12/10/22 Originally posted 8/15/14
There really is nothing quite like the Chihuly Garden, one half of the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit at Seattle Center. Situated at the foot of the iconic Space Needle, it combines Northwest native plants, selected ornamentals and an imaginative collection of glass art. Here are a few images of this unique garden. (A jigsaw puzzle of the image above can be found on the Puzzles page.)
To get to the Garden, you first tour the Glass exhibit, and then walk through a glass house, pictured above, which leads out into the Garden.
Once outside, you see a magnificent glass sculpture representing the sun, suspended over a mass planting of black mondo grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens') - a visual representation of night and day.
The rest of the garden beds have individual color themes. Here purple "candles" stand alongside native ferns and logs salvaged from Northwest forests.
Plants in each bed have been chosen to complement the glass. The red branches of the coral bark maple (Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku') shown above echo the red glass surrounding it.
The orange garden is pure whimsey. I imagine that the daylilies in the foreground have yellow-orange blooms, but even without bloom, this bed is eye catching.
Note: all of these photos were taken when the Garden opened two years ago (2012). As plants have matured, it undoubtedly looks quite a bit different.
Which leads me to my only complaint about this exhibit. It would be nice to be able to visit just the Garden, without having to buy a ticket for both the Garden and the Glass exhibit. After all, plants are constantly changing, but the glass, once blown, stays the same.
Chihuly Garden and Glass is located on the grounds of Seattle Center. For information on hours, ticket prices and more, click here.