In 2015, Volunteer Park Trust received a grant from Seattle Garden Club to restore a major bed in Volunteer Park that had been long overgrown and neglected. Now we are proud to announce the completion of the Seattle Garden Club Garden!
The project location, southeast of the South Lily Pond, is a large landmarked planting with established spruce and cedar trees and native ground cover. Our goal for the grant funds was to reshape the beds to the original Olmsted plan and cultivate the open areas. We planted compact Forsythia, roses, Cotoneaster, Daphne, Hypericum and Potentilla, echoing the yellow palette called for by the 1910 Olmsted planting plan. To complete this major project, we had to:
- Create a formal, approved planting plan working in concert with Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks, Seattle Landmarks Board, and Seattle Parks & Recreation.
- Remove invasive plants and remove, prune, and reposition overgrown plants.
- Install the basic irrigation framework and make sure that irrigation heads cover specific plants.
- Prepare the planting soil, obtain and install new plants, and mulch the planted beds.
- Develop and implement a long-term maintenance plan for managing the bed into the future.
During the Volunteer Park Trust 2016 Spring Restoration Day, we removed major overgrown rhododendrons and did intensive pruning, weeding and soil preparation. At our 2016 Fall Restoration Day and at an additional work day with Microsoft volunteers, we completed the final weeding and edging, and planted over 100 new plants.
Now in springtime the Seattle Garden Club Garden will bloom into the blazing field of yellow that the Olmsted Brothers intended.