Moss Family Temperate Woodland Garden

Discover the Wollemi Pine Wollemia nobilis in the Moss Family Temperate Woodland Garden at the Humboldt Botanical Garden.  “…until1994 Wollemia was known only from fossils, dating from 120 million years ago. Then a group of 30 or so were discovered by a forester at the bottom of a canyon in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. They were growing alongside flowering trees by a stream… Finding Wollemia was not quite like finding Tyrannosaurus rex, but it is conceptually similar.” (Secret Life of Trees, Collin Tudge)

The garden’s specimen was planted at the top of the Raul Ruiz Iris Douglasiana Reserve.  The Humboldt Botanical Gardens Foundation proudly preserves rare and native species in its gardens.

There are many micro-climates within the Humboldt Botanical Garden.  Tucked within a sunny bowl, slightly inland and up in elevation from the Dedekam Ornamental Terrace Garden or the Lost Coast Brewery Native Plant Garden, the Moss Family Temperate Woodland Garden is protected from the coastal winds ten degrees warmer than the lower, more exposed gardens.  These factors allow tender temperate plants to thrive on the coast.

There is an extensive Rhododendron Collection within the Moss Family Temperate Woodland Garden. Mild temperatures, wet winters and dry cool summers define our temperate climate.  

The Moss Family Temperate Woodland Garden contains an extensive collection of rhododendron species and hybrids from the Rhododendron subsection Maddenia.  These are rhododendrons from the lowland forests of the Himalaya stretching from Southwest China through Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Burma (Myanmar) to India.  Living in shaded and wet temperate rain forest conditions, most of the members of this group are epiphytes and have large leaves.  Their flowers are the largest in the genus Rhododendron and many are quite fragrant.  Most of the Temperate Woodland Garden’s Maddenia specimens have been obtained from the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden in Federal Way, Washington and are from seeds collected in the native habitats.  The Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden is unable to grow these unusual rhododendrons outside in the Seattle area because the winters are much colder than their native habitats, thus in this ideal climate the Moss Family Temperate Woodland Garden is the custodian of this unique collection.    

 

In May the glorious Himalayan Meconopsis poppies begin to bloom with their true-blue petals and golden stamens. Blue Poppies have a reputation of being difficult to grow, but here they are happy. Several species of Meconopsis poppy are grown from pink, lavender, white and golden.

June & Tim Walsh, Benefactors of the Walsh Family Gathering in the Moss Family Temperate Woodland Garden, have generously cared for the temperate garden and its Rhododendrons since its conception.

The Moss Family Temperate Woodland Garden was named after Larry Moss (1934-2006), former HBG President, lover of Rhododendrons & benefactor of the Humboldt Botanical Garden.