The Ornamental Border at Bradner Gardens Park: Meeting with Heidi Narte

Monday, August 19, 2013

Meeting with Heidi Narte

Dale Herter, Jordan Jackson & Joyce Moty met with Heidi Narte, Senior Gardener with the Seattle Department of Parks & Recreation, in the ornamental border, on the morning of 8-19-13. Ms. Narte reviewed & generally approved the improvement plans for the native & winter gardens. She approved the removal of the Prunus serrulata 'Mt Fuji' in the butterfly & hummingbird garden, because it was inappropriately sited. She was willing to consider the removal of the Cryptomeria japonica 'Elegans' in the winter garden & one of the Mahonia x media 'Arthur Menzies' in the native garden. She noted the the Acer campestre in the butterfly & hummingbird garden would eventually need to be removed, because the tree would grow large enough to interfere with the power lines above it.

The improvement plans for the the native & winter gardens had been unanimously approved at the Bradner leads meeting on 8-12-13.

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Ornamental Border History

Planting of the ornamental border began in 1998. Before the first planting, native soil was amended with Cedar Grove compost and Smith Dairy manure.

King County Master Gardeners designed 7 theme gardens. Each garden was scaled to fit into smaller urban residential yards & featured a selection of trees, shrubs & perennials to demonstrate the right plant for the right place, low maintenance & a variety of irrigation systems. The gardens provided living examples for Master Gardener lectures, demonstrations & workshops.

From north to south, then west, the 7 gardens are the Winter Garden, Sensory Garden, Native Garden, Dry Garden, Butterfly & Hummingbird Garden, Shade Garden & Fragrance Garden.

Over time, the irrigation system was converted entirely to drip because it worked the best on the sloping beds. It was decided to use no irrigation starting in 2012.

King County Master Gardeners left Bradner Gardens in 2008. Presentations & demonstration mostly ceased after that point. But in more recent years, the border had only been used for workshops on drip irrigation. Plant Amnesty conducted a pruning class in 2012, when several overgrown trees & shrubs were pruned. General maintenance was transferred to volunteers from the Bradner Gardens P-Patch.

Bradner Gardens has the first arboretum of small trees that fit along streets under utility lines & in smaller urban yards. The collection features both deciduous & evergreen trees. Many were anticipated to grow to a mature height of 20 to 30 feet.

Planted as part of the Seattle Millennium/Woods Legacy celebration in 2000, these trees are located throughout the park, including the ornamental border. Tree Stewards worked with Seattle City Light & the City Arborist to select more than 40 appropriate trees for display.

For the original installation, lists were submitted to King County Master Gardener clinics to get donations from gardeners. Plants were also donated by the Washington Park Arboretum Foundation from the Pat Calvert Nursery & from Seattle Parks and Recreation. Most of the trees were obtained through the Seattle Millennium Tree Project and Seattle City Light. Some plants were also purchased with grant money.