• Welcome and Introductions
• Social equity check-in
• Public comments
• Wedgwood Community Picnic – Save the Date (9/19/26, 3-7PM) and GoFundMe
• May In-Person Meeting Recap
  • Recap of speakers and topics
  • Land Use Update
    • Wedgwood Center Update
  • Wedgwood Land Bank Park Update
• Election Results and Board Roles
• Discussion: WCC Land Use Approach and Positions/Role

Wedgwood Community Council is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89616933523?pwd=2FbvQAPEzTnRPnYR7LV8bBdOLbwKpY.1

Meeting ID: 896 1693 3523
Passcode: WCC

In the meantime, we’d love your help!

• Interested in having a booth and sponsoring the picnic as a business? Register soon to book your space for as low as $25 for a booth. A BIG shout of thanks John O’Brien Homes for once again being an official sponsor of the picnic!  You too can be a sponsor!  Email us at admin@wedgwoodcc.orc for more information (sponsor packet still being finalized).
• Contribute to our GoFundMe here to make sure this event happens. Did you know that it takes more than $5K for us to put this event on? That’s where you can be so helpful! Click here to help us out!

See you soon!

Every garden has microclimates within it – areas that are more sunny or shady, more damp or more dry – allowing for different plants to thrive in the variety of locations. But one thing I never read about, but have learned to value, is areas that are more alkaline (limey) than the rest of our mostly acidic soils.

Pacific NW garden soils run on the acidic side, hence our happy populations of rhodis, azaleas, camellias, western sword ferns etc, all of which like more acidic soil. But in areas next to concrete driveways, paths or pavers, or in planting beds edged with broken-concrete walls  – my go-to free material! – certain plants that prefer a more alkaline environment will thrive.

I love pinks (dianthus), in particular the humble, low-growing ones such as cheddar pinks  (see photo – sadly the recent rain removed all the petals) that tumble so picturesquely over a low retaining wall, and I have found that they like that trace of lime that leaches from concrete into adjacent planting areas, and do much better for it.

English wallflowers (Cheiranthus cheiri) also enjoy this kind of placement, not surprising when you realize their name derives from their common presence in old castle walls (that lime mortar!), where – tradition says – they were actively encouraged to grow so that their fragrance would waft through the castle windows.

And any plant that happily seeds itself in the cracks between pavers is already demonstrating a tolerance for the presence of lime – my white flowering mullein (Verbascum ‘Wedding candles’ – a bee magnet) has self-seeded in just this kind of spot 4 times in my front yard, slithering its long roots down through the merest crack between pavers and broken-concrete wall to form large mounds of foliage and flowers.

The reverse of this useful nugget of knowledge is to avoid planting acid-loving plants such as blueberries, too close to a lime-leaching environment. I recently advised a client to move her 3 unhappy blueberry bushes from a narrow bed between her house’s concrete foundation, and a paved patio, and I hope next year she will finally get a good crop of fruit at last.

Those elected include Topher Lambert, Mackenzie Lambert, Chris Haskins, Juan Marroquin, Rachel Nathanson, and Per Johnson

We are pleased to report that those at the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) have responded promptly to this survey. We recognize that significant resources are necessary to make NE 95th Street a safe corridor for all users. But, we expect SDOT to continue to show the level of urgency this cooridor warrants when it comes to being creative, developing plans, and tee-ing up improvements for funding.

Every year I renew my membership in the Northwest Perennial Alliance to get access to the incredible number of members’ Open Gardens, on display from May through September. For a mere $50 per year, you can visit over 100 private gardens throughout the Puget Sound as well as visit public gardens such as Heronswood, Soos Creek and Powells Wood garden etc at no cost on their designated NPA Open Garden day. There are very few gardens I visit where I don’t pick up some new idea, and here is a story of two very different gardens in Medina that surprised me with unexpected take-homes.

One was a fabulous acre of tall conifers, sophisticated plantings, water features, and lovely garden views that have been featured in a garden book (on display on patio). It was an absolute pleasure to stroll around. However, I noticed to my surprise an almost total absence of bees, even in the sunniest and most flowery spots. As pollinator-friendly plants had lately become my focus, after noticing something of a drop in bees in my own garden, I was disappointed that such beauty hadn’t brought in more bees.

