Did you know that the Washington Park Arboretum just completed phase 1 of their master plan? Did you even know that they had a master plan? I didn’t, until I heard about the opening celebration this weekend for the new Pacific Connections Garden. The 12 acre garden will feature plants from the Pacific Rim countries of Australia, China, New Zealand, and Chile, as well as plants from “Cascadia,” which I suppose is another way of saying the Northwest. The hope is that the new garden will revitalize the Arboretum’s south end, which is less visited than the north end.

The garden officially opens this Saturday, with an opening ceremony from 11am – 3pm to include garden tours, live music from Chile and Argentina, and plant artifacts from the Burke Museum.