Dunn Gardens

www.dunngardens.org

In 1914, Arthur Dunn purchased 10 acres of undeveloped rural land in what is now the Broadview neighborhood of Seattle. The gently sloping property was extensively wooded, had ample open space for garden development, and commanded sweeping views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains to the west. In May 1915, Arthur Dunn approached the Olmsted Brothers, the renowned landscape design firm of Brookline, Massachusetts, to locate a cottage and prepare a landscape plan for what would become the Dunn family's summer "country place."

Hold on to your hats, this is going to be a long one. I wanted to go in April to see the woodland native flowers in all their splendor. And boy did they oblige. Please feel free to help with identification along the way . . .

Here is what I think was Trillium Kurabayashi. The number of these was unbelievable. And they combine well with the green Oxalis and Arum Italicum. A real standout!!



This message was edited Apr 7, 2008 4:57 PM

And another Trillium:

Are you posting more?? those trilliums are divine!

Arum Italicum and Black Mondo Grass . . .

Yup - I don't think we overlapped much, except maybe for photographing this. Spectacular!!

Crocus naturalized in the lawn.

Katye, did we decided this was Osmanthus?

Courtyard behind the house.

Can't you just see the faeries reading under these little lamps at night?


This message was edited Mar 3, 2009 10:32 PM

Beautiful!! I'll bet they keep that arum in check every day, though. It's just too pretty with that black mondo grass!

Those are erythroniums? They look like narcissus. Very pretty!

I guess they get their trillium from a grower in Oregon. I wanted to steal this . . .

Yes that is an Osmanthus (as a Tree!); still checking the plant list for others.

Dunno, pix. You know better than I. Are they narcissus and not erythroniums?

This message was edited Mar 3, 2009 10:33 PM

Epimediums . . .

Hmmmm, that was in the Moss garden. I will check further...

And more epimediums

Don't we all love a Hellebore?

This was used heavily, along with the oxalis, pulmonaria, and corydalis:

What's this? Anybody?

fiddlehead fern with bulbs growing through it?

That is one beautiful garden. Your heart aches with envy to own one just like it. Maybe in my next life I will know more.

It looks like a fern, but I haven;'t seen one with so many fiddleheads at once that looked so good!!

I'm with you, Patricia. When the gardens were created, they asked for lots of deciduous trees. Out here without the strain of cold weather, they get bigger than they do typically back there. And the trees are 75 years old. So they are absolutely enormous specimens. And there is hydrangea petifolia growing 50 feet up several of them. Can't imagine what that must look like in bloom. Hope I can make it out there again this summer to see.

Absolutely beautiful! I love the use of all those groundcovers. No weeds coming through those babies! And the hellebore is not like any I have seen before. I'll bet that fern is really something when the fiddleheads open up. Lots of tall , skinny fronds? I hope the original owners can somehow be present in their garden, knowing that it lives on and is being cared for.

Yes!! And the maturity of the yard is what we noticed. This is 100 years of love come to fruition. It's almost as though one will never live long enough to see the true potential in human form. So we must be able to look down. Absolutely must.

Edward Dunn was big into rhododendron hybridization. It's be nice to get a tour with a docent who could focus on that. But then, there's so much to see there. Every season will bring up something cool. There is a plant list for each of the gardens, so there's a rainy day project. :-)

OOH! Plant lists! So much research to do!

Thanks so much for the wonderful tour, Katie. I enjoyed it as though I were there. Well, not quite, because now I want to go there. Probably won't, though, so please remember us if you go again sometime. My very favorite is the pink flowering trillium. I have never seen such a gorgeous healthy fantastic trillium. And the arum and black mondo grass is wonderful, too. Who is that Oregon grower anyway? Maybe i could order that pink trillium.
Thanks again
Beebonnet

It's so funny - I remember that outtamygourd (Sheri) and I were taking totally different pictures. But we either took or posted so many of the same ones. We clearly "took away" the same experience.

