Diversity is important in the human world, and Patrick McMillan, the new director at Heronswood Garden in Kingston, says it’s important to the plant world, too.

Heronswood, which opened this month after being closed most of the previous year due to COVID-19, has always had plants from around the world. But McMillan, who took over six months ago, plans to expand on that even more. In the undeveloped west side of the acreage, he is planning a Traveler’s Garden, which will include sections from Chile, Vietnam, the Pacific Northwest and the S’Klallam tribe. In 2012 the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe bought the gardens, originally started in 1987.

McMillan said the new gardens won’t just have plants from those areas. Unlike the rest of Heronswood, the new gardens also will have soil and rocks from those areas so the habitat is as natural as possible to the real thing. Visitors will be “plant explorers” and “know what it feels like” to actually be there, McMillan said.

He said the diversity of landscape will bring diversity of wildlife and insects, too. “The insects are unbelievable,” he said, and the number of bird species increased from 113 to 209 in five years at another site that made similar changes. “It’s the fountain of life.”

More new gardens

While that garden hasn’t sprouted yet, another new one has since Heronswood was open to the public before COVID.

Called the Renaissance Garden, it features the rebirth of a forested area in the wake of logging. It’s located west of the parking lot. It offers interpretive signs, a picturesque stump garden, a pond and fascinating manmade additions like a historic canoe, wagon wheel, kitchen stove and even a piano among its decor. The abandoned logging camp is sheltered among ferns and mossy logs.

Another new area under construction, this one near the parking lot, is the Rock Garden. Plants that grow in alpine terrain will grow there.

Old favorites

Heronswood is known worldwide for original founder Dan Hinkley’s creation of the Woodland Garden, McMillan said, and he doesn’t plan to change that “little bit of perfection.” It features a canopy of native conifers that shelter an array of woodland plants, including spring bulbs, collections of hydrangeas and mahonias, and many rare trees and shrubs. “It’s a world-class collection of plants,” McMillan said. “Flowers are busting out everywhere.” He said many people like to visit this garden at least once “every season because it looks so different. Some come every day.”

Another longtime favorite is the Heron House and Formal Gardens. They were the first established at the site and are at their peak in summer, exhibiting colorful foliage and flowers. Part of this area is popular for weddings and other special occasions. Another popular area there is a Protege Garden, similar to a raised flower bed bordered with tightly trimmed bushes in the shape of triangles to give it an ornamental look.

New director

McMillan takes on his new role after two decades as a professor at Clemson University, 10 years as director of the South Carolina Botanical Garden, the publication of several books on horticulture and biodiversity, and a PBS series, Expeditions with Patrick McMillan,which ran for 15 years.

“I have a passion for talking to people and connecting them to nature,” he said, adding he’s not sure if he wants to do something like the TV show here or not. “I’m trying to slow down some.”

McMillan said he knew about Heronswood because of its worldwide reputation, and he found out about the job opening about two hours before the deadline to apply. He rushed to get everything together and ended up getting the job.

“I’m happy to be working with plants and people again,” he said, adding he’s enjoyed moving to Washington. “Working in the south for so long it seemed like I’d seen it all,” he said.

Just at Heronswood there are 9,000 species of plants. “It’s a new palette for me in many ways. It’s like being in grad school again with all the challenges,” he said.

Making it easier is the staff and volunteers at Heronswood. “There’s so much talent. I’ve never worked with” such hard-working, qualified people before. It wasn’t like that when he first started. McMillan said he came to Heronswood at an odd time due to COVID. “The staff wasn’t here. It was a skeleton crew,” he said.

Now that almost everyone is back to working and COVID is easing he looks forward to school tours returning as education is one of his favorite parts of the job.

“I am incredibly excited about the expansion and growth that is occurring in the garden, and I am dedicated to continuing the legacy that Heronswood has established, as well as expanding the outreach of service and education to the community,” he said in a news release.

Tribal chairman Jeromy Sullivan said they are just as happy to have McMillan onboard.

“Patrick shares our Tribe’s vision for Heronswood, including an emphasis on conservation, diversity, best practices, education, collaboration and community,” he said in the news release.

Heronswood itself

The garden is open from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday. Cost is $10 for adults, $5 for kids 7-17, and free for kids 6 and younger. It offers classes, lectures and other events that allow for in-person and virtual visitation. Memberships are available. Tours can be arranged. For details go to HeronswoodGarden.org.

This plant from Chile is already at Heronswood, but a new garden area in the future will feature many plants from that country.

Heronswood is filled with trees and plants that bloom at different times of the year.

Heronswood has an area that can be rented for special occasions like weddings.

This plant looks somewhat like a dragon.

Heronswood is filled with palm trees and other coverings, providing shade for visitors on hot days.

If you like Heronswood you can take a piece of it home with you, and it often offers plants for sale.

Interpretive signs help guide visitors through this old logging camp.

Tightly trimmed bushes provide the border for these raised flower beds.

Stumps show all types of character in this section of the new Renaissance Garden.