to 
prepare  for  it. 

Not  all  the  pictures  were  taken  in  the  United 
States.  Plates  4 and  5 show  birches  and  beeches 
in  the  spring  in  Sweden  and  Denmark  respectively, 
while  a group  at  the  end  of  the  work  includes 
Platanus  trees  in  Paris  and  Geneva,  Lombardy 
poplars  in  France,  ancient  oaks  in  Denmark  and 
beeches  along  the  Baltic  coast  of  the  same  country. 
Deciduous  trees  are  definitely  preferred  over  ever- 
greens, no  doubt  chiefly  for  their  varied  branch 
patterns  in  winter. 

The  index  includes  references  in  parentheses  to 
picture  pages,  which  are  numbered  separately,  but 
always  under  English  names;  even  though  Latin 
names  may  be  mentioned  in  the  text  they  are  re- 
grettably omitted  in  the  index.  Oaks,  for  example, 
can  be  found  in  at  least  seven  different  places, 


21 


depending  upon  whether  you  seek  black,  California, 
live,  pin,  white  or  others,  but  never  under  Quercus! 
A separate  index  to  the  Latin  names  would  have 
been  an  asset. 

The  statement  on  p.  61  that  Pinus  strobus  is  the 
only  American  pine  with  needles  in  bundles  of  five 
should  have  been  caught  before  it  went  to  the 
printer.  Forestry  students  and  others  who  have 
some  knowledge  of  our  native  trees  will  know 
better,  but  it  may  deceive  some  less  well  informed. 

It  would  be  of  interest  to  learn  where  plate  1 
was  photographed  and  whether  it  represents  a pure 
stand  of  Douglas  fir;  the  caption  is  ambiguous, 
since  it  also  mentions  Sitka  spruce,  but  the  site 
would  seem  to  indicate  the  former. 

Apart  from  these  generally  minor  criticisms  this 
can  be  recommended  as  an  informative,  attractively 
arranged  and  presented  book,  printed  (in  West 
Germany)  on  a heavy  grade  of  paper  using  a large 
clear  type.  It  would  be  excellent  for  both  junior 
and  senior  htigh  school  libraries,  although  the  price 
is  regrettably  high  for  this  purpose,  and  indeed  for 
general  consumption.  Other  institutional  and  city 
libraries  should  certainly  take  note  of  the  work 
and  acquire  a copy  while  still  available. 

B.  O.  Mulligan 


Public  Gardens  and  Arboretums  of  the  United  States 
By  Martha  McMillan  Roberts 
Holt,  Rinehart  and  Winston — New  York 

The  University  of  Washington  Arboretum  is  one 
of  the  gardens  featured  in  this  handsomely  illus- 
trated book.  Also  included  are  the  Woodland  Park 
Rose  Garden  and  Ohme  Gardens  of  Wenatchee, 
Washington. 

There  are  seventy-one  gardens  in  all,  from  all 
parts  of  the  United  States.  Each  is  presented  on  a 
double  page  with  black  and  white  photographs  and 
a brief  resume'  of  it’s  history  and  it’s  founders. 
There  are  also  several  color  plates. 

In  addition  to  the  various  botannical  gardens  and 
arboretae,  almost  every  imaginable  kind  of  garden 
is  represented.  There  is  the  simple  Kitchen  Garden 
of  Mt.  Vernon,  the  sumptious  splendor  of  Long- 
wood  Gardens  in  Pennsylvania,  the  Fairchild  Trop- 
ical Garden  in  Florida,  the  archaiac  beauty  of  Colo- 
nial Williamsburg,  and  the  Japanese  symbolism  of 
the  Asticou  Garden  in  Maine. 

This  book  will  be  a valuable  guide  to  those  who 
like  to  ‘botanize’  when  they  travel.  Surely  every- 
one should,  for  this  is  a glorious  heritage  that  be- 
longs to  us  all.  There  is  an  index  by  states  for 
quick  reference. 

