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.

Drawing Group: Pollinators in the Garden

This month, join us in exploring the beauty of our heritage garden in full bloom! We’ll focus our sketches on the pollinators- bees, butterflies, beetles, and birds- that bring the garden to life. It’s a wonderful opportunity to observe the pollination cycle up close while practicing how to capture movement and nature in real time.

What to bring: Notebooks, pencils, colored pencils, or watercolors.

Come gather with us for this family friendly event and record nature at its finest!

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 a special Nature Explorers Club adventure as we celebrate Earth Day! In this engaging, hands-on session, participants will explore simple yet meaningful ways to care for our environment and give back to our community.

You will enjoy a unique behind-the-scenes look at guest artist Janice King’s art installation as it comes to life- featuring the fabric leaves created during our March program. It’s a wonderful opportunity to see how community contributions transform into a beautiful, collaborative work of art.

Participants will rotate through interactive activity stations, including:

• A worm table to discover how worms enrich and support healthy soil

• A live art station where March’s community-created leaves are added to the installation

• Potting a plant to donate to SBGS’s plant sale area in the Heritage Garden

• Planting seeds to take home and grow in your own garden

Come connect with nature, creativity, and community- bring a friend and celebrate Earth Day with us! Registration required.  

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.

While the Heritage Garden rested under winter’s hush, our nature journaling meet‑ups at the Sammamish Library kept curiosity blooming. We explored how to capture curled leaves of winter on the page with the help of a simple “x‑ray” leaf model, and the efficiency, beauty and strength of branches and spirals in nature.

As the garden wakes, we’re excited to bring our hands‑on practice back outdoors at the Heritage Garden- observing seeds emerging into buds and blooms while noticing the return of bees, butterflies, and birds. It’s a slow, relaxing way to connect with the natural world right here in our community.

Join us each third Thursday of the month. Bring a sketchbook, pencil and your curiosity. Invite a friend!

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.

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.