Recommended Websites: Botanic Gardens, Arboreta, and Herbaria

The Alaska Botanical Garden in Anchorage, Alaska, "where northern horticulture and native plants are showcased throughout a 110 acre spruce and birch woodland."

"The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University is the oldest public arboretum in North America."

"The Bellevue Botanical Garden, Bellevue, Washington comprises 53 acres of display gardens, woodlands, meadows and wetlands."

"This plant information form lets you search the Bellevue Botanical Garden's plant collection. Based on your criteria, you can locate plant information, photos, and locations in the garden."

The Bloedel Reserve, located on Bainbridge Island in Washington, including information on how to make reservations for a visit.

"Brooklyn Botanic Garden is a tranquil, 52-acre urban oasis featuring more than 10,000 different kinds of plants from around the world."

The Butchart Gardens, located in Victoria, B.C., is a National Historic Site of Canada specializing in floral displays.

A garden located an hour south of Seattle with views of Mt. Rainier.

A portal to over 3.6 million specimen records of the Pacific Northwest's 60 herbaria. Area's represented include Alaska, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington & Yukon Territory.

A garden in Vancouver, B.C., "providing insights into Chinese culture, life during the Ming Dynasty, architecture, horticulture and a rare cultural experience."

A Seattle garden open to the public for guided tours only. The landscape was designed by the Olmsted Brothers.

Located in Everett, WA, Evergreen Arboretum and Gardens offers "a large variety of plants, labeled and growing with compatible plants."

"The Garden Conservancy is a national, nonprofit organization founded in 1989 to preserve exceptional American gardens for public education and enjoyment."

The GARDEN VISIT & TRAVEL GUIDE links to information about travel, garden design, landscape architecture and landscape planning. It describes places of interest to gardeners: properties open to the public, historic estates, botanic collections, websites, hotels, design studios, nurseries and product suppliers. It covers 1000+ parks and gardens open to the public throughout the world.

A list of 19 California Bay Area public gardens.

Glen Echo Garden is a 7 acre public garden located just east of Bellingham, Washington. The website includes a photo gallery of the garden.

The Gardens at HCP, formerly known as The Glendale Gardens & Woodland, is run by the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific Society in Victoria, B.C. Its mission is "providing an inspiring natural learning environment in which visitors and students can learn responsible horticulture and conservations practices and the importance of plants to a sustainable world.

"The Harvard University Herbaria, with more than 5 million specimens, are one of the 10 largest Herbaria in the world in number of specimens, and along with the library, form the world's largest university owned herbarium."

An Edwardian estate in Victoria, B.C. with formal Italian, Japanese and Rose gardens.

This unique and famous garden located in Kingston, WA was founded and developed by Dan Hinkley. Heronswood is now owned and operated by the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe.

Located 1 mile north of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, the garden's centerpiece is "Elda Behm's Paradise Garden."

The Holden Arboretum is located near Cleveland, in Kirtland, Ohio.

The HSU Vascular Plant Herbarium (HSC) consists of nearly 100,000 specimens, with a strong emphasis in the flora of northwest California and southwest Oregon. The Herbarium serves as a botanical resource for students and faculty, as well as community members and professional botanists.

The Idaho Botanical Garden is located in Boise, ID and is "dedicated to the advancement and appreciation of gardening, horticulture and conservation."

A global directory of public herbaria and supporting staff.

"World renowned for housing a diverse and expansive collection of rare, unique and beautiful roses." The garden is located in Washington Park, Portland.

"The Kruckeberg Botanic Garden at Richmond Beach, in Shoreline, Washington, is a public garden dedicated to community enjoyment and educational enrichment." In 2008 the garden was sold to the City of Shoreline and is now part of the Shoreline Parks Department.

Located in South Seattle, Kubota Gardens is "a stunning 20 acre landscape that blends Japanese garden concepts with native Northwest plants."

Located in Maple Valley, WA, The Lake Wilderness Arboretum features Northwest native plants and a large collection of Western Azalea.

Located in Lakewood, WA, Lakewold gardens includes landscape architecture by Thomas Church and a Georgian-style mansion.

The Ownbey Herbarium is a collection of nearly 400,000 specimens of vascular and non vascular plants and lichens. The Herbarium includes plants from around the world, although those of the Pacific Northwest, Great Basin, and California form the majority of the collection.

A ten acre public garden on Whidbey Island featuring Rhododendrons and companion plants in a woodland setting. The website includes a calendar of events and a catalog of specialty plants available in the nursery.

The Elisabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden, originator of Great Plant Picks, is a private garden with tours available by appointment only.

