Duncan Gardens: The Duncan Gardens is the most impressive garden at Manito Park and Botanical Gardens. The formal English Garden is a lush display of manicured grass and a colorful display of annual bedding plants. Shown is a visitor entering the gardens on the left while two gardeners work on one of the beds on the right. A beautiful water fountain is set in the center of the garden. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Flowering Onion: A group of colorful flowering onion blooms stand out against the green foliage backdrop. The flowering onion blooms in May and June at Manito Park and Botanical Gardens. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
By GARY WARREN
Photographer
Formerly of Los Alamos
When planning our RV trips we often have an idea of what major features or attractions may be before we ever leave home. Other times, we know very little about a location. With the internet, researching a city or area for attractions is simple but an even better way of inquiring or learning what a city has to offer is to ask locals. The locals often mention or recommend activities that may have otherwise been overlooked.
In June, we visited the state of Washington for the first time on our travels. While we had flown into Seattle years ago and spent a short time exploring, we really did not know what to expect. We were planning to visit eastern Washington rather than the coastal side of the state beginning in Spokane.
Spokane sits on the eastern border just across the border from Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. We knew very little about Spokane but found it to be a beautiful city with many points of interest. We had not planned on spending time in the city but decided to stay overnight and explore for a day.
One of the attractions, which kept coming up while doing research and in literature about the city, was Manito Park and Botanical Gardens. We arrived at the park in late morning and spent several hours walking around this beautiful park.
The City of Spokane owns the park and the park is maintained by the Spokane Parks and Recreation Department. The park was established in 1904 and was a gathering place for families and visitors to enjoy the outdoors while being just minutes from downtown Spokane. The park was developed and became home to the Botanical Garden. It even featured a zoo for a few years but that portion of the park was closed in 1932 during the Great Depression.
Today Manito Park and Botanical Gardens features five gardens, two playgrounds, a baseball park, a disc golf course, a cafe, and numerous hiking and biking trails. The center piece of the park is the gardens, which include Rose Hill Rose Garden, Ferris Perennial Garden, Duncan Gardens, a Lilac Garden, and a Japanese Garden. Also included within the gardens is Gaiser Conservatory, which serves as the greenhouse for the gardens and also features a beautiful exhibit area with several varieties of plants. Water features including the Reflection Pond are popular points for visitors in the Botanical Gardens as well.
Rose Hill is a nationally recognized rose garden featuring 150 varieties of roses and the nearby Ferris Perennial Garden contains more than 300 perennial plant species. The Lilac Garden was established since Spokane is known as the “Lilac City” and is home to the Lilac Festival each spring. The Japanese Garden was created in honor of Spokane’s sister city Nishinomiya, Japan. The most impressive garden in the park is Duncan Gardens, a formal and symmetrical designed English Garden, which features three acres of manicured grass area and a huge display of colorful annual bedding plants.
Manito Park and Botanical Gardens is 90 acres of beautiful city park and botanical park in one colorful package! The park is open year round but the best time to visit is spring and summer when the Botanical Gardens are in full bloom. We were fortunate to visit the park in late June. Another great feature of the park is it is free to visitors.
We enjoyed our short visit in Spokane and hope to return in the future and visit other attractions in the city but the day of color in Manito Park and Botanical Gardens will be hard to beat. When visiting the area, I would highly recommend visiting the Manito Park and Botanical Gardens.
Editor’s note: Longtime Los Alamos photographer Gary Warren and his wife Marilyn are traveling around the country, and he shares his photographs, which appear in the “Posts from the Road” series published in the Sunday edition of the Los Alamos Daily Post.
Globe Flowers: Bright yellow globe flowers were in full bloom in the Ferris Perennial Garden during our visit. The globe flowers bloom in June and July at the park. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Vibrant Red Anthurium: Vibrant Red Anthurium blooms were plentiful at the Gaiser Conservatory greenhouse in Manito Park and Botanical Gardens. The Conservatory serves as the greenhouse for all of the gardens at the park and also has displays of colorful flowers for visitors to enjoy. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Coleus: A bed of coleus with its colorful green and maroon leaves also was seen at the Gaiser Conservatory. These plants flourish in hot and humid climates. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Ferris Perennial Garden: The colorful blooms of plants decorated the Ferris Perennial Garden at Manito Park and Botanical Gardens. More than 300 perennial plant species fill the garden and many were in bloom during our visit in June. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com