UW Botanic Gardens curator Ray Larson leading a tour of the Dan Hinkley Asian Maple Collection during the dedication ceremony in October 2019 . ( Photo by Niall Dunne )
that I give them . So , I get these gigantic plants back that I have no room to put anywhere . And I just give them to the Arboretum . They ’ ve had a lot of truckloads of good-size plants for the last 13 years or so .
JO : That ’ s great . Wow . And did you ever consult with the Arboretum before going on a trip to see if there was any specific plant they were interested in getting ?
DH : They gave me money for one trip , specifically , but they didn ’ t ask for anything that I can recall . They were very generous — one of the Arboretum Foundation Units provided the funds . That was in 2006 , and I spent six weeks in Vietnam . I gave them all of the seeds from that trip . But I don ’ t remember them ever asking for anything from my trips . I gave them anything they wanted , had room for , or that made sense to have in the Arboretum collection .
JO : And do any of them stand out in your memory ? Any particular plants that you ’ ve kept track of or were particularly glad that you gave them to the Arboretum ?
DH : That list is pretty big now , and I ’ m always thrilled to go back and look at a plant that has my collection initials on it . I can ’ t grow all the trees that I ’ ve collected . I don ’ t have the room
for it at Heronswood or at [ my home garden of ] Windcliff . So , for somebody else to see that intrinsic value in a tree and plant it and take care of it , it ’ s thrilling for me . I ’ m certain an Aesculus wangii from that trip is still growing . It ’ s a very rare species of horse chestnut . They have that in the collection from that trip .
JO : What was your involvement with Portico and the development of the plan for the Pacific Connections Garden at the Arboretum ?
DH : That was so much fun ! It was after I had left teaching at Edmonds Community College and went to Heronswood full-time , around 1995 . I started doing consulting and was brought in on the team along with Scot Medbury . We competed for it by doing a presentation in front of the entire Arboretum management team , as well as City officials . Evidently , we did a strong presentation and were chosen . Then we got to go in and really get into the nitty-gritty details of it , and present those ideas to the public . We brought in focus groups from the neighborhood , some of whom were all really riled up that we were going to change their dog-walking patterns . But it wasn ’ t going to be their backyard park anymore — just for their own recreation .
I remember many team meetings , and it was
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