Volunteers are hard at work on a new and improved database of all the plants growing in Lake Wilderness Arboretum.

“The difference between a park and a garden is knowing what plants you have and why,” said Susan Goodell, garden manager “We are working to catalog and map all of the existing plants in our gardens as part of a new accessions program.”

Currently, longtime volunteer Bob Dunning and accessions coordinator Alex have created a map of the arboretum that shows each garden, bed and trail. Bed numbers are assigned and the team has begun to inventory all plants growing in each bed, a process which will take several months to complete. The Lake Wilderness Arboretum Foundation is now investigating the available web-based programs for using the database. The entire project could continue through 2015.

An accurate inventory and map of Arboretum plants will allow volunteers to better track propagation and maintenance of all collections as well as benefit docents in educating the community. Goodell hopes the database will eventually be available to visitors online, to look up the Arboretum’s plant collections from their computers.

Visit LakeWildernessArboretum.org, email info@lakewildernessarboretum.org or call (253) 293-5103 to volunteer, donate or become a member.