From Our Backyard to Yours

Laura Villareal, Poet & Book Critic In residence, May 21-June 10, 2025 About the Artist Poet & Book Critic Laura Villareal joins us as May's Creative Resident. Laura's debut poetry collection, Girl’s Guide to Leaving [...]

May 2025 LATIN NAME: Podophyllum sp COMMON NAME: Mayapple FAMILY: Berberidaceae TYPE: Herbaceous perennial ORIGIN: Afghanistan to China; Southeast Canada to the Central and Eastern US LOCATION AT BLOEDEL RESERVE: Arrival Garden and Rhododendron Glen GARDEN [...]

Have you ever noticed how your mindset improves after a walk in nature? A sense of calm seems to settle in after time spent outdoors. Nature invites us to witness the layered purple and crimson [...]

Since early 2024, Bloedel Reserve has teamed up with the Bainbridge Island School District (BISD) Adult Living Program to provide work experience for the program’s students. The students spend an hour and a half, one [...]

If you visit the Japanese Garden at Bloedel Reserve during May, you might catch a glimpse of Japanese Garden Caretaker Bob Braid performing a time-honored horticultural ritual: pine candling. With steady hands and a careful [...]

Despite their brevity, drafting mission and vision statements is a challenging task. Boiling down decades of history and plans for the future - along with the DNA of an organization - into succinct statements requires [...]