Down the road was a much more conventional garden, with a rectangular back lawn facing extensive views out over Medina. It was edged with planting beds containing shrubs, perennials and annuals. Suddenly I noticed a wave of fragrance that penetrated even my COVID-impaired sense of smell, and I couldn’t initially figure out where it was coming from. I finally tracked it down to 3 shrubs of Abelia ‘Edward Goucher’, which had been much more rigorously pruned than my own sprawling sample back home, and as a result was a dense mass of small fragrant flowers (they were also in full sun, which mine was not). And nearby were several specimens of an allium that I had never seen before, Allium millenium, covered in blue flowers (in August! – most flower in early summer). Both allium and the abelias were also covered in bees.

I went home and tracked down some Allium millenium at my local nursery, and discovered, this winter, that the leaves remained evergreen (I hope this happens in colder winters too), which other alliums do not. Later I moved my abelia into more sun and pruned it viciously, and now I am crossing my fingers and hoping for a bee-heavy summer.

This meeting marks our first in-person gathering in quite some time. Please note that this will be an in person meeting only; there will be no Zoom option available.

We are also excited to welcome King County Councilmember, Rod Dembowski, to our meeting. This is a great opportunity for community members to hear directly from our County representagive and engage on issues that matter to Wedgwood.

All neighbors are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Proposed Agenda:

• Welcome and Introductions
• WCC Board Elections
• Public Comments
• Guest: King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski
• Guest: Department of Neighborhoods Director, Quynh Pham
• Land Use Update
• Wedgwood Landbank Park Update
• Wedgwood Summer Picnic Update

We look forward to reconnecting in person and continuing the work of supporting and strengthening our community.

As we shared in January 2025, the Wedgwood Center Redevelopment led by Security Properties had fallen through. At issue was Security Properties inability to identify the necessary capital partners needed to move forward with the payment structure within the purchase agreement with the current property owner.  This is not uncommon, particiularly in today’s development market and financing landscape, particularly for mixed-use developments with grocery as a major anchor tenant.  However, as we noted at the time, we understood “the site has been taken back out to the market to find a prospective purchaser and developer of the site.”

We now understand that the property owner is in the process of finalizing an agreement with a new developer to be identified in the near future. As of mid-May, we understand that a party is in the middle of a due-diligence process, but that the party’s intent would be pick up where Security Properties left off and continue with the plan that is before the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspection for review.  We understand that mid-summer is the anticipated timeline when the new party will be identified.

The WCC is excited to hear who this new developer is and be a constructive partner moving forward.  More information will be shared as it becomes available.

You’re invited to join us for our April 2026 board meeting on Tuesday, April 7th at 7PM via Zoom. Our agenda may change a bit, but will generally look like the following.

• Welcome and Introductions
• Social equity check-in
• Public comments
• Wedgwood Summer Picnic – Call for Volunteers
• May 12th Meeting (in person)
  • Elections
• One Seattle Plan, Centers and Corridors Legislations
• Seattle Neighborhood Alliance
• One Seattle Plan
• NE 95th Street Mobility Survey

Wedgwood Community Council is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89616933523?pwd=2FbvQAPEzTnRPnYR7LV8bBdOLbwKpY.1

Meeting ID: 896 1693 3523
Passcode: WCC

Photo credit: Eden Brothers

In Britain, English wallflowers are an absolute staple of the spring garden, filling the air with fragrance. So I was baffled when I moved to the US to find that the wallflowers here were different.

Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’ is probably the most common one here in nurseries, and while there is some fragrance if you stick your nose in it, it is nothing like the ones in Britain. I was once waiting to cross the road to enter Holland Park in London, and I could already smell the wallflowers, bedded out with forget-me-nots in huge beds, pouring forth their fragrance on the air. 

‘Bowles Mauve’ is a very nice plant, if you like mauve (I don’t), and flowers for months on end, so great value for money. The English wallflowers (Cheiranthus Cheiri) are Spring flowerers, in Britain bought cheaply and treated like annuals (they’re actually bi-annuals, meaning they just have leaves the first year, flowering in the second year), then frequently discarded. They are simply unobtainable in nurseries around here, and so I tracked down seeds and grew my own (very easy), and have been saving seeds and replanting ever since.

You can currently find these seeds at online companies such as Eden Brothers and Everwilde Farms. They come in mixed shades of yellow, orange, and burgundy, and while they are officially bi-annual, I regard them as short-lived perennials, pruning them after flowering down to the lowest green shoots – sort of like lavender – and I get several years of flowering out of them before they get woody and old and I replace them. They don’t mind poor soil – they actually grow wild on the sandy cliffs above Port Townsend, and yet the nearby nurseries still don’t stock them.

I wouldn’t be without their rich perfume on a warm spring day, and I still can’t understand why they’re not available here.