A Fern Fest Weekend up in the Seattle area

The Hardy Fern Foundation's Spring Fern Fest was held last Saturday at the Bellevue Botanical Garden, I drove up for the weekend. On my way I stopped at the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden (RSBG) in Federal Way, WA. I left my camera in the car so I'd wander and not feel the need to photo document. Ha! So these photos were all taken with my phone...

Whoever planted the Cardiocrinum giganteum (the lily) where it would bloom along with the new growth of the (NoID) Rhododendron (all downy white and facing up), well they are a genius.

Here's another Cardiocrinum giganteum in the bud stage.

Rhododendron 'Golfer' was also displaying its fuzzy white new growth. My (tiny) plant is doing the same thing at home, but it's hard to photograph.

Nice big fernage and a lush Rhododendron.

Photo from in the stumpery...

Magnolia sieboldii

This little fellow surprised me, maybe not as much as I did him. He didn't seem to care much, but did keep an eye on me.

This huge fern caught my eye, surely I've noticed it before? For some reason it seemed extra magnificent this visit. I searched around for a tag or some signage but found nothing. I thought it might be a Dryopteris wallichiana but that was (is) just a guess.

Later I came across this big guy, and it did have a label, Dryopteris wallichiana. I've seen a couple large specimens of this fern in other gardens, and knew it could start to form a sort of trunk, and grow quite large (the Great Plant Picks website says 3 - 4 feet in height). I have a small one but after seeing these I was lusting for one much larger.

Saturday morning started early at the Bellevue Botanical Garden (BBG) for Fern Fest and a chance to buy more ferns. Thank goodness the event was held in that building, because the weather was all over the place with a sunshine and downpours.

Here's my haul (I should say Part One of my haul, there will be a Part Two at the end of the post)

Parablechnum montanum (mountain kiokio), from the Hardy Fern Foundation (HFF). This is a new Blechnum/Parablechnum for me.

From the day before at the RSBG, Rhododendron nakaharai ‘Mariko’. I have a couple of these already, but was thrilled to nab another, I love those tiny furry leaves and the vibrant deep color of the blooms.

Anisocampium cuspidatum, from the HFF. I have a couple of this one too, but wanted to add another to the mix. I haven't seen it available anywhere but through the HFF.

And yes, as luck would have it I scored a good-sized Dryopteris wallichiana (you can better see it's height in the first haul photo, this angle was to show the base). This was a score from Sundquist Nursery, a guest vendor at Fern Fest.

Since there was a brief sun break when I finished shopping, I took a quick walk through the rock garden at the BBG. I love how happy the Asplenium trichomanes are here.

There was an exhibit in the garden called The Lost Bird Project. Honestly I wasn't sure if these twig and debris structures were part of that, or were just decorative insect hotels.

The black sculptures represent the lost birds (more info here).

This one looks like it would make a comfy perch.

After my Fern Fest visit wrapped up I was off to my friends Erin and Matt's place. It was so nice to pull up out front and see agaves! Or make that a blue sky and agaves (in containers there by the front porch). You know I'm a fern fan but I was overdo to see some spikes!

Sunday was the last day of the trip, and I met up with my friend Scott for a couple of garden visits and nursery stops. The first garden we toured belongs to Eric Shalit who lives in West Seattle. That's Eric on the left, below, and Scott on the right, they're admiring something in Eric's hellstrip planting. How wonderful is that bench? A nice neighborhood sit-spot.

I'll have a future post on Eric's garden (here he's posing by a beefy palm, with an unfortunate bit of sun glare ruining the shot)... 

The garden was magnificent! Today I'm just sharing a couple photos of a mystery fern in his garden, hoping maybe someone can ID it. In this photo it's just to the left of the Fatsia japonica (on the far right side of the photo).

Here's another shot.

And the same fern, in a different location. If you're suspecting maybe I came home with a piece of the fern and that's why I'm curious, well, you'd be correct. There will be more photos at the end of the post.

Our next stop was at Clinton Bamboo Nursery on 1st Ave South. Scott and I found out about this place when Eric posted about it in the PNW Plant Geeks group on Facebook. Both of us have driven by countless times (back in the day I worked less than 3 miles away) but didn't even know it was there.

