Seattle Tours

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Even before you think to start looking for the first flowers of spring, they are in your backyard, quietly pushing through their green fuses. Around Seattle, it appears to me that there are three very common (yet dimunitive) garden weeds that anticipate spring even before the native indian plum. These are bittercress (Cardamine), dead-nettle (Lamium), and chickweed (Stellaria) . These are all in bloom by February, and could show up in January some years. There might be other weeds that also bloom early, but none have the ubiquity of these three. Happily, all three are edible, though they are often discarded by overzealous gardeners as they clear out their garden beds for more conventional food-plants.

Lamium purpureum, or purple (red) dead-nettle, is shown below in a garden in the central district. It is the least yummy of the three, with a dirty, earthy taste. It is a member of the mint family and has the typical bilabiate flowers.


















Stellaria media, or common chickweed, is extremely widespread. Chickens love to dine on it, hence the name. If you can't eat it all in your early spring salads, throw it to some hens (if any are dwelling nearby). It is a member of the pink family and has 5 white petals that are so deeply lobed that they might appear as 10 separate petals.

















Cardamine oligosperma (little western bittercress) is found throughout seattle in gardens and waste places -- a hardy bugger. There might be other lookalike species of the same genus, but this is the one i think is most common. They have a typical mustardy rosette of pinnately lobed leaves, and small white flowers only about three millimeters across (four petals). They have a spicy mustard taste, and you can eat the whole plant, even the skinny seed pods.

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Well, well. Intentions don't get us very far, sometimes. The cold and wet have kept your (un)faithful correspondent indoors for the several months, and few pictures have been snapped. The notion that this blog would become devoted to disappearing buildings went by the wayside.

But, ah ha! Spring is here. And the camera has been dusted off.

This first post of the year is devoted to our local harbinger of spring, the indian plum (Oemlaria cerasiformis). This is a woody shrub, member of the rose family, that blooms before any other native plant (that i know of) in the lowland coniferous forests of the northwest. Its buds can be observed in early February, and its flowers begin to emerge in the middle-to-later parts of the month, barely preceding the leaves. Below you see a nice closeup that i pulled off the web, since my camera seemed unable to focus on these small flowers, no more than a centimeter across. You can see the common rosaceous characteristics: five petals, many stamens, and the hint of a floral cup.















The early growth of indian plum does not obey the typical definitions of "growing season" used by regulators , which rely only on air temperatures (see link, esp. pages 21-24). If the term "growing season" was defined by what plants are actually doing, regulators would be forced to consider many additional areas as wetlands, areas which therefore would not be as easily filled and paved over. To wit: many spots that remain wet for a large portion of the year are currently ignored, because groundwater levels are just low enough at the beginning of the (conveniently defined) "growing season" to omit them from regulatory consideration.

Indian plum is not a wetland plant, but it is an indicator of spring, and its early growth shows that biologic activity does not turn on or off at a single air temperature. Below is a picture of indian plum taken on March 13 in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle, showing its tiny white flowers and cucumber-flavored leaves.

The first installation of the new-style blog: obituary for the five-story Stanley Apartments, which used to look over the freeway at the southeast corner of 7th and Madison. As you can see below, it was demolished recently, at the age of 95. I took the picture of its demolition on August 30; the picture of its non-existence is taken 17 days later. Just below these is an aerial of the building, plus some info about the Stanley.





























According to tax records it was built in 1910, though other sources suggest 1912. It was first listed in the city directory of 1913, when it was advertised as having "Seattle's most exclusive apartments." It was built by and named for Frank M. Stanley, originally of New York, who was a Seattle real estate man for over half a century. Stanley built several apartment houses around town, which all (besides the Stanley) still exist, including the Lenawee Apartments at the southwest corner of Harvard and Olive. Mr. Stanley lived in the Lenawee at the time of his death in 1940, at the age of 86.

