In Step with Ray Larson: ‘The Flora of Seattle in 1850―Major Species and Landscapes Prior to Urbanization’

By Richard Hao, Youth Director At Large

Edited by Laura Lee Bennett, Executive Vice President

On October 11th, the Redmond Historical Society welcomed Ray Larson, Associate Director and Curator of Living Collections & the Otis Douglas Hyde Herbarium at the University of Washington Botanic Gardens. He took the audience back in time to pre-industrial Seattle with his presentation, “The Flora of Seattle in 1850: Major Species and Landscapes Prior to Urbanization.” Based on Ray’s 2005 UW thesis, this presentation revealed Seattle’s landscapes before European settlement, from diverse coniferous forests to surprising ecological zones. Using historical records, indigenous place names, and old photos, he showed how these insights can illuminate the natural history of Western Washington communities.

We caught up with Ray for a bit of Q&A.

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RHS: What aspect of history is most interesting to you?

Ray Larson: I think the fact that history tells us a story about where we've been, what people have experienced and different points of view. It’s really interesting to take information and records and use them to learn more about where we've been and facts that may be hidden from a cursory view and a chance to use a lot of things I'm interested in, like research, reading, and historical archives and stories—to paint a fuller picture of what things were like when they were happening.

RHS: What made you interested in plants and botany?

Ray Larson: Both sides of my family come from long lines of farmers, particularly my mother's side of the family in Wisconsin. Some of them were still farmers when I was a kid, and we'd spend time back there. So, I was always interested in plants and how they related to people and animals and landscapes. In high school, I got a lot more interested in history. After my undergraduate, I drifted back more toward design and plants and research. My degree in college was history and a minor in art, and how horticulture combines art and science.

When I started grad school, I noticed that there was a big movement to plant native plants or restore landscapes, but some of these things in the literature that people are planting don't seem to exist anywhere close to this area. It might be, oh, West Coast native, or is that plant even native to Washington? Why are we planting it and learning about where folks were getting their information? Maybe how that could be focused a little bit more into what—again, if the question is—are you trying to resource something to a particular time, or just what will grow well now and [you] don’t care so much about whether it’s native to that specific area, or just more regionally? There were a lot of questions that I had, a lot of things I wanted to find out.

Ravenna Park, Seattle. c. 1911. Webster & Stephens Photograph.

RHS: You’ve lived in Seattle all your life—how has growing up here shaped your connection to the local landscape and ecology?

Ray Larson: I think the local landscape was interesting. It contrasted a lot to this rural Midwest landscape that I was also becoming familiar with. Here we have such big conifers and mountains and rain, and a lot of evergreen. I think that definitely shaped [the landscape], as I learned more about the history of this place. Why are these plants here? Because of our climate, because of our glacial history. Growing up here is what sparked a little bit of this—and that we’re [living] by the standards of urban America. It’s not several hundred years; it’s a little more recent.

RHS: Your research reconstructs what Seattle looked like before urban development. What was the most surprising discovery you made while studying the city’s early flora?

Ray Larson: It was more diverse than I realized. There were more types of landscapes than might have been obvious. A lot of us are taught like, oh yeah, it was one big forest, but it wasn't. Big evergreen trees were of different ages. Some were very old, some were young, and some were shaped by how indigenous peoples managed the landscape and their population. We had areas that were prairie-like, we had bogs, we had meadows. Now, you mostly just see trees, especially when you look out the window.

RHS: Are there any overlooked parts of Seattle’s plant history you wish locals knew?

Ray Larson: Yeah, for sure. We’re lucky that there's a couple of decent remnants of old growth. There’s parts of Seward Park and Schmitz Park, and people know about them to different extents, but I still think they’re overlooked. Some areas, especially along Puget Sound, where we've got parks like Golden Gardens and Carkeek Park, have some clues to some landscapes that were there, which were quite different. But one thing that's most striking to me, looking back at old records, is like, there was a lot more water in the landscape, like streams and ponds and even small lakes that are now] gone.

RHS: You’re the Curator of Living Collections. What does a daily routine look like?

Ray Larson: My main job is to decide what kind of plants or species we should acquire to plant out in the gardens for display and educational purposes or research purposes, conservation. It’s managing the landscape. I do a lot of correspondence with other gardens, determining what should be tried here, and what works well. I also manage the horticulture team, supervise the grounds and gardeners, and plan future projects.

RHS: What’s your favorite plant?

Ray Larson: That’s such a tough question. A top 10 is as close as I could get. But this time of year, my favorite plant is a type of maple from Japan called the Fern Leaf Full Moon Maple. It has a very nice fall color for a long period, interesting texture, not too big, and has some pretty flowers for a maple. My favorite native plants are the Mountain Hemlock and the Evergreen Huckleberry.