I'll have a future post on this place too (more people need to know about it!), but wanted to share an image of these fabulous cement circles one of the owners made to keep their pots of bamboo upright on a windy day.

Then it was off to the final stop of the day, before I headed back to Portland. I met Bunny Falkenberg! If you're a member of the PNW Plant Geeks page mentioned above then you've no doubt ran across Bunny. I was thrilled to meet him in person and get a look at his in-process garden (lots of areas being reworked, yes there will be a future post). That's Bunny on the left and Scott on the right, they're old friends. Bunny is holding loquat seedlings Scott grew on from his trees.

This rockwork area was at the front of the property...

Nice color on this Mahonia fortunei... 

Okay, here's Part Two of the haul!

The mystery fern from Eric... look how ruffly the pinna (pinnae?) are...

And such thick stalks! Any one have a guess as to the ID?

I also picked up a Cyathea cooperi at West Seattle Nursery.

This cool funnel-like thing at Earthwise Salvage...

It was unmarked and I told my friend Erin something like I thought it should be priced at $5 but would probably be $20. It was only $5! Yay! It's going to become a planter of some sort.

I already have a few of this style of metal planter, but another for only $1.99 at a thrift shop seemed like a no brainer.

And yes... I came home with one of those cement pieces from Clinton Bamboo Nursery. I'm going to have fun figuring out exactly what to do with it...

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Seattle's Palm Guy, and the palms he left behind

I'm not a dedicated palm tree lover I do appreciate them. I remember hearing about a garden in Seattle built by a palm tree aficionado, but I never bothered to follow through on checking it out, that is until our trip up to Seattle in February, when I finally made it a point to drive by.

Here's a shot of the man behind the garden, Alain Lucier. 

That photo accompanied a story I found online from Erik Lacitis for the Seattle Times Pacific NW Magazine. Erik called Alain Lucier the Palm Tree Patron of Seattle: "in his double-lot property in Fremont [a Seattle neighborhood], on the 4200 block of Third Avenue Northwest, he had 60 palms growing that he carefully tended. Big, tall palms. Little ones at 1 foot, just getting started. Lucier told me his philosophy: "If you can't grow palms where you are, it's not fit for humans" Lacitis goes on to write that Alain Lucier died of a heart attack Dec. 2 at age 72. The story is from May 2024, so that means he passed away in 2023. His partner, Christopher Ray, is quoted as saying he's doing what he can to keep the garden in order. Reading that sentence my heart went out to Mr. Ray. Imagine losing your partner and then also having to step in and take care of their garden. We intensive gardeners aren't setting our partners up for happy times after we pass on before them.

In the extra-wide hellstrip palms (Trachycarpus sp.) are joined by various Yucca and Dasylirion wheeleri.

Looking up at the house and front gate entry.

Pulled back. BTW, I once had a serious love for lion statuary by front entries. I dreamed that someday I would have lions. Thankfully that love dwindled. They still make me happy though.

Did you notice this more exotic palm to the right of the entry? I don't know my palm varieties at all, but it's obvious this one has suffered in the hard winters of late. It's still alive though!

The right front garden, palms and yucca keeping good company.

And on the left side.

A pulled back view from in the hellstrip.

Dasylirion wheeleri.

A wide view of the hellstrip.

And another look at the plantings in the front garden to the right side of the entry.

Driving up the street it was obvious Alain Lucier's love of palm trees eventually expanded beyond just his own garden. From the Seattle Times story: "Not satisfied with growing palms on just his property, he reached out to neighbors on that block. Lucier asked about letting him plant palms on the sidewalk strips on both sides of the street. All they'd have to do is water them. A few said no. Most agreed. He planted 40 of them at his own cost." Many of them are still standing.

A testament to one man's love of gardening and, in this case, palm trees.

I counted 26 Trachycarpus sp. growing on the block, outside of Alain Lucier's garden.

Well done Mr. Lucier!

The Bit at the End

This may only be accessible if you have a Facebook profile, but here's another look at Mr. Lucier's garden... and with a nice blue-sky background. 

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All material © 2009-2026 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.