Rarities

Public gardens bring us the world in plant form. These gardens display a much wider array of plants than garden visitors could ever grow or would ever have seen. The resulting curiosity, awareness and amazement may be a garden’s most important effect on the world, spurring everything from conservation to better landscape design.

The enviable gardening climate of the coastal Northwest allows us to grow a bewilderingly huge range of plants. Good public gardens show off this bounty. While some visitors use the garden as just a place to get some exercise, bird-watch or chat with a friend, at least some of us are there for the plants.

For me, the rarities are always a focus. Some plants still exist only because they have been conserved in gardens. Other plants are only rare in horticulture or in planted landscapes, despite their beauty and suitability. As a long-time landscape architect and grower, I have tried to put uncommon plants in the spotlight and in the ground. Some rare plants have made into the mainstream, others remain scarce gems. Here are a few of each.