Honoring
the Design
Intent
Constant
Change, Adaptive
Maintenance,
and the
Development
of the Plant
Collection at the
Japanese Garden
B y P e t e P u t n i c k i
Since its opening 60 years ago, the Seattle
Japanese Garden has been a place of
connection for many Seattle residents
and visitors—a place to connect to community,
nature, and the unique, intentional narrative
experience that the Garden offers.
A crucial aspect of this Garden is maintenance:
painstaking maintenance of both the
physical elements (trees, shrubs, rocks and
water) and, perhaps more significantly, the
original intention of the designers. Both types
of maintenance—physical and conceptual—
must be responsive and adaptive to the dynamic
forces of nature so that, as the Garden ages and
12 v Washington Park Arboretum Bulletin