Looking for a sweet and intimate botanical garden while in the Seattle area? Look no further that the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden. This garden is the former residence of Pendleton and Elisabeth Carey Miller. They purchased five acres of land in 1948 with beautiful views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Peninsula.
They extensively traveled to Japan and China and their exposure to these two cultures, as well as their appreciation of western North American natural beauty, influenced the plant material they chose and the garden they ultimately created. You can see their appreciation of these different regions in the trees they selected (Japanese maples, Magnolias, Douglas firs, Western hemlock and Western red cedars) and the way they pruned them.
Over Mrs. Miller’s lifetime, she amassed a significant collection of rare and usual plants in her relatively modest sized garden, rivaling much larger botanical gardens. She was the first in the United States to cultivate one of my favorite plants, Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ (or Japanese forest grass)!
Mrs. Miller passed away in 1994 and bequeathed her garden to the community so it could serve as a horticultural resource for years to come. Today, the garden is lovingly managed by Holly Zipp, Head Gardener, and Richie Steffen, Curator. It’s quite possible that Holly and Richie have the best jobs on the planet :).
Make a reservation to see this special sanctuary. Only 500 visitors each year are lucky enough to visit this garden. I highly recommend that you put this garden on your garden bucket list.
