One Year at Magnuson Park

By Liz Kuehn and Julie O’Donald

Earth Day 2026 marks the one-year anniversary of the WBA Magnuson Park Butterfly Meadow and Garden Restoration.

Beginning with Earth Day 2025, WBA volunteers have pitched in to help with the restoration work parties at Magnuson Park. The transformation is becoming more evident with each event and the progress is starting to show. Concentrating mostly in the Kingfisher Basin meadow, we have been clearing invasive Himalayan blackberries and the overwhelming growth of Nootka roses, creating planting berms, planting native host and nectar plants, and the beginnings of a welcoming habitat for pollinators and people.

You may be wondering what inspired us to take on a Seattle park. Well, in 2007, a young member named David Droppers launched the first restoration work party with WBA volunteers. You can read about the original project in G’num 2007 Vol 8 No 4. That memory sparked the Board’s interest in relaunching the effort for Earth Day 2025.

With the help of many volunteers, a total of 27 to be precise, we have been digging, pulling, clearing, and planting ever since. Over the course of the year, we had volunteers join us at six different work parties for a total of 175.5 hours. They moved mountains of wood chips, one wheelbarrow at a time, and took back ground lost to the blackberries to make room for native plantings. It is rewarding to see our members and friends coming out to help refresh this wonderful habitat.

With resources and equipment provided by the Green Seattle Partnership and our Forest Steward, Thomas Kelly, we are allowed access to the Kingfisher Basin and Promontory Point Education Pavilion & Butterfly Garden to do the restoration work. Tom not only administers the volunteer work, but he pitches in to help at every event. Former Forest Stewards for the area, Lynn Ferguson and Mary Bicknell, helped us get acquainted with the lay of the land and the garden history. After 25 years tending the garden and meadow, they are happy to turn over the trowel to WBA. We are lucky to have people like Tom, Lynn and Mary for their stewardship of this peaceful green space.

Our plant advisor and chief restoration architect is our very own Julie O’Donald. Julie has a wealth of experience with more than 35 years creating wildlife-friendly gardens. She knows how to bring back the butterflies as well as other pollinators and wild things.

Here is Julie’s recap of what has been planted during WBA work parties at Kingfisher Basin along with the plans for future plantings.

Trees and shrubs were pre-ordered from Storm Lake Growers. A special thank you goes out to Lynn Ferguson for her donation to make the purchase possible.

Planted on Saturday, February 28

• 2 Vine maple
• 1 Incense cedar, for Cedar Hairstreak butterflies
• 1 Black hawthorn – this is our native hawthorn
• 1 Rocky Mountain juniper
• 1 Quaking aspen
• 2 Serviceberry
• 2 Tall Oregon grape
• 1 Choke cherry
• 3 Red elderberry
• 2 Red-flowering currant

Our plan includes adding more Oceanspray. It wasn’t available at this time and will be included in future plans. This was also true of Bitter Cherry and we will look to order plants again next year.

Donated native perennials, planted in wood chip berms

• 6 Pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea)
• 4 Douglas aster (Symphyotrichum subspicatum)
• 6 Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium)
• 8 Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis var. lepida)
• 6 Stinging nettles (Urtica dioica)
• 4 Viola adunca
• 20 Native bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa)
• Large-leaved lupine seeds (Lupinus polyphyllus)
• Native annuals such as Plectritis and Barbarea

A patch of planted Great camas already exists on site, thanks to Lynn and Mary.

Still to be planted

• Common camas (Camassia quamash)
• Native checkermallow (Sidalcea species)
• Yellow violet (Viola glabella)

We will be taking a break this spring to avoid disturbing nesting birds at the site. We hope you will join us at our next work party or visit the site and be inspired in your own yard or community.

Liz and Julie

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