Fall Foliage Festival Part One: The Foliage!

I love fall foliage, so when I heard there was going to be a week long fall foliage festival at a botanical garden near my house that I had no yet had a chance to visit, I knew I had to go!

The Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden in Federal Way was hosting the fall foliage festival. My expectations of the festival were simultaneously exceeded and disappointed at the same time. The online advertisement for the festival promised pumpkin carving contests, hot fall beverages and artist vendors. When we arrived, we saw no such evidence of any of this except for one, single carved pumpkin sitting in lonely solitude on a foldout table. The promise of hot fall beverages brewed images of hot apple cider in my mind and I was sad there was no sweet-spicy smell of cider wafting through the air as we entered the premises of the garden. 

However, the actual garden was so amazing, I was able to set aside my disappointment at the lack of festivity. Due to it's name (Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden) my expectations were to see a lot of rhododendrons and not much else. Which, given rhodies usually bloom in spring and we are quite far from spring, could lead to a lackluster experience. But it was far from lackluster! This is an amazing garden. I've toured many botanical gardens and arboretums in the Seattle area, and this might be my favorite! It was the perfect combination of wild and maintained. There were the carefully labeled plant specimens we all look forward to seeing and learning about when we visit a botanical garden, but these were dispersed in a wild wooded setting. And although there were many rhododendrons, these were certainly not the only plant to make their majestic appearance in the garden. There were all sorts of lovely plants! And the fall foliage was so beautiful! Fall in the Pacific Northwest really is so beautiful. We've got the mixture of the oranges and reds of changing leaves while still having our noble coniferous trees maintaining their lush green. The rhododendron garden was an especially wonderful place to visit the fall colors since there was more a variety of trees. 

Here are some of the bursts of fall foliage spectacular and wondrous color I encountered during my visit to the garden:

These are the woods that house the beautiful garden. I love all the bursts of yellow dispersed through the woods! 

There is a little pond in the garden!

Sometimes I am curious why money needs to be wasted on a sign that states the obvious.... No walking on the surface of the pond...got it!

Take a closer look at this tree. It is pretty trippy. The tree has leaves with two different shapes. I didn't even know that was possible!

Plants and nature are pretty magical, especially when in their full autumnal glory! I was glad to be able to spend a bit of time exploring this magical place!