Don't know again about the Oregon grower, but if I find out anything, I'll let you know.

I bought some Erythronium revolutum seed at Dunn gardens. Should I attempt to germinate it now or wait until next year?

Wow Kathy I just saw this one. How wonderful. What would you do with a Million dollars. Build a garden in Seattle. I must have been fun! Thanks for the pictures.

We had a good time - it's worth a day if you're out this way. And I can only imagine that each season brings its own excitement. It's not often that you get to see such mature trees . . .

Still thinking that I should spend the $25 on the trillium at Swansons. Somebody help me . . .

Maybe Heidi has one? I know she had a trillium, but not sure it was the Kurabashii (can't believe it's a native-so gorgeous!)

Oh, and I've been trying to germinate some Erythronium Oregonum seeds for a while, WS, but nothing so far. I've heard that they're not fast or easy. A book I've got pretty much says put them out and forget about them for the whole winter and check in spring. So maybe you could try a few just to see if you have any luck and save most of them?

Thats kinda what I did with some Delphiniun's I WS them last Oct. and I have babies, Found them Yesterday and a few others, just did the jug thing, I have tried to do them in pots and got nothing. LOL

I am going to sow in pots & let them do their thing. I will check my germination book for time. How rude - no info in book! but found this online:

Seed germination (needs dormancy breaking?) - Stored seed requires a period of cold stratification (Chittendon, 1956). Sow as early in spring as possible in a cold frame.

Seed life (can be stored, short shelf-life, long shelf-life) - Seeds are best sown as soon as they are ripe, in a shady position in a cold frame (Bird, 1990).

Propagation recommendations (plant seeds, vegetative parts, cuttings, etc.) – The plant flowers from March to June (Stewart 1994). By seed, allow the seeds to ripen and fall to the ground or sow them in containers (Botany.com). Erythronium species have unusual below-ground structures. They have a bulb with only one scale, and a segmented corm that is made of round annual segments (Polar and Mackinnon 1994). The plants can be divided when the leaves have died down (Botany.com). The bulbs should be planted about 7cm deep (Chittendon, 1956).

Soil or medium requirements (inoculum necessary?) –White fawn lily requires moist soil. Prefers slightly acid soil conditions but succeeds in chalky soils if they contain plenty of humus. Requires semi-shade, preferably provided by trees or shrubs, and a well-drained soil (Bird, 1990; Hendricks, 2001).

Recommended planting density - Sow the seed thinly so that it will not be necessary to thin them out for their first year of growth. (Bird, 1990). If you are planting bulbs, when the plants are dormant, pot the small bulbs by putting 2 - 3 bulbs in each pot. Grow them on in a shady position in the greenhouse for another 2-3 years and then plant them out into their permanent positions when they are dormant in late summer.

Care requirements after installed (water weekly, water once etc.) – Occasionally, give a liquid feed to the seedlings to make sure that they do not become nutrient deficient. Water lightly in summer, it should germinate in autumn or winter (Bird, 1990).

Yep - this is one for the long term.

We got enough seeds that I can definitely put out a few for Mother Nature. I'll put them beside some of those big rocks I have, which tend to keep the soil moist for awhile. Will have to map them to keep an eye out next year.

Sue, Kate, Mary - thanks for the info. Guess the ones I sow in pots will be a whole 'nother kind of experiment. LOL

I don't think you want to try the winter Sowing now. I would save the seeds and start them in the winter, so they have there cold period, or put them in the Frig, for 3 or 4 weeks. Just a thought ^_^

Yeah, but I'm thinking that they won't care about the summer - just wait for the winter. Like they do in nature. Maybe I'll do a little of both. My experiment is getting complicated. How do you do the smiley face again?

They are flowering now, right? So the seed will be cast in the near future. Pot up now, and if you're concerned, I believe 1-2 weeks chilling in the fridge would break dormancy.

Mine are flowering right now. They started about a week ago.