Next Sunday: Open house at Seattle Chinese Garden

| Gardening | Puget Ridge | West Seattle news

(Photo courtesy Seattle Chinese Garden)
Been to the Seattle Chinese Garden yet? It’s on West Seattle’s Puget Ridge and ready to greet you at an open-house celebration one week from today. From the official announcement:

The Seattle Chinese Garden will host a free public open house to celebrate the completion of the garden’s first courtyard, named Knowing the Spring. Yueming Ling, vice mayor of Seattle’s sister city Chongqing , along with Seattle city officials, will attend the May 15 festivities. A lion dance will open the celebration, which includes martial arts and traditional Chinese dance performances, painting and calligraphy demonstrations. …

Knowing the Spring Courtyard was designed by architects in Chongqing, located in southwest China, and built in collaboration with Chinese artisans, local architects and contractors. The Seattle Chinese Garden, when complete, will be one of the largest Chinese gardens outside China, and the first in the United States to be designed in authentic Sichuan style. …

The Seattle Chinese Garden is located at the north end of the South Seattle Community College campus at 6000 16th Avenue SW, in West Seattle. The Open House is May 15, 2011, from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission is free, but donations are greatly appreciated.

DP May 8, 2011 (7:23 pm)

I shouldn’t be telling you all this, but the SSCC garden is one of SEATTLES BEST KEPT SECRETS. In any season you can go there for hours at a stretch, soak up the serenity, and pretend that the whole place belongs to you alone, because there’s not another soul in sight.
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I’m so glad they finally got the wherewithal to finish the Chinese Garden project. I understand that China itself supplied some of the money and expertise needed to finish the job.
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Yes, China! —the country that Americans not so long ago looked down our noses at, dismissing it as just another Third World basket case.

MG May 9, 2011 (11:51 am)

DP – I agree that the Seattle Chinese Garden is one of Seattle’s best kept secrets, but after 20 years of work it’s far from finished. From looking at the plans it looks to be less than 25% complete, although what they done so far is wonderful and definitely worth a visit.

datamuse May 9, 2011 (12:41 pm)

There’s also an Arboretum and some other gardens. We almost held our wedding there but the space didn’t quite fit our requirements.

Cakeordeath May 9, 2011 (4:10 pm)

From what I understand, the garden is to be completed in phases with the next phase scheduled to begin construction within a year of the grand opening. Brick sales are underway and other fundraising is also happening in phases, per project.