This has not been a normal year for trees.
Fir Butler should know. She and her husband, Merlin, are resident caretakers for Rhody Ridge Park, which very well may be one of South Snohomish County’s best-kept secrets.
She pointed to an eastern white dogwood. Heavy snows last December and January broke branches on the tree.
“Several trees were uprooted,” she said, bouncing along one of several trails that are part of the 5.5 acres for which the couple are designated on-site caretakers. “Several were split.”
Since 1970, when the Butlers deeded their 11-acre property to Snohomish County, the couple has managed what has become the largest arboretum north of Seattle’s 24-year-old, 236-acre Washington Park Arboretum.
Their house, built in 1960 on the property, is nestled within a residential area off of North Road in unincorporated Bothell.
The couple’s backyard is a sprawling collection of native and non-native trees and plants. It includes what used to be an aviary, where the couple once kept pheasants, a lawn and sections reserved for particular tree species, such as maples or dogwoods. There are no annuals or perennials.
“We do the work for as long as our health and age will permit,” Fir said. “Eventually, it will be the county’s property.”
In exchange, they live on their property tax-free. “But we do pay the costs of maintaining the park for as long as we are able,” Fir said.
She’s a Texas native; Merlin’s an Oklahoman. They married in Texas and moved to Washington in 1953, then rented a house off of Olympic View Drive in Edmonds before buying their spread about a mile south of 164th Street Southwest in 1958. They shopped around in Edmonds but wanted enough land to grow trees.
“They had places we could buy but the acreage was too small,” Merlin said of Edmonds.
Today, trees they planted 40 years ago stand more than 60 feet high. What once were clear views of Mt. Rainier and Mt. Baker have been obscured by tree branches.
Fir is the chief tree expert but both of them maintain the grounds. Fir pointed to several shrubs and small trees in need of “deadheading,” the practice of removing dead flower blossoms to make way for new ones.
“If we could just live another 100 years, we’d finally get it all finished,” Fir said.
Visitors find their way to the park, operated year-round by appointment from 10 a.m. to dusk, in spite of the fact that it’s so off the beaten path.
“We don’t do many visitors in January, I will tell you,” Fir said.
Last spring, for example, the National Rhododendron Society held its annual convention in Washington. “For two days, we were on their itinerary,” Fir said. “One of the really nice things is so many people come back and say they’ve been coming back for 10 years or more. That’s such a pleasure.”
Spring and autumn are the major tourist seasons, when foliage blooms are in full gear. Garden clubs, horticulture students and groups of families come to the park every season. Children eat lunch on park benches.
“I wish we had 100 acres, I really do,” Fir said.
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