The Alaska Botanical Garden (ABG) is a non-profit organization that opened
to the public in 1993. It is funded by entrance fees, memberships,
donations, program fees, and retail sales from a shop located near the
entrance to the garden:
Cute little retail Shop In the
Garden
ABG occupies about 110 acres on Campbell Airstrip Road between
the Far North Bicentennial Park and Benny Benson School in the eastern
part of Anchorage. The site was once occupied by Native Dena'ina
Athabascan people. In the 1940s and '50s it was used for maneuvers and
training by the U.S. Army.
The master plan for the garden specifies that most of the land will
remain in a natural state, with individual gardens interconnected by
woodchip trails through the birch and spruce boreal forest:
I couldn't find a map of the gardens online so I copied this diagram
from the brochure I got upon entry:
The longer Lowenfels Family Nature Trail extends beyond that map.
The main garden trails were originally part of the "Bull Dog Trail"
network extending from Fort Richardson to the Campbell Army Air Corps
Airfield. They were used by jeeps and tanks during military training.
Old foxholes dot the grounds, and an ancient glacial erratic (i.e., huge
boulder) adds further interest to the gardens.
Herb garden
The Alaska Botanical Garden is a beautiful place to visit in the spring/summer months and
is probably also very attractive in the fall when the leaves turn colors.
I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent in the garden this morning
and want to go back another time to walk the Lowenfels Family Nature
Trail, a 1.1-mile path down to Campbell Creek, to watch salmon spawn.
Different flowers bloom in different months, too, so if I come back
again in August I might see some things I didn't see today.
It was very relaxing to wander through the forest to the various themed gardens.
You can read more about them on the ABG
website. The garden features over 1,100
hardy perennials in several areas, as well as kitchen (edible plants), herb,
shade, wildflower, and rock gardens. Another garden has hardy fruit trees
and there is a Junior Master Gardner plot for kids to tend.
I took numerous photos of the various gardens as I wandered around
the site. I wasn't the only one taking lots of pictures:
I'll include about 50 photos that I took here and on the next page,
identifying the flowers and other plants that I think I can identify correctly.
The gardens are listed in the CCW order in which I walked around the grounds.
ENTRY BED EXHIBIT
Alaska Master Gardener volunteers plant and maintain this bed with
donations from the Municipality of Anchorage.
The current exhibit is "An Alaskan Kitchen Garden." It features
edible herbs, flowers, and vegetables to demonstrate how such gardens
can be productive, sustainable, and diverse. It's a very attractive
display:
Harvested produce is donated to the Food Bank of Alaska and Bean's
Cafe to promote the program, "Plant a Row for the Hungry."
LOWER PERENNIAL GARDEN
The upper and lower perennial gardens were created to showcase
perennials that are hardy to Southcentral Alaska, such as delphiniums,
poppies, peonies, hostas, and roses:
Bleeding hearts (red)
Above and below: blue delphiniums
The marker says Meadow Rue but
they must not be in bloom yet; these red flowers are a type of peony.
Above and below: one of
several very tall perennials
Siberian blue poppies
Above and below: Siberian
cat mint
There is a relaxing walk through the forest between the lower perennial
garden and the herb garden:
Keep going -- lots more photos from the other botanical gardens on
the
next page . . .
Happy trails,
Sue
"Runtrails & Company" - Sue Norwood, Jim O'Neil,
and Cody the ultra Lab
Previous
Next
© 2012 Sue Norwood and Jim O'Neil