The Neukom Vivarium

As mentioned in Wednesday's blog post I spotted the Neukom Vivarium en route to my friend's shop, Junior's in downtown Seattle. I had no time to stop, plus I noted the closed sign on the front of the building. Later research told me the vivarium is part of the Olympic Sculpture Park, which I visited back in 2011 during the Seattle Fling.

The open hours I found online were listed as Saturday and Sunday only, maybe, "check to be sure volunteers are there to open the building." On a whim I drove by the next day, a Friday afternoon and as luck would have it the building was open! I even scored free (!) parking just a 5 minute walk away.

Here's the view that had me wanting to see more, leaves pressed up against the inside of the building, what crazy plant shenanigans were going on in there?

I'll admit when I walk by a house and see plants up against the windows, moisture accumulating all around, it makes me a little queasy. I want to open a window and get some ventilation in there.

For some reason I wasn't having that reaction here. 

I only wanted to get inside and see more.

Here's the info plaque out front. I'm assuming the three-year timespan was how long it took to start and finish the installation? That means it's all been sitting here, doing it's thing for around 19-20 years. 

So what exactly is the Neukom Vivarium? From Wikipedia... "The work features a 60-foot Western hemlock that fell outside of Seattle in 1996, acting as a nurse log within an 80-foot greenhouse. According to the Seattle Art Museum, which operates the park, the tree "inhabits an art system" consisting of bacteria, fungi, insects, lichen and plants...The installation was donated by Bill and Sally Neukom, American Express Company, Seattle Garden Club, Mark Torrance Foundation and Committee of 33, in honor of the Seattle Art Museum's 75th anniversary. It was Dion's first permanent public work of art in the United States. The architect for the structure was Owen Richards Architects."

The Wiki article also references magnifying glasses for visitors "wanting a closer inspection," I saw no such thing. "The greenhouse includes a cabinet designed by Dion that supplies magnifying glasses, allowing visitors to inspect the log for various life forms. Field guides are present in the form of blue and white tiles, depicting bacteria, fungi, insects, lichen and plants that may be found on the log."

The cabinet did have some interesting artifacts...

By now you've certainly noticed the green tint created by the green glass roof. I was shocked when I downloaded my photos and they were so green. I think in person my eyes just accounted for the odd coloration and it wasn't a big deal.

There wasn't any signage explaining the tanks, and I didn't ask the volunteers. I'm guessing it's water captured from the roof and used for irrigation?

There's the long Western hemlock log...

And some of the plant life that's grown up from it.

One of the articles I found online mentioned the plants between the log and the tile wall were brought in from the original site and planted with the log.

From another online source (click on the link for great photos): "ART21: It’s almost like seeing a tree hooked up to a life support system.

DION: As I said, this is not exactly a feel-good work of art. You should look at this and get the impression of someone in the hospital under an oxygen tent. There should be pangs of melancholy when you see this. Of course, it is in some ways a celebration, but at the same time, it’s full of mourning and melancholy. This tree is something fantastic that has been ripped out of its context. So, there is something monstrous and violent about the very nature of this work. Like, in a natural history museum, you find this feeling of awe toward the skill of the reproduction and, at the same time, a feeling of terror at the tragedy of people killing animals and reproducing them for an urban audience. That’s very much the kind of logic that I’m playing with here."

My eyes saw these leaves as brown, curled up, dead.

I wonder if the green tint wasn't as strong in person and is just a camera trick?

More process photos and a poem if you follow this link. 

The Neukom Vivarium's open 

   when it wants to be

when train traffic

   the slowest ever train traffic

when train traffic 

shuts down Broad at Alaskan

a volunteer docent may be winding their way there.

I'm glad I was able to see the exhibit. It's a little bit of odd Seattle right in the heart of it all.

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All material © 2009-2025 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

I spent the last few days of summer in Seattle

When I made plans to drive up to Seattle for last week's Hardy Fern Foundation "Ferns of Miller Garden" class I didn't realize it meant I'd be spending the last few days of summer up in the Puget Sound area. It does seem fitting though, I kicked off spring by visiting gardens in the Bay Area, and I wrapped up the 2025 growing season visiting gardens in Seattle...

I left home bright and early on Thursday, September 18th arriving at the Miller Garden for the 10am tour...

This was only the third time I'd visited the Miller Garden, or more properly the Elisabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden. Since the garden is located in a gated community—and visitation is limited to just 500 people annually—all visits to the Miller Garden are by (highly sought after) reservation with a staff member as a guide. This class was a tour through the garden's fern collection led by Del Brummet, Head Gardener at the garden, and my friend Emily Joseph, Nursery and Sales Manager for the Hardy Fern Foundation (as well as as well as Retail Sales Manager and Assistant Nursery Manager for the RSBG). 

