Pacific Northwest Trees: The Art of Observation

Following our deep dive into the towering silhouettes of our forest giants, this month we are shifting our focus from the canopy to the details. Join instructor Sandra Moreano and local artist Janice King as we master the art of "leaf-watching"—a detective’s guide to identifying the trees that call the Pacific Northwest home.

What to Expect:

• Evergreen Essentials: Distinguish between the scale-like sprays of Western Red Cedar, the soft, flat needles of Western Hemlock, and the sturdy needles of the Douglas-fir.

• Deciduous Neighbors: Uncover the unique characteristics of our most common trees: Red Alder, Bigleaf Maple, and Black Cottonwood.

• Creative Connection: Local artist Janice King will help us turn our observations into art. These pieces will be collected at the end of class and featured in a special community art installation at the Heritage Garden to celebrate Earth Day! Stay tuned for more information about our special Earth Day event.

Come ready to sharpen your identification skills and see our local forests through a fresh, artistic lens.
Please RSVP on the event page so we have enough supplies prepared for all participants (kids, teens and adults!).

Class offered collaboratively by Sandra Moreano and Janice King.  

Become a Member and help our garden thrive all year long. Your membership supports programs, education, and the continued growth of the Sammamish Botanical Garden.

Bring: Unlined journal or sketchbook, pencil, colored pencils, water bottle, and weather-appropriate clothing.

Spirals occur in nature over and over again, from rushing rivers, fern fiddleheads to sunflowers. We’ll explore how spirals are a beautiful, yet very strong and fascinating shape.

Join us for monthly nature journaling - a relaxing activity that encourages slowing down to notice details, explore with curiosity, and connect with the natural world by recording observations in a sketchbook. No experience required! We’ll share ideas for connecting with nature to help you capture the garden’s beauty and the wonders of the outdoors.

Each session includes:
• Guided nature journaling and sketching
• Time to explore and observe
• Prompts and demos from experienced instructors

Bring: A sketchbook/paper and a pencil/pen (optional: colored pencils/watercolor)

Class offered by Karen Houlding.  

Seeds and Buds

Join the Nature Explorers Club for a hands-on experience examining seeds and buds! We will study both monocots and dicots to see the unique ways they transform seeds into seedlings.

Buds are equally incredible- some are scaly, some resinous, and others are naked. We'll have plenty of samples to investigate, so even though it's still winter, come witness the wisdom of plants as they prepare for a spectacular spring! 

Please RSVP on the event page so we have enough supplies prepared for all participants (kids, teens and adults!).

Class offered by Sandra Moreano.  

Become a Member and help our garden thrive all year long. Your membership supports programs, education, and the continued growth of the Sammamish Botanical Garden.

Branches are all around us, in butterfly wings, flowers and trees. We’ll explore branches as nature’s most efficient way to spread and to connect.

Join us for monthly nature journaling - a relaxing activity that encourages slowing down to notice details, explore with curiosity, and connect with the natural world by recording observations in a sketchbook. No experience required! We’ll share ideas for connecting with nature to help you capture the garden’s beauty and the wonders of the outdoors.

Each session includes:
• Guided nature journaling and sketching
• Time to explore and observe
• Prompts and demos from experienced instructors

Bring: A sketchbook/paper and a pencil/pen (optional: colored pencils/watercolor)

Class offered by Karen Houlding.  

Become a Member and help our garden thrive all year long.

Your membership supports programs, education, and the continued growth of the Sammamish Botanical Garden.

Fruits and Seeds

Ever wonder why a strawberry has seeds on the outside, or how a coconut travels across oceans? Fruits are more than just snacks- they are high-tech seed packages! Join us January 21 at the Sammamish YMCA for an interactive session on the wonders of the plant world. We’ll be identifying unique varieties and making custom specimen cards. See you there!

Please RSVP on the event page so we have enough supplies prepared for all participants (kids, teens and adults!).  

Become a Member and help our garden thrive all year long.

Your membership supports programs, education, and the continued growth of the Sammamish Botanical Garden.

Leaves come to life through a genius x-ray plastic leaf that reveals the secret of 3 continuous lines that makes sketching curled leaves easy!

Join us for monthly nature journaling - a relaxing activity that encourages slowing down to notice details, explore with curiosity, and connect with the natural world by recording observations in a sketchbook. No experience required! We’ll share ideas for connecting with nature to help you capture the garden’s beauty and the wonders of the outdoors.

Each session includes:
• Guided nature journaling and sketching
• Time to explore and observe
• Prompts and demos from experienced instructors

Bring: A sketchbook/paper and a pencil/pen (optional: colored pencils/watercolor)

Class offered by Karen Houlding.  

Become a Member and help our garden thrive all year long.

Your membership supports programs, education, and the continued growth of the Sammamish Botanical Garden.

