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 ...
and public park located in
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...
, that is managed by
Metro Parks Tacoma
Metro Parks Tacoma (formerly the Metropolitan Park District of Tacoma) is a municipal corporation that oversees parks and recreation services in and around the city of Tacoma, Washington, United States.
History
The parks district was originally ...
. The park was designed by
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
n
landscape architect
A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manageme ...
Charles Barstow Wright
Charles Barstow Wright (January 8, 1822 – March 24, 1898) was a United States financier.
Biography
Wright was born in Bradford County, Pennsylvania on January 8, 1822. He started in business at 15, and at 19 was taken as a partner by his employ ...
, who had donated the land for the project.
Description
The arboretum contains over 700 mature trees, representing about 100 native and exotic species.
Several artworks are installed in the park, including a
bust
Bust commonly refers to:
* A woman's breasts
* Bust (sculpture), of head and shoulders
* An arrest
Bust may also refer to:
Places
*Bust, Bas-Rhin, a city in France
*Lashkargah, Afghanistan, known as Bust historically
Media
* ''Bust'' (magazine ...
of
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wor ...
'', a pair of lions, and other statues.
W. W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory
The W. W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory is a Victorian-style conservatory located in Wright Park. Built in 1907, it was named in honor of donor William W. Seymour. Designed by Isaac J. Knapp, its wings and twelve-sided central dome contain some 3,500 panes of glass. Six sculptures created by former conservator Clarence Deming rest among the plants and reflect
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
n,
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
, and
Aztec
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...
traditions.
The conservatory contains more than 550 plant
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
in its permanent collection, including
agapanthus
''Agapanthus'' is a genus of plants, the only one in the subfamily Agapanthoideae of the family Amaryllidaceae. The family is in the monocot order Asparagales. The name is derived from Greek: ἀγάπη (''agapē'' – "love"), ἄνθος (' ...
,
azalea
Azaleas are flowering shrubs in the genus ''Rhododendron'', particularly the former sections ''Tsutsusi'' (evergreen) and '' Pentanthera'' (deciduous). Azaleas bloom in the spring (April and May in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, and Octob ...
s,
bromeliad
The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa, ...
s,
cacti
A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek ...
,
clivia
''Clivia'' is a genus of monocot flowering plants native to southern Africa. They are from the family Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Amaryllidoideae. Common names are Natal lily or bush lily.
They are herbaceous or evergreen perennial plants, with g ...
s,
cymbidium
''Cymbidium'' , commonly known as boat orchids, is a genus of evergreen flowering plants in the orchid family Orchidaceae. Orchids in this genus are epiphytic, lithophytic, terrestrial or rarely leafless saprophytic herbs usually with pseudobulbs ...
,
epiphyllum
''Epiphyllum'' (; "upon the leaf" in Greek) is a genus of epiphytic plants in the cactus family (Cactaceae), native to Central America and South America. Common names for these species include climbing cacti, orchid cacti and leaf cacti, though ...
,
fern
A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except t ...
s,
fig
The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of small tree in the flowering plant family Moraceae. Native to the Mediterranean and western Asia, it has been cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world ...
s, more than 200
orchid
Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant.
Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...
s,
palm
Palm most commonly refers to:
* Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand
* Palm plants, of family Arecaceae
**List of Arecaceae genera
* Several other plants known as "palm"
Palm or Palms may also refer to:
Music
* Palm (ba ...
s, and
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 ...
s. It also contains a rotating exhibit of floral displays that generally features between 300-500 blooming plants at any given time.
The conservatory was featured in several scenes in the 1992 film '' The Hand that Rocks the Cradle'', starring
Annabella Sciorra
Annabella Gloria Philomena Sciorra ( , ; born March 29, 1960) is an American actress. She came to prominence with her film debut in '' True Love'' (1989), earning an Independent Spirit nomination for Best Female Lead. Subsequent projects include ...
and
Rebecca De Mornay
Rebecca De Mornay (born Rebecca Jane Pearch; August 29, 1959) is an American actress and producer. Her breakthrough film role came in 1983, when she starred as Lana in ''Risky Business''. She is known for her role as Debby Huston in the Neil S ...
and directed by
Curtis Hanson
Curtis Lee Hanson (March 24, 1945 – September 20, 2016) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. His directing work included the psychological thriller ''The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (film), The Hand That Rocks the Cradle' ...
List of botanical gardens in the United States
This list is intended to include all significant botanical gardens and arboretums in the United States.List of Registered Historic Places in Pierce County, Washington