Esther  Berry 


A Guide  to  Late-Flowering 
Rhododendron  Species 

(Continued  from  page  7) 


ten  feet  or  more,  under  towering  firs  or 
hemlocks,  underplanted  with  lush  salal 
(Gaultheria  shallon),  with  the  sun’s  rays 
filtering  through  to  touch  the  papery 
leaves  and  crinkly-edged  flowers.  I felt 
somewhat  the  way  George  Forrest  must 
have  felt  when  he  beheld  his  first  grove  of 
R.  barbatum  in  the  heights  of  the  Himala- 
yas or  E.  H.  Wilson  when  he  came  upon 
R.  calophytum  in  northwest  Szechuan.  I 
trust  we  will  not  let  them  become  extinct 
from  too-greedy  ‘‘collecting.” 

Happy  “Rhododendron-walking!” 

Rhododendrons  mentioned  in  this  article  in 
their  Series: 


Anthopogon  Series 
trichostomum 
Auriculatum  Series : 

auriculatum 
Azalea  Series; 

Subseries  Luteum: 
alabamense 
arborescens 
bakeri 
occidental 
prunifolium 
serrulatum 
viscosum 

Subseries  Nipponi- 
cum: 

nipponicum 


diaprepes 
discolor 
hemsleyanum 
serotinum 
Irroratum  Series: 
Subseries  Parishii: 
Venator 

Micranthum  Series: 

micranthum 
Neriiflorum  Series 
Subseries  Sangui- 
neum : 

didymum 
sanguineoides 
Politician  Series: 
Subseries  Caucasi- 


Bunge  Lumber  8c  Hardware  Co. 

High  Grade  Peat  Moss  and 
All  Types  of  Fertilizer 

Including 

Acid  Fertilizer  for  Rhododendrons,  Azaleas,  Camellias,  etc. 

WEst  2-0022  9616  16th  Avenue  S.W.,  Seattle  6 


22 


Subseries  Schlip- 
penbachii: 
amagianum 
Carolinianum  Series: 
carolinian  um 
minus 

Cinnabarinum  Series: 

cinnabarinum 
Ferrugineum  Series 
hirsutum 
Fortunei  Series 
Subseries  Fortunei: 


cum: 

brachycarpum 

caucasicum 

smirnowii 

ungernii 

Subseries  Ponticum 
catawbiense 
macrophyllum 
maximum 
ponticum 
Saluenense  Series 
keleticum 


(I  am  extremely  grateful  to  Mr.  Van  Den- 
burgh  for  the  many  hours  he  spent  with  me, 
patiently  hunting  plants  which  I had  not  been 
able  to  find  alone.  My  sincere  thanks  to  Mr. 
Witt,  also,  for  advice  and  corrections.  Miss 
Webb,  too,  deserves  a bow!  She  has  been 
waiting  patiently  (?)  since  last  spring  for  this 
article!) 

Marjorie  Baird 


SAXE  FLORAL 

ALL  YOUR  GARDEN  NEEDS 
and 

CUT  FLOWERS 

Too 

LA.  3-4415  LA.  2-1951 


George  Schenk,  Design 
Don  Normark,  Photos 


THE  1500  PLANTS  IN  OUR  1969 
PRICE  LIST  (25c)  COMPRISE 
SPECIES  FOR  EVERY  LANDSCAPE 
USE,  FOR  ALL  N.A.  CLIMATES. 
BUSINESS  BY  MAIL  ORDER  ONLY. 

THE  WILD  GARDEN 

8243  N.E.  119th 
KIRKLAND,  WASH.  98033 


CHOICE  and  UNUSUAL 

Trees  — Shrubs  — Vines 
Garden  Accessories 

TROPICAL  INDOOR  PLANTS 

Largest  & Finest  Selection 
In  the  Entire  Northwest 

Cut  Flowers 
Potted  Plants  and  Gifts 

COMPLETE  FLORAL  SERVICE 


LAND  OF  FLOWERS 

9701  -15th  N.W.  — Phone  SU  2-2544 

Producers  of  Fine  Plants  Since  1888 


23 


ARBORETUM  WEATHER  RECORD -1968 


Month  Rain0  Temperature  SunshineT 


/ riches 

17 -year 
Average 

H ighest 

Lowest 

Hours 

% Possible 

January 

7.42 

(6.35) 

58  °F. 

22°F. 

34.8 

13 

February 

5.10 

(4.34) 

71°F. 

26°F. 

161.9 

54 

March 

5.33 

(3.42) 

70°F. 

31°F. 

153.6 

42 

April 

2.69 

(2.53) 

78°F. 

31°F. 

189.9 

46 

May 

2.38 

(1.89) 

81°F. 

