Mark Smyth is not the first visitor to North America who wants to see a

of plants and isn't quite sure how much he can fit in! There are some
states and provinces, especially in the West, that take as long to drive
end to end (on our good freeways) as it does to drive across most European
countries.

Mark, if you want to see alpine flora (and who doesn't?), you may find
yourself in Colorado, and there are two superlative public gardens there:
the Denver Botanic Garden and the Betty Ford Alpine Garden in Vail. Within
an hour's drive of either, you can hike at 11,000 feet and upward.

In the Pacific Northwest, there are many good places to see wild plants,
and some public gardens too. The Bellevue Botanic Garden in Seattle is
admired for its perennial plantings, and the nearby Rhododendron Species
Foundation for the obvious sort of thing. If you like trees, the Hoyt
Arboretum in Portland is world-famous, and there are also a staggering

garden and one of the best Japanese gardens outside Japan in the same

Many of the Northwest's nurseries, such as Siskiyou Rare Plant Nursery in
Medford and Northwest Garden Nursery in Eugene, also have remarkable
display gardens that are open pretty much continually during the growing
season. If you are going to Canada and find yourself in Vancouver, British
Columbia, visit the University of British Columbia Botanic Gardens, where
you can see a renowned Asian collection and a fine rock garden.

A section of the new book "Rock Garden Design and Construction" (Timber
Press and NARGS, 2003) describes many public gardens in the USA and

The focus is on rock gardens but most of those described are just small
sections of much more complex public botanic gardens.

Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon

_______________________________________________
pbs mailing list
pbs@lists.ibiblio.org
http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php