JO : Can you talk a little more about interfacing with the Arboretum ? How would you describe what the place has given to you ?
DH : Well , every plant was new for me , and so it was like walking through the Louvre . I ’ d find the labels and go home to look the plant up in my first set of W . J . Bean ’ s “ Trees & Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles .” Then I would realize , “ Oh my gosh , there are more species of Eucryphia that I ’ d never heard of !” And I ’ d go back out in the Arboretum , and I ’ d find those . And that would lead me to another Chilean plant or another New Zealand plant or to one from China . So , one stone at a time , I developed this formidable encyclopedia of plant names ; they just became adhered to my gray matter .
And when I went traveling , I ’ d recognize plants in the wild , and my comrades would be really impressed . They ’ d say , “ Wow , you ’ re really smart .” But , really , all I knew was that this name went with that plant . Anybody can learn that . So , the Arboretum gave me this fortress of knowledge that I hadn ’ t really gone out to seek , but had acquired just being surrounded by it .
JO : I ’ ve seen the Arboretum ’ s accession index cards , which are the sort of the life history of each plant in the collection . Did you ever use them ?
Dan with his husband , Robert Jones , at the 2003 Arbor Vitae fundraiser in the Arboretum . ( Photo by Arboretum Foundation )
20 v Washington Park Arboretum Bulletin
DH : Oh , I just loved those cards , and yes , I used them while working with the maples . Thinking back , I always wish I ’ d spent more time flipping through them because [ Director ] Brian Mulligan and [ Plant Curator ] Joe Witt would write little notes : “ Hey , this plant is blooming on this date ,” or “ This plant ’ s looking good on this date ,” or “ This plant has died this year .” It ’ s like reading somebody ’ s journals over the years , and it influenced me enough to where , when I founded Heronswood Nursery and Garden in 1987 and started building its database of plants , I did exactly the same thing — and still do . If a plant ’ s looking good at any one time , say , I go to the database and make a note of it . And there ’ s not a time when I do it that I don ’ t think of those little scribbles that Brian and Joe wrote on those cards .
JO : Those cards are remarkable . They ’ re digitized now and available to everyone [ see https :// depts . washington . edu / uwbg / gardens / AccessionCards ]. I ’ ve used them in my own research on Olmsted Parks . I ’ m not an expert on the actual plants , but I like to look at the cards to understand how plant people think .
DH : They really are charming . I ’ m so glad they ’ re digitized .
JO : I just learned that you got to live in the
Stone Cottage at the south end of the Arboretum . DH : Yes , I did . JO : How did that come about ? DH : A little personal anecdote here : I moved to Seattle in the midst of a failing relationship and lived only one school term in that relationship before it fell apart . In January 1984 , I had to move out of the house that we had rented together and needed a place . As it happened , the gentleman who lived in the cottage and took care of the Arboretum gates was retiring . It sounded ideal to me , so I took the job . I moved in with my dog , Emerson , and I actually raised up a baby crow while I lived there .
I even had the Stone Cottage painted by the landscape painter William Elston . Emerson is depicted out front , and the crow is sitting on one of the stone posts outside . I ’ m going to give that painting to the Arboretum before I kick the can , so Emerson and the crow will live on in perpetuity .