NPA Border Renovation

The Northwest Perennial Alliance (NPA) created the Perennial Border at the Bellevue Botanical Garden (BBG) in partnership with City of Bellevue Parks & Community Services in 1991.   It has been a beautiful and dynamic feature at the BBG ever since.  

In 2007, the NPA was seeking ways to update and revitalize the Border plant collections, support the City of Bellevue’s Environmental Stewardship Initiative by removing invasive ornamentals, and reduce the cost of Border maintenance.   At the same time, the BBG was beginning its Master Plan Update, a component of which addresses how future garden development might provide opportunities to better integrate the Border with the rest of the Garden.   We recognized that the time was ripe for a collaborative effort to make some changes in the Border, with very clearly defined objectives.

Our primary objectives are to keep the Border healthy and beautiful, with year-round interest, and to encourage its function as a learning resource for the horticulture community and BBG visitors.

We are working to achieve the following design objectives:

  • Improve accessibility to the plants via paths and/or stairs.
  • Encourage observation and enjoyment through added seating.
  • Reduce maintenance for NPA volunteers.
  • Eliminate the slippery grass slope between the Main Border and the Shade Border.
  • Consider size and shape of Border beds to better accommodate maintenance activities.
  • Explore placement of interpretive tools.
  • Integrate the Border with the great lawn, and open views to the proposed Wetland Sun Terrace Garden to the west.
  • Create graceful lawn shaping and edging.
  • Consider the view of the Border from the elevation of the proposed Garden Mount.
  • Edit the West Border to achieve significantly reduced maintenance, while continuing to visually integrate it with the Main Border.

We encourage you to visit the Garden often to watch our progress. You will find regular project updates on this web site and at  www.bellevuebotanical.org.

Project Updates

Renovation Plans (this is a large file, so will take a few moments to appear)

Fall 2008

Summer  2008


If you’d like to volunteer to work in the NPA Borders, click here.