Seattle Gardens to Visit in the Winter and Year Round

Visiting a garden during the winter may seem like an unusual activity. After all, gardens in the winter don’t usually have many flowers to look at and enjoy. However, gardens are more than just flowers. A winter visit to a garden can reveal aspects of a garden that colorful flowers might distract from. Furthermore, a winter visit will likely mean less people, helpful during our pandemic year.

The Seattle Chinese Garden, which is on the northern edge of South Seattle Community College, is a great place to start. It turns out that right next to the Chinese Garden is the Arboretum of the community college so it’s an easy place to spend a few hours wandering around these gardens.

I had wanted to check out the Chinese Garden when I heard about it a few months ago and thought it sounded interesting. Of course I have visited the Japanese style gardens in Seattle including the Seattle Japanese Garden and Kubota Garden. I had not realized there was a Chinese style garden in Seattle until I read about it.

In truth the Chinese Garden is a fairly new addition to the community. It is being built in conjunction with Seattle’s Chinese sister city, Chongqing. That fact in itself intrigued me as in my 7th grade English classes, we had read the book Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze. The story takes place in Chungking which is now Chongqing. That connection piqued my interest further. I wanted to learn more about this unique garden here in Seattle.

As one approaches the garden, a large court area built in a typical Chinese style of architecture dominates the scene. Its official name is Knowing the Spring Courtyard. Workers and designers from both China and the US built the courtyard. It officially opened in February 2011.

Inside the courtyard there are some specific areas. One corner has rocks with plants while the opposite corner has a reflecting pond. There are some bonsai plants as well as bamboo plants. It’s actually fairly sparse in terms of interest inside. However, I found the bare branches of the trees outside the courtyard made interesting patterns against the white walls.

Leaving the courtyard by the east exit leads to the garden of tree peonies. These are one of the important elements of the garden, but of course this is winter. In the garden area is an interesting metal sculpture of a carp known as the Dragon Seeker. Apparently if a carp is able to leap over a specific waterfall in China, if becomes a dragon. The sculpture is actually from Thailand, but its meaning comes from the Chinese legend.

A little further away is a Pavilion next to a water feature. Water features are important in Chinese gardens. This one is a small pond that has some small gold colored fish in it. Around the pond are various plantings including bamboo which is prevalent in the garden. There are also some other sculptural items around.

One of the great things to see in a winter garden, particularly in February, is the signs of life as the plants begin their new cycle of growth. Many years ago a rhododendron bush in front of our church had been pruned quite severely. In the spring it was not looking good. A friend wanted to remove it, but I wouldn’t let him. Jokingly I told him that as a pastor it was my job to see new life, and I could see new life in this plant. It did survive, and I still remember my own words of wisdom from time to time pertaining to more than plants. Winter can be a good time to see signs of new life.

There is a large area of grass on the north side which has yet to be developed. However, at the top of the hill a group of rocks is laid out in a circle. I’m not sure if there is any significance to this other than rocks are considered essential for a Chinese garden. The other three essentials are water, plants, and architecture.

There’s a path that goes around the bottom of the hill, but there’s not really anything to see there. Back at the entrance area there is a small display of two terracotta warrior replicas and a wall of those who have helped to finance the garden.

While visiting the Chinese Garden in winter lets one see the basics of the garden, I’m sure a visit with the peonies in bloom would be a wonderful sight. The future may also hold new delights as the original master plan has elements that have not yet been constructed.

As I mentioned earlier, next to the Chinese Garden is the Arboretum of the South Seattle Community College. This area is more fully developed, and I enjoyed wandering through it more than the Chinese Garden.

There are various gardens in the Arboretum, some apparently named for benefactors of these gardens. However, one element definitely stands out throughout the Arboretum, and that is the evergreens or conifer trees. There are not a lot of bare branches here. The trees are full of life and offer amazing diversity.

Evergreens imply that all of them are green, but that’s not true. If you think of green and its color range from blue in one direction to yellow in the other, that will give you a sense of the color diversity. A bright golden lodgepole pine was surprising and really stood out to me.

Some of the arboretum’s prized possessions are its sequoia trees. These stand tall and mighty in the northwest section of the garden.

Not only is there a variety of color, but also of cones or seeds. A few of these also surprised me.

The gardens are laid out with winding paths so its a great place to just wander and see what’s around the corner. There are a many benches and places to sit and just relax including a pavilion with views looking towards Seattle.

While the rose garden had just one faded rose that I saw, there was definitely new growth coming along. However, even in the winter there are flowers here. There were hellebores along with blooming heather. Surprisingly there was even a rhododendron in bloom. I had not expected that. It was fun to find the hints of color hiding among the green as well as the signs of new life throughout the garden.

The biggest challenge in visiting these two gardens right now is getting there. With the closure of the West Seattle bridge, travel to West Seattle has become more challenging, but the website does offer good directions there whether coming from the north or the south.

These two gardens offer beautiful and relaxing places to visit outside of the better known gardens in Seattle. Whether this winter or at a later date I hope you will find time to explore these unique gardens in Seattle.

Do you have a favorite winter place to visit? I’d love to hear about it in the comment section below. Also, if you haven’t already, be sure to sign up to receive my weekly post via email. You don’t want to miss one.