I remember the Stanley Apartments vaguely, as one of those old bricks that make up the First Hill tapestry. The entrance to the apartments faced 7th, which was not a street you walked up, since it is basically an I-5 offramp right there. It was more common to walk past the Stanley along the Madison side, which had several little businesses on the street level. I recall walking deafly past here, and not really wanting to stop because I-5 was so darn loud. I recall wishing that there were better awnings there on a rainy day. There was a little shoe shop, a vietnamese restaurant and a cleaners there. Turns out the space most recently used by "First Hill Cleaners" and "Downtown Cleaner and Tailoring" had been occupied by a clothing cleaners dating way back to at least the Depression, with ownership changing many many times. Here is a picture taken of the street level in 2005. To the left is Madison and to the right is 7th.






















The building once hailed as "seattle's most exclusive apartments" could not maintain its lofty status. Its owners were cited for many housing code violations in the 1980s and 1990s. It was the type of place that the Tenants Union took city and county legislators on their annual tour of run-down rental housing (Seattle PI, January 18, 1989 page B3). However, it was housing, and I think relatively cheap. It is being replaced by commercial space, no housing.

There is a complaint pending; appears that they might have destroyed the Stanley without permits. The developer is wallace properties. I dont know know the details of the development and financing, but below you can see what they plan for this site. Compare the first picture to those farther above (you can see Harborview in far right in these photos); then compare the bottom two photos, which were sort of taken from the same angle. The old one dates from 1914, right after the building was constructed, captured here during regrade work on First Hill. The new building will be much bigger than the Stanley. And glass, not brick.




























RIP stanley apts 1912-2007

For three months (April May June) i kept some notes about the doings, but then the computer got too boggy. Now i learned some ways to do this faster, so here are some photos taken during July August September.

My friend V, crossing through the ditch brambleberries and leaving the train yard in Eugene, Oregon. She and I rode to Eugene on the blue Golden West grainer you see in the background.
















Your humble correspondant, in Vancouver, hugging chicory and razor-wire.

















My friend T drives me up the Columbia River and to Wyoming.

















My friend C looks out at the sagebrush-steppe in eastern Idaho, on a boxcar bound for the Hinkle classification yard in Oregon. We only made it to Nampa -- ran into Johnny Law.



















View from left side of double stack train NE of Pasco, Washington, headed to Spokane, late afternoon of August 24. This was a trip around the state of Washington that jonah and i did one weekend.

















Enjoying the sun near Stevens Pass on a west-bound double stack. We boarded in Wenatchee and got off the train within 100 yards of the Seattle amtrak station.






















Below, taken during a hike up to mailbox peak (middle fork snoqualmie) on a foggy day in September. Red huckleberries, as seen in the foreground, were plentiful, as were at least two other types of huckleberries (Vaccinium spp.)


















Not much to see from mailbox peak on this day, but we checked the mail. On the walk there were still several flowers in bloom, or hanging on: indian paintbrush, gentian, yarrow, blue bells, pearly everlasting, penstemon (seen below right), and others. We even found two ripe thimbleberries -- i was amazed, since the peak for these was mid-July, as far as I could tell. But elevation and aspect does some things, I s'pose.


















On the south fork of the snoqualmie near North Bend, in mid-September. See similar photo from five months ago in my "Cottonwood collecting" post of April.























Back in the city: one of my new favorite places within a fairly easy bike ride: Grandmother Hill. The best collections of native madrones and hawthornes that i have seen in seattle. Plus exposed bedrock and a view of the Duwamish river. This hill has a lot of stories connected to it in native tradition but they (the hill and the stories) are guarded for fear of exploitation.

















Back in the city city: T & A Supply moved from Westlake Avenue; you'll have to get it elsewhere.

















Spirit still exists in Fremont: these people located within view of the Burke-Gilman trail have a cool readerboard.


















The below side-by-sides show views of my garden in late June and mid-September.









































Now you see it, now you don't: and thus ends summer. Already we are nearing October, the nights are longer than the days. It is time to gather things in, and celebrate passings.

And so I introduce the next chapter of this website. No longer will it be the scattered wanderings of a summer sin rumbo. This winter we will have a focus: a celebration of the buildings that are being destroyed with frightening frequency in our city. See the next post.

My friend Pete hosted a party to celebrate the 100th birthday of his house near 27th and Columbia. Pete researched this history of his house, including the names and professions of people who had lived there over the years. He also contacted a woman who lived in the house from 1978-1982 and she came to enjoy the backyard evening. The band June Madrona from Olympia played music.

Here is the June Madrona, twiddling: