Northwest Network

The Garden Conservancy Northwest Network (GCNN) is a member-supported association of gardens, parks, and horticultural organizations. It is dedicated to connecting people and gardens, creating engaging educational programming, fostering an appreciation of plants, and preserving gardens as vital cultural resources.

Through this website, you will discover some of the Pacific Northwest’s most beautiful and unique gardens and regional horticultural organizations. Click on the links below to learn more and to connect to each garden's website. Use the "Map" feature in the right sidebar for directions to the garden you would like to visit or to determine the best travel route between gardens. 

Listed below are the GCNN member gardens and horticultural organizations.

Western Washington

Albers Vista Gardens, Bremerton, WA  Albers Vista Gardens, an oasis comprised of over a thousand different botanical delights, aesthetically arranged on 4.2 acres of a southwest facing hillside overlooking the Port Washington Narrows and the Olympic Mountains. It serves as a horticulture learning center for educating the public on the creation and maintaining sustainable landscapes.

Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy, Port Townsend, WA  The mission of the Conservancy is to facilitate the acquisition and introduction to North America of threatened and vulnerable ornamental plants of known wild provenance as well as from cultivated sources. These plants will be maintained as a living reference collection for public educational and scientific purposes with the goal of conservation through cultivation via distribution to botanic and public gardens, botanists and researchers plus professional and amateur gardeners and horticulturists.

Meerkerk Gardens, Greenbank, WA  Meerkerk Rhododendron Gardens, a nonprofit garden open to the public, encompasses twelve acres of display and educational gardens enveloped by 43 acres of woodland preserve with over four miles of nature trails.The cultivated areas contain a renowned collection of hybrid and species rhododendrons in a woodland garden setting. 

Metro Seattle

Bellevue Botanical Garden, Bellevue, WA  Bellevue Botanical Garden displays the best plants and gardening practices for beautiful, healthy Northwest Gardens. The garden is free and open year-round, daily from dawn to dusk. Discover the joys of Northwest gardening as you stroll 53-acres of display gardens and native woodlands. Please call 425-452-2750 for more information.

Bloedel Reserve, Bainbridge Island, WA  Bloedel Reserve is an internationally renowned public garden and forest preserve. The reserve's 150 acres are a unique blend of natural woodlands and beautifully landscaped gardens, including a Japanese Garden, a Moss Garden, a Reflection Pool, and the founders' former estate home.

Dunn Gardens, Seattle, WA  Dunn Gardens is a historic site designed by the Olmsted Brothers and developed between 1915 and 1920. Plants range from diminutive trilliums to Douglas firs towering more than 150 feet. A Great Lawn, sweeping vistas, ponds, and woodland walks all respecting the genius of the place make the Dunn a peaceful garden to visit in any season.

Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden, Seattle, WA  The mission of the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden is to acquire, steward, and disseminate new and unusual plants; to exhibit plants in sensitively arranged plantings, artfully displayed, and to have the entire property reflect high standards of design and maintenance; to demonstrate, by example, environmentally responsible horticulture.

Highline SeaTac Botanical Garden, SeaTac, WA  The Highline Botanical Garden Foundation was incorporated in 1999 to preserve a 40+ year old private English cottage garden located in the shadow of SeaTac International Airport's third runway. Since then, the Elda Behm Paradise Garden has been enhanced with four species gardens of iris, fuchsias, roses and daylilies and another heritage garden rescued from the third runway – a miniature mountain and pond Japanese Garden. To date, five of the eleven acres have been developed.

Kruckeberg Botanic Garden, Shoreline, WA  The Kruckeberg Botanic Garden displays a unique blend of Pacific Northwest native plants and unusual exotics in a naturalistic, wooded setting. The garden was founded by Dr. Arthur Kruckeberg and his wife Mareen, who built the collection over 50 years in the 4-acre property surrounding their home. The garden and onsite MsK Rare and Native Plant Nursery are open Friday-Sunday, year-round.

Mukai Farm & Garden, Vashon, WA  Founded by Issei pioneer B.D. Mukai in 1926 as a strawberry farm, Mukai Farm & Garden today is on the National Register of Historic places with its rare heritage home, Japanese Garden, and Barreling Plant. In 2020, the Friends of Mukai largely completed restoration of the house and garden.

Plant Amnesty, Seattle, WA Plant Amnesty, established in 1987, is a 1000-member nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide education, resources, and advocacy to prevent malpruning and preserve urban greenspaces.