Join us for monthly nature journaling - a relaxing activity that encourages slowing down to notice details, explore with curiosity, and connect with the natural world by recording observations in a sketchbook. No experience required! We’ll share ideas for connecting with nature to help you capture the garden’s beauty and the wonders of the outdoors.

Each session includes:
• Guided nature journaling and sketching
• Time to explore and observe
• Prompts and demos from experienced instructors

Bring: A sketchbook/paper and a pencil/pen (optional: colored pencils/watercolor)

Class offered by Karen Houlding.  

Become a Member and help our garden thrive all year long.

Your membership supports programs, education, and the continued growth of the Sammamish Botanical Garden.

SBGS 2025 public annual meeting will be held at the Lodge at Beaver Lake on Wednesday, October 29th, 2025.

Come at 6:30 pm to chat with fellow gardeners, enjoy desserts and refreshments! Registration is not required, but greatly appreciated.

Renew or register to become a member of the SBGS for 2026 in person at our annual meeting and receive a free SBGS tote! Available while supplies last.

Meeting and presentations will begin at 7:00 pm.

Creating a Charismatic Garden

Join lifelong gardener, author and artist Lorene Edwards Forkner to discover how to infuse your garden with personality and engagement in all four seasons. The most interesting gardens reflect the heart and the hands of the gardeners that tend them. We’ll look at landscapes through the lens of personal reflection, design principles, and COLOR!

Lorene Edwards Forkner is an author and speaker whose work centers on exploring the wonders of the natural world. She writes a weekly gardening column for Pacific NW Magazine in The Seattle Times and is the author of numerous gardening titles, including the recently published The Spirited Garden with photographer Doreen Wynja and Color In and Out of the Garden. Lorene is a warm and engaging speaker who uses imagery and language to tell garden/life stories that inspire and inform audiences.

Become a Member and help our garden thrive all year long.

Your membership supports programs, education, and the continued growth of the Sammamish Botanical Garden.

Join us in the garden at this month's meet-up for a demo of herb drying with a mesh drying rack

Join us for monthly nature journaling - a relaxing activity that encourages slowing down to notice details, explore with curiosity, and connect with the natural world by recording observations in a sketchbook. No experience required! We’ll share ideas for connecting with nature to help you capture the garden’s beauty and the wonders of the outdoors.

Each session includes:
• Guided nature journaling and sketching
• Time to explore and observe
• Prompts and demos from experienced instructors

Bring: A sketchbook/paper and a pencil/pen (optional: colored pencils/watercolor)

Class offered by Karen Houlding.  

Your membership supports programs, education, and the continued growth of the Sammamish Botanical Garden.

Become a Member and help our garden thrive all year long.

Board meetings are usually held on the second Tuesday of intermittent months with location to be determined. All members of the SBGS are welcome to attend.

Please send attendance requests to info@sammamishbotanical.org for more details .

Print Making

Our next Nature Explorers Club adventure takes us into the beautiful intersection of math, art, and the garden!

Join us for a spooktacular afternoon of autumn-inspired printmaking. We'll explore nature’s textures and seasonal shapes by creating beautiful (and a little bit creepy) art with:

• Mushroom spore prints

• Apple and pumpkin stamps

• Scary plant specimens on display

• Pumpkin dissection station: kids can squish, scoop, and study real pumpkins and seeds

This workshop is perfect for young artists and curious minds alike. Come dressed for mess, and be ready to create.

Open to ages 5 and up. Children must be accompanied by an adult.
Bring: Sketchbook or paper, water bottle, and weather-appropriate clothing. Supplies will be provided for printmaking.

Found Object Art in Nature

In this session of Nature Explorers Club, we’ll transform natural treasures into works of art. Together, we’ll practice slowing down, looking closely, and reconnecting with the wonder of the natural world. The goal is to see nature with fresh eyes, enjoy the process as much as the product, and reawaken our sense of curiosity.

Activities will include:

• Taking apart a flower petal by petal to observe its hidden details

• Creating mandalas from gathered natural objects

• Using Y-shaped sticks to form stars, signs, and simple games

• Exploring the Fibonacci spiral and designing our own

• Experimenting with representational art inspired by what we find outdoors

What to Bring:

• An unlined journal or sketchbook

• Pencil and colored pencils

• A water bottle

• Weather-appropriate clothing

• Optional: your own natural collections such as sticks, pebbles, fern leaves, seed pods, berries, feathers, cones, moss, bark, lichens, or other small finds

Join us in the garden at this month's meet-up for a demo of botanical ink making!

Join us for monthly nature journaling - a relaxing activity that encourages slowing down to notice details, explore with curiosity, and connect with the natural world by recording observations in a sketchbook. No experience required! We’ll share ideas for connecting with nature to help you capture the garden’s beauty and the wonders of the outdoors.

Each session includes:
• Guided nature journaling and sketching
• Time to explore and observe
• Prompts and demos from experienced instructors

Bring: A sketchbook/paper and a pencil/pen (optional: colored pencils/watercolor)

Class offered by Karen Houlding.