Lake Wilderness Arboretum (40 acres), known for a time as the South King County Arboretum, is an
arboretum
An arboretum (plural: arboreta) in a general sense is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, man ...
in
Maple Valley, Washington
Maple Valley is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 28,013 at the 2020 census. The city functions as a commuter town for residents, though there is an increasing amount of commercial activity in the area.
His ...
.
The arboretum is open daily without charge. It is located off the Lake Wilderness Trail.
In addition to a focus on Northwest native plants, the Arboretum has one of the world's largest collections of the Western Azalea (''
Rhododendron
''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...
occidentale''), with over 200 selections of the species.
The Lake Wilderness Arboretum is managed by the Lake Wilderness Arboretum Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. The arboretum was first established as a nonprofit organization in 1965, with its initial design completed and implemented in 1970. The Western Azalea Garden was dedicated in June 2000. The recently incorporated City of Maple Valley finalized the transfer of Lake Wilderness Park and the Arboretum from King County in January 2003. In April 2003, the name was changed from the original name, South King County Arboretum, to Lake Wilderness Arboretum. The name of the Arboretum Foundation was changed to Lake Wilderness Arboretum Foundation (LWAF) in 2007.