Streissguth Gardens, Seattle, WA  Nestled on a hillside in the center of a major city, with a stunning view of Lake Union, this garden is a moment of green and natural calm in an otherwise hectic urban environment. Accessed via the bordering pedestrian staircase, this woodland gem is laced with meandering paths and year-round flowers.

South Sound

Lakewold Gardens, Lakewood, WA  Lakewold Gardens offers landscape architecture by Thomas Church surrounded by rare and native plants, State Champion trees, and stunning statuary. A Washington State and National Historic Landmark, Lakewold's Georgian-style mansion and historic architecture complete the 10 acres where visitors can step back in time to an elegant past or enjoy a relaxing moment to contemplate the future.

Lake Wilderness Arboretum, Maple Valley, WA, is a 42-acres oasis of native forest, cultivated gardens and botanical collections situated in the heart of the bustling city of Maple Valley, Washington. The arborteum includes five display gardens, which boast collections of plants and flowers that have been nurtured and maintained by dedicated volunteers for 50 years. From the Smith-Mossman Western Azalea Garden to the Legacy Garden to the Woodland Garden, visitors are welcome to meander appreciatively through beautiful examples of thriving northwest landscapes and visit the Arboretum’s Little Free Library.

PowellsWood Garden, Federal Way, WA  Through careful attention to the soil conditions and water movement, PowellsWood, located above Redondo Beach, provides the visitor with a beautiful pleasure garden grounded in an ethic of stewardship of the land. The results of these efforts are seven lush garden rooms rich with color and texture.

Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden, Federal Way, WA  Considered the largest public species rhododendron collection in the world, the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden inspires and educates visitors about the amazing botanical world. Enjoy 22 acres of woodland gardens including the Alpine, Pond, Victorian Fern Stumpery, and Blue Poppy Meadow Gardens, plus the Rutherford Conservatory, Garden Gift Shop, and Nursery.

Soos Creek Botanical Garden & Heritage Center, Auburn, WA  Soos Creek Botanical Garden was developed to be a stroll garden inspired by English and Japanese gardens. Highlights of this mature 22 acre garden are two opposing mixed borders extending over 400 feet, kalmias, rhododendrons, roses, peonies, fuchsias, and Pacific Northwest native plants.

Eastern Washington

Yakima Area Arboretum, Yakima, WA Established in 1967, the Yakima Area Arboretum is Central Washington's premiere plant museum. It features more than 1,000 labeled specimens on 46 acres managed as collections, display gardens,and natural areas. The arboretum seeks to inspire people of all age to discover and connect with nature through a diverse collection of Inland Northwest plants.

Western Oregon

Gaiety Hollow, Salem, OR  Gaiety Hollow, the home garden of pioneer landscape architects Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver, is owned and managed as a public garden by the Lord & Schryver Conservancy, which has also rehabilitated the historic gardens at nearby Deepwood. The mission of the Lord & Schryver Conservancy is to "preserve and interpret the legacy of Lord and Schryver to promote a greater understanding of their contribution to NW landscape architecture."

Metro Portland

Hardy Plant Society of Oregon, Portland, OR  The Hardy Plant Society of Oregon sponsors workshops, lectures, study weekends, classes, publications, book sales, plant and garden art sales, trips, and tours. It also organizes member gatherings and encourages member networking and supports worthwhile community gardening projects through grants, sponsor plant and seed sales and exchanges, and encourages the preservation of significant gardens of botanical, horticultural, and/or historical interest.

Leach Botanical Garden, Portland, OR  Leach opened to the public in 1983 as a partnership between Leach Garden Friends and Portland Parks and Recreation. The core of this landmark garden is the estate of John and Lilla Leach, botanical explorers who, in the 1930s, built the Manor House and began the garden with its more than 2,000 plant species.

Peninsula Park Rose Garden, Portland, OR  Opened in 1913, Peninsula Park Rose Garden is Portland’s first public rose garden, often described as a hidden gem. A formal French garden, it features level pathways, a graceful fountain and a historic bandstand – all perfect complements to the splendor of more than 6,000 roses.

Rogerson Clematis Garden, West Linn, OR  The Rogerson Clematis Collection Botanical Garden is a 1.5-acre display garden that showcases North America's most complete collection of the genus Clematis with over 1600 clematis plants, including 90 of the 300 clematis species. Clematis and companion plants are displayed in a variety of settings around a historic farmhouse at Lake Oswego's Luscher Farm.

British Columbia

Milner Gardens and Woodland, Qualicum Beach, BC  Discover Milner Gardens, a one-of-a kind woodland estate and gardens nestled in the peace that only an old-growth forest can provide; a community oasis that rejuvenates the soul. Take time to relax over a pot of tea and hot scones in the historic house.