Of course there will be a future post all about the ferns I saw, but here's a favorite; Parablechnum novae-zelandiae (synonym Blechnum novae-zelandiae).

After the tour wrapped up I visited my friend Michelle's garden nearby, a highlight was seeing the pair of large tree ferns (Dicksonia antarctica) she's planted.

Of course there were also agaves! (and there will be a future blog post)

This was an unexpected find, the Neukom Vivarium...

Headed to my friend Steve's shop Junior's I passed the building and noted the foliage pressed up against the windows. I'd never heard of it, but of course I had to check it out (yes, another future blog post).

If you follow kiiinnndddaaa/Paul on Instagram then you probably have an idea how amazing his garden is. I got to visit on Friday afternoon and I took a lot of photos, which I will be sharing. 

Thanks to Paul I tasted Holboellia coriacea (sausage vine) fruit for the first time. You don't eat the seeds but rather the gel-like substance around them. It was good!

My final stop, on the trip back to Portland, was at the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden. 

I didn't plan to take photos, but of course I did.

I also bought plants, which I suppose was inevitable...

Rhododendron yuanbaoshanense, a newly named species with large round and very thick leaves.

Rhododendron pseudochrysanthum, I'm hoping the second time around for this compact plant goes better than the first (dead, fairly quickly). Gosh this is a horrible photo, it's really a gorgeous plant.

And a very random purchase for me, but I loved those long trailing stems, Aeschynanthus sp. "pendulous evergreen perennial related to African violets"... is it hardy? Dunno... doubt it.

I didn't plan to do a haul post, but since I've not been very good at updating my plant list I find myself referring to these posts when hunting for a plant purchase or name, so here we are. This little cutie (another bad photo) is Ilex crenata 'Dwarf Pagoda' from the Pat Calvert Greenhouse. It's just a tiny thing now, but hopefully it will grow up to look like this or this.

Friends have told me stories about the bargains they find on the "get it before we toss it in the dumpster" rack at this big box store, so I since I was driving by I stopped to take a look. Nothing on the sale rack was interesting, but there were two Athyrium niponicum 'Regal Red' in the pile by the dumpster in the parking lot. How could I just leave them to the trash?

It's surprising how good they look once I cut away all the dead stuff.

I'd never heard of this agave until two weeks ago when someone was telling me about it. Agave parryi ssp. truncata 'Bed of Nails' from Windcliff Plants via Ravenna Gardens.

Paul kindly dug up a couple of Agave lophantha pups for me—love those red teeth—from a plant in his garden that came from Bryon Jones of the Pt Defiance Zoo. I've potted them up and will plant them out in the spring.

Last, but certainly not least, another big box of tillandsia from my friend Matt. He doesn't have the space to overwinter these beauties so I said I'd give it a shot. Granted I haven't started the Great Migration yet this year so I'm still feeling optimistic. Had he hit me up a month from now who knows?

Besides some big (not blurry in real life) tillandsia he also parted with these handsome Hohenbergia...

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All material © 2009-2025 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

We're all getting older...

Out on a walk I found myself in front of a garden I used to visit rather frequently (2009, 2010, 2019 and many more), but it's been a while. What caught my eye (from the street) was the blue foliage of the Arctostaphylos and the fact plants in the hellstrip were pruned around the meter box.

Yucca leaves are cut back, the Arctostaphylos has been trained along the side (it even has a "pillow log" at one end).

It surely is a handsome plant, I wish I knew which one it is.

Okay, the temptation was too much, I had to walk around to the sidewalk and take a look at the garden.

It's been sixteen years that I've been putting eyes on this landscape. I've watched these plants grow up. That tall Yucca rostrata was chest high when I first saw it.

The home has had 3 or 4 owners that I know of, how wonderful that they've all let this plant (another Arctostaphylos I believe) continue to grow out over the driveway at this somewhat precarious angle.

It's a looker, that's for sure.

Turning back to the corner of the front garden I noticed (for what felt like the first time) how closely the Genista aetnensis (small tree to the right of the yucca trunk) was planted to the Yucca rostrata. I doubt it really seemed like an issue when they were smaller. I'm sorry I missed the Genista in bloom, it must have been dramatic (see others here).

Turning back to the hellstrip, there's another Arctostaphylos, with a skirt of opuntia.

Two more photos, both of a section of the front garden to the west of the home's front door sidewalk, another tall Yucca rostrata (actually a pair), a towering eucalyptus, agaves, and more...

It's really is crazy to be in one place long enough to watch a garden and plants (and not just your own) grow up and reach middle age. We're all getting older, everyday...

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All material © 2009-2025 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.