As you approach the Longhouse from the main campus, Place to Meet the Trees is the first garden area on your left. It is a place to pause and get acquainted with the trees. You will find conifers such as western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), grand fir (Abies grandis), and Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis). Among deciduous trees, we have red alder (Alnus rubra), Pacific dogwood (Cornus nuttallii), and black hawthorn (Crataegus douglasii), and a variety of under story shrubs, herbaceous plants, and ferns.

Pathways welcome you to wander among the trees or pause and listen to the birds. On a windy day you may hear the trees talking.  Trees invite you to look upwards; to both reach for the light and remember your roots.

Text from “Place to Meet the Trees” Area Team in “Branching Out,” 2016 (edited by Lisa Lombardo, 2024).