"Founded in 1859, the Missouri Botanical Garden is the nation's oldest botanical garden in continuous operation and a National Historic Landmark."

Every year in the UK, over 3600 NGS open gardens (most of them privately owned) welcome visitors. GardenFinder helps you plan NGS garden visits by dates, by location, garden name or by specific garden feature.

The Museum's Botany collection holds an estimated six million specimens of mosses, ferns, seed plants and slime molds from all over the world. The botanical collection spans a period from the 17th century to the present and includes a number of historically important collections.

Established in 1891, "the New York Botanical Garden is an iconic living museum, a major educational institution, and a renowned plant research and conservation organization."

The Mertz Library is one of the world's largest botanical and horticultural research libraries.

A Willamette Valley, OR garden featuring more than 20 specialty gardens and the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Gordon House.

"The Oregon State University Herbarium houses approximately 405,000 vascular plant, bryophyte, algal, and fungal specimens. The collections are worldwide in scope, with a focus on the state of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest."

The Hyde Herbarium collects and houses voucher specimens of all accessioned plants in the Washington Park Arboretum and the Center for Urban Horticulture, horticulturally significant plants, and plants that reflect the research and project efforts of faculty, staff and students at CUH and WPA.

The walled Garden encloses a full city block and is an authentic Suzhou-style garden.

The Portland Japanese Garden features five gardens that include a Tea garden and a Sand and Stone garden.

An interactive map that locates public gardens in North America that are members of the American Public Garden Association.

The website lists public gardens in the Puget Sound region. The site also hosts galleries of beautiful photography and botanically themed art, an event calendar and a list of gardening resources.

Home to one of the largest collections of species rhododendrons in the world, the garden displays over 700 species of rhododendrons and allied plants. Located in Federal Way, the garden is open Tuesday through Sunday year-round.

The Royal Horticultural Society in London, UK offers the Lindley Library as "the world's finest horticultural library, with books, journals, pictures and art on practical gardening, garden history, garden plants and design from 1514 to the present day." Anyone can visit the Library, but only RHS members may borrow books.

"The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is one of the world's leading botanic gardens, holding over 1 in 8 of known plant species. The site also offers information about Kew's science and access to its databases."

"Library, Art & Archives contains more than half a million items, including books, botanical illustrations, photographs, letters and manuscripts, periodicals, biographies and maps."

The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden has a large display of California native plants.

"The 4.6-acre Seattle Chinese Garden will be one of the largest Chinese gardens outside of China, showcasing not only plants, but also stone, architecture and water elements that are customary to Chinese gardens."

The website for the Seattle Japanese Garden at the Washington Park Arboretum has information about visiting, an event calendar and a blog with articles about the garden.

Botanic gardens in South Africa

The Morton Register of Arboreta is a comprehensive list of accredited arboreta and public gardens around the world that have a substantial focus on woody plants.

"The U.S. National Arboretum is a U.S. Department of Agriculture research and education facility and a living museum."

The ALA Herbarium contains more than 220,000 specimens of non-vascular and vascular plants and is the only major research herbarium in Alaska. The collection emphasizes plants from Alaska and includes plants from other states, Canada, Greenland, Fennoscandia, Japan, and Russia.

Located in Vancouver, B.C., the gardens are "rich with interesting plants and informative signs."

The UBC Herbarium is the largest in Canada west of Ottawa, home to over 650.000 plant specimens from around the world.

"Organized into geographical groupings of Asian, European, Eastern, and Western North American sections, and display plantings are hundreds of species and cultivars of North Temperate trees and shrubs and a xeriscape garden."

"The University of Washington Herbarium (also known as WTU) is an international resource for research into the diversity, distribution and ecology of Pacific Northwest vascular plants, non-vascular plants, fungi, lichen, and algae."

"A beautifully laid out garden containing thousands of rare, unusual and interesting plants."

The Conservatory is a Victorian greenhouse in Seattle's north Capitol Hill neighborhood. "Professional horticulturists with the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation care for the Conservatory's collections, including bromeliads, palms, ferns, cacti, and seasonal display plants."

An annotated list of a vast number of public and private gardens open to visitors across Washington State.

The Washington Park Arboretum, located in Seattle, website includes links to directions, a trail map and seasonal highlights.

"Woodland Park Rose Garden offers a splendid setting for flower lovers to stroll the grass pathways circulating through 2-1/2 acres of rose displays."

Information on the "long-range master plan for the Washington Park Arboretum that will serve as a road map for improvements at the Arboretum for the next 20 years."