While in Anchorage for the Alaska Invasive Species Workshop, I had the chance to visit the Alaska Botanical Garden. As you might expect, the end of October is not the ideal time to be visiting an Alaskan garden, but it was still fun to walk around and imagine what things might look like in their prime while appreciating the year-round beauty that many plants offer.
I arrived on a Saturday morning. The garden was open, but no one else appeared to be around. I walked along the pathways that brought me to all the different cultivated spaces, which cover only a fraction of the 110 acre property. Nervous about bears (signs throughout the garden kept reminding me to be “bear aware”) and wanting to get out of the cold, I skipped the 1.1 mile nature trail that would have taken me around the perimeter of the garden.
While my visit was brief and most of the plants had already gone dormant, I still enjoyed the garden and will make it a point to return if I ever find myself in the area again. In the meantime, here are a few photos I took on that chilly October morning. Apologies in advance as all photos were taken using my cell phone, which is not ideal.
Fruits of highbush cranberry, also known as mooseberry or squashberry (Viburnum edule)
bog rosemary (Andromeda polifolia)
Entrance to the Junior Master Gardener Plot (a.k.a. Children’s Garden)
Ursus botanicus
Astilbe x arendsii ‘Bridal Veil’
alpine cinquefoil (Potentilla villosa)
Entrance to the Herb Garden
Rock Garden maintained by Alaska Rock Garden Society
One of several tufa troughs planted with alpine plants in the Rock Garden
Another tufa trough in the Rock Garden
snowbells (Soldanella sp.)
Saxifraga paniculata var. minutifolia ‘Red-backed Spider’
Holzhaufen or Holz Hausen (a.k.a. German woodpile). Check out this YouTube video to learn how to build your own round woodpile.
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awkward botany 