39°F. 

262.0 

56 

June 

2.26 

(1.51) 

85°F. 

45°F. 

243.2 

51 

July 

1.01 

(0.73) 

95  °F. 

48°F. 

352.3 

73 

August 

4.89 

(1.30) 

91°F. 

49°F. 

218.3 

50 

September 

2.01 

(1.69) 

85°F. 

43°F. 

204.2 

54 

October 

4.08 

(3.70) 

71°F. 

37°F. 

149.3 

44 

November 

5.39 

(6.35) 

60°F. 

32°F. 

81.0 

29 

December 

9.04 

(6.02) 

52  °F. 

10  °F. 

49.1 

19 

Total 

51.60 

(40.17) 

2,099.6 

^Measured  at  station  west  of  greenhouse  in  Arboretum. 

+Recorded  at  U.  S.  Weather  Bureau  station,  Seattle-Tacoma  Airport. 


Lowest  recorded  temperature  for  the  year,  December  30,  07  °F. 
Highest  recorded  temperature  for  the  year,  July  2,  95  °F. 
Greatest  24  hour  rainfall,  December  3,  1.49  inches. 

Number  of  days  with  minimum  temperature  below  32 °F.,  42. 
Number  of  days  with  minimum  temperature  below  20 °F.,  3. 
Number  of  days  with  maximum  temperature  below  32 °F.,  4. 
Number  of  days  with  maximum  temperature  above  90°F.,  3. 
Last  recorded  frost  in  spring,  April  17,  31  °F. 

First  recorded  frost  in  fall,  Nov.  6,  32  °F. 


The  cold  period  of  December  27  to  31  was  very  similar  to  that  experienced  during 
December  15  to  18,  1964,  although  the  earlier  one  was  somewhat  less  protracted. 
Below  are  some  comparisons: 


1964 

1968 

Date 

High 

Low 

Date 

High 

Low 

12/15 

32  °F. 

11°F. 

12/27 

24°F. 

18°F. 

12/16 

16°F. 

13°F. 

12/28 

21°F. 

13°F. 

12/17 

25°F. 

17°F. 

12/29 

18°F. 

10°F. 

12/18 

36  °F. 

29°F. 

12/30 

23°F. 

07°F. 

12/31 

39°F. 

37°F. 

-J.  A.  Witt 


For  GIFTS  and  FLOWERS 

of  Unmistakable  Distinction 

1329  Fifth  Avenue 

/ F LOWE  R S • G 1 FTS  f 

MAin  2-1100 

24 


GREENUP  SPRAY  SERVICE 

Member  of 

WASHINGTON  ASSOCIATION  OF  GROUND  SPRAYERS 
ENTOMOLOGICAL  SOCIETY  OF  AMERICA 
NATIONAL  SHADE  TREE  CONFERENCE 
NORTHWEST  TURF  GRASS  ASSOCIATION 

• SPECIALISTS  in  INSECT  CONTROL 

• PLANT  DISEASE  CONTROLS 

• WEED  CONTROLS 

• FERTILIZING 

• STERILIZING 

• PRUNING 

CHerry  2-4720 

If  No  Answer 

Call  RO  2-2175 


From  Business  & Financial  News: 

“Now,  instead  of  selling  for  one  company  as  he  has 
over  the  past  15  years,  he  places  jobs  for  his  clients 
wherever  he  feels  they  will  be  best  served  in  each 
particular  instance.” 


LNEY  PRINTING  COMPANY 


LAWRENCE  V.  OLNEY 


THE  ARBORETUM  BULLETIN 

Published  by  the 
Arboretum  Foundation 
University  of  Washington  Arboretum 
Seattle,  Washington  98105 

RETURN  POSTAGE  GUARANTEED 


NON-PROFIT  ORG. 

U.  S.  POSTAGE  PAID 

SEATTLE,  WASHINGTON 
Permit  No.  126 


See?  Spring  did  come! 

There  were  some 
losses  but  not  in 
category 

W eedum  Arboretum 

Do  please  plan  to  bring  friends, 
tools  and  sunshine 

to 

WORK  & FUN  DAY 

at  the  Arboretum 

Wednesday,  April  23 

beginning  at  9:30  a.m.  and 
lasting  through  the 
day 

Prizes  at  Noon  in  the